There’s a superhero on UVA grounds, and her name is Sarah Elaine Hart. Hart graduated from the University of Virginia in May 2010 and currently works as the director of the Walentas Scholars Program at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, a scholarship program that awards first-generation college students nationwide a full-ride to the University of Virginia.
Many Walentas Scholars call Sarah Elaine Hart a hero for the immeasurable help she’s given the scholars from before they were enrolled in the university to their everyday life within the university. Therefore, Her Campus was honored to interview Hart on her college experience, life after college, and advice for UVA students.
What did you study when enrolled at UVA?
My major was anthropology. I loved so many different academic areas. I loved art history and religion. I was an Italian cultural studies major for a minute. I just really loved being able to take any class that would help me learn more about how people see the world and make sense of the world. And so, I loved every anthropology class I had. That’s why I ended up majoring in it.
I loved the way the classes helped me learn more about other ways of living and other ways of making meaning. I love the way it was so curious about other parts of the world and other cultures. For me, coming to UVA was a really expansive experience. I didn’t know a lot about a lot of things and other cultures, so anthropology was just always really exciting to me. Also, ever since I was a child, I’ve had a really nerdy interest in archaeology, so I loved that component of it with anthropology as well.
Did you come in already knowing your major, or did you have to explore?
I definitely did not know what I wanted to study when I came in. In my first year, I took a lot of different types of classes, from economics to art history to a philosophy class. I knew more about what I wasn’t interested in. I was very excited to not have to spend too much time studying math or science. But honestly, I didn’t even know what anthropology was until I ended up in an intro-level class my first year. So, I think by [my] second year, I had settled into it as a major because I just kept enjoying all of the anthropology classes I took. But I didn’t declare the major as a way of defining my path or clarifying my path. It was more like a “Well, I have to declare a major at some point, and I like these classes, and it seems interesting.”
What is your current occupation?
I’m the director of the Walentas Scholars Program at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, so my job is centered on creating and directing a program that celebrates, supports, and attracts outstanding leaders, scholars, and community members who are also first-generation college students. That’s a dream job. I love my work.
But I’ve had a really winding path since undergrad, and I think it probably, like many people’s paths, makes sense looking backward. But the job I have today did not exist when I graduated; the program that I lead did not exist. I just share that because I think, as an undergrad, it would have helped me to know that something that I now consider to be a dream job was coming, even if it wasn’t something I could have described as a fourth-year.
How do you feel your education at UVA prepared you for your current occupation?
According to research, a majority of people do not work in a field that directly relates to their major. In my case, I’m not a cultural anthropologist, and I have never done archaeology yet, but I have worked in human-centered fields. So, I’ve worked in a combination of higher ed [and] student affairs positions at K through 12 public schools. I have a Master’s in Counseling and Education. So, I think I was drawn to anthropology because of how it gave me a window into understanding people and being a supportive advocate and ally. I think my career, whether it was counseling or student affairs work, has continued with that theme of being curious about people and wanting to be a supportive person to students.
My education at the University of Virginia happened in the classroom and also so much so outside of the classroom. Both my major and the classes I took outside of my major helped me continue to love learning and continue to be curious…that kind of lifelong learning that UVA encourages that I carry with me today. So, that certainly has helped me in my career as I’ve been in jobs where I’m creating something new or having to learn something new.
My education outside of the classroom and the way in which I got to grow and be challenged and come of age here is that the impact of that is honestly hard for me to even describe. I credit my time at UVA with helping me grow into and toward the person that I am still striving to be today.
Would you say that UVA helped you in your journey but didn’t determine your journey?
Yes, I did not have a clear professional path. I envied people who did at UVA. It felt at times like a lot of my peers had a really specific plan. What I now know with more perspective is that most people navigate college without really knowing what they’re going to do with the learning and the knowledge that they’re gaining. I think UVA didn’t predetermine anything for me, but I know that it opened doors for me and the degree that I earned regardless of what I majored, and honestly, I think that the degree has opened every professional door for me since—even the ones I didn’t even know I wanted to walk through.
How Do You Reflect on Your Time in College?
I have so many rich memories of my college chapter. In some ways, it feels like the gifts of my time at UVA have continued. By that, I mean I’m still benefiting from the degree that I earned. I’m still benefiting professionally. But I’m also still very much in touch with many of the friends that I made at the University of Virginia and the mentors who helped shape me into who I am, and I am deeply grateful for that. So, when I think about my UVA chapter, I feel tremendous gratitude that I had the opportunity to study here and come of age here. I also have a lot of very happy memories with friends.
There are also times in college that were deeply challenging whether personally or otherwise. I mentioned that because sometimes I think it’s easy to look back on a very fulfilling chapter as being all highs and no lows. Still, I know that a more truthful version for me would be to recognize that it was an incredible chapter, one that I feel very grateful to have walked through. There were times that felt like some of the hardest things I had gone through, which made me even more thankful that I landed at a place like UVA where I was surrounded by people who have compassion and interest in nurturing meaningful quality friendships, not just merely their own kind of self-advancement.
Did you study anthropology when pursuing your master’s?
I did not. I studied counseling. So, I have a Master’s in Counseling and Education. So that allowed me to apply for a license in school counseling. I worked as a school counselor for several years. My graduate school is specifically on urban education, so that was a focus area. My anthropology degree, the curiosity I had about people and cultures, and the cultural competencies that come through with an anthropology degree are certainly related to counseling. There is a connection, but it’s not a direct continuation of what I studied in undergrad.
I was a high school counselor at two different schools in Virginia. Interestingly, when I went back to graduate school, I wanted to go into elementary school counseling; I love working with young students. But the job opportunities that aligned with when I needed a job were all in high school. I’m so grateful for that because I loved working with teenagers. It was a wonderfully hard job, and it was a job that I really didn’t understand until I was in the midst of it. I could do a whole interview just on that, but it was really, really, really rewarding work, and it was a job where I knew it mattered that I came to work every day, and I never had a doubt that I was having an impact in people’s lives. [I’m] so very grateful for that chapter.
When you speak with college students, what common fears do you hear?
I have two big themes that are coming to my mind. One fear I hear often is the fear of somehow messing up the opportunities that people have when they are in college. So, that could be fear of failing a class or not picking the right major, whatever that means…not being successful in college or fear of failure or messing up the opportunity.
I also have encountered a lot of fear [of] what I would call a sense of not being enough: good enough, smart enough, talented enough, competitive enough, hardworking enough. I think college students, in particular, because I work with UVA students, have gotten to this chapter in their lives through a lot of hard work and a lot of often intense effort. Sometimes, when they get to college, that intensity can be amplified.
So my advice—maybe less relevant than any advice I would give—would be what I wish for college students to feel and to know…that they would not be admitted to the University of Virginia if they were not capable of excelling here. I would want them to know that no one else can define success for them; they don’t need to borrow someone else’s definition of success. I also would just want them all so deeply to know that they are enough as they are; they don’t need to be someone else or someone else’s version of a good college student. I think UVA students, in particular, are really, really hard on themselves, [and I] think they are often giving friends and loved ones wonderful, gracious advice that I wish they could turn inward more often.
I know it’s easier said than done, but I think the fear of failing or somehow messing up the opportunity that’s in front of them really relates to a fear of what’s next. In high school, although there are lots of options in what you take, what you study, and what you do outside of class, there is a little more structure. And if the goal is to get to college, for some students, once you’re in college, it can be kind of unmooring. I guess I would also want people to know [that] college is very much a time of self-discovery, and figuring it out all at once can feel like we’re lost or that we don’t know what we thought we knew. That’s just what happens as you’re growing into a new chapter.
Is there anything else you would like female readers to know about life at UVA?
I’m thinking about what I needed to hear when I was 19 or 20 at UVA. [I was] kind of finding my way, loving a lot of things, and also feeling challenged and unsure. I think there were many times where I would have benefited from hearing someone 15 years out say that amidst self-doubt or uncertainty or kind of the shifting tides of your plans, [that] you are in a really special place, and if you’re open to it, the people that you’re surrounding yourself with and the opportunities that you lead into will help you come of age. All the uncertainties, worry, and stress will not be what you remember. And self-doubt is not serving you…it’s not assisting you in any way; it’s holding you back.
When I was in college, I had this [paper] taped to my laptop; it’s a longer quote. I needed to hear this when I was in college… it’s by Marianne Williamson: “There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. And we ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?’ Well, actually, who are you not to be?”