UNMC staffer has Olympic connection

It’s been an exciting month for Sharon Barnett and her family.

Barnett’s cousin, Felisha Jones, is a member of the U.S. track and field Olympic team, throwing the shot put at the Rio Olympics.

“We were very excited when she made the team,” she said.

While Barnett is an Omaha native, Jones and her family live in Indiana, but that hasn’t stopped the whole family from following Jones’ exploits through the news and on a family Facebook page.

And it wasn’t too long ago that Barnett was big news on that page, when she got her new job as an office associate in the College of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology just this April. She books travel for faculty members and supports students with registration and other issues.

“I love it here,” she said. “I like the diversity, that everybody is so welcoming, open and kind. They really seem like they appreciate you and the work you do.”

Although Jones did not advance to the shot put finals on Friday, Barnett said her entire family was proud of her.

“People have doctors and lawyers in their families, but not too many people can say they have an Olympic athlete,” she said.