Sarah Ogden

As a leader and role model, Sarah Ogden lives a commitment to authenticity, vulnerability, and well-being.

“We all have growth areas, and Sarah is always looking for feedback,” said her nominator. “She is an extremely reflective individual who is always looking towards self-improvement.”

Sarah has been involved in the First-Year Leadership Experience for three years. She has held several leadership positions including student assistant director and is known for taking on responsibilities beyond expectations. Her nominator said, “Sarah is a deeply caring individual who has deep love for her program and her friends within it.”

As a vibrant student assistant director, Sarah has redesigned major components of the program, crafted marketing plans, and helped build out curricula. As someone who deeply values mental health and self-care, Sarah identified well-being as her primary focus for weekly mentor meetings.

To provide meaningful development opportunities for her leaders, Sarah worked to create a new curriculum with weekly activities and reflection guides. Her student mentors have now been able to help their students while also helping themselves. “The community would be in a very different place without her leadership,” said her nominator.

With compassionate leadership, Sarah has helped make the leadership experience a welcoming environment that appreciates diversity and whose members encourage each other to grow within their strengths, passions, and values.

“Not only does Sarah speak her values,” her nominator said. “She lives them out for herself and has facilitated opportunities for others to do the same.”

Sarah serves as the President of Public Relations for the Student Alumni Associates. Through that work, she puts her leadership skills into action. She persevered through an elaborate restructuring process to help the organization better serve the Virginia Tech community and has embraced challenges to grow confident in her capabilities, strengths, and her role as a servant leader.

Sarah’s passion for personal growth propelled her into an executive position with the Virginia Tech chapter of If You’re Reading This. In that role, she advances their mission to reduce stigma around mental health, demonstrate the power of vulnerability, and allow students to connect during their struggles.

In all she does, Sarah said she is dedicated to showing up with authenticity, vulnerability, and self-assuredness.

“To me,” Sarah said, “self-understanding and integrity mean that you have invested your time and resources into becoming your best self, and you continue to show up as that version of yourself every day. You are true to your core values and unapologetically authentic in every aspect of your life and career.”

She lives by the mantra: “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

“The only way we can fill our own cups,” said Sarah, “is by looking inward, spending the time and resources necessary to become firmly rooted in ourselves and our identities, and staying aligned to those beliefs.”

For her commitment to authenticity and compassion in community leadership, I am pleased to present the Aspire! Award for PURSUE SELF-UNDERSTANDING and INTEGRITY to Sarah Ogden.