Sharion Thurman-Reeves grew up in a black community that served as a space to celebrate black culture uniquely and authentically. The black schools she attended in her community were amazingly inspiring. They fueled her passion for black history and fanned her desire to use her voice through the power of words as an English teacher. When she came to Pinellas County as a beginning teacher in 1982, she tested the waters of education at several schools until 1987, when she finally swam ashore at Gibbs High School.

Thurman-Reeves remained at Gibbs High School teaching English and African American History, using her voice as one of many to facilitate a diverse and inclusive community of scholarship that celebrated the richness of the whole American experience until she retired in 2018. By the time the committee was formed to create the Gibbs High School History Museum in 2022, she had fed her love of black history, culture, and heritage by telling her stories as a freelance writer and as a part-time curator. Establishing the Gibbs High School Historical Museum with the committee is her labor of love to collect, archive, and preserve Gibbs’ history and traditions.