Graduate Spotlight: Nashville ballet dancer begins second chapter of life
Sarah Veach graduates with a clinical mental health counselor degree Dec. 16.
Janel Shoun-Smith |
Sarah Veach chose to focus on her career as a dancer in the Nashville Ballet during her undergraduate college years, so she earned her bachelor’s degree online studying part-time.
When a new chapter of her life began, she wanted to earn her Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling on-campus and in-person “to be able to develop deeper relationships with classmates and faculty.”
She knew that Lipscomb was the place for that kind of community. “Every interaction I had with the clinical mental health program at Lipscomb was warm, supportive and personal,” she said.
On Saturday, Dec. 16, she will complete her master’s degree and officially begin another new chapter as a counselor at AGAPE, a Nashville non-profit that offers foster and adoption services, domestic violence care and counseling.
“I knew I wanted to be in a field that allowed me to be a part of peoples’ healing,” said Veach, an Alpharetta, Georgia, native who came to Nashville in 2010 to dance in the ballet. “I was deeply impacted by the power of counseling in my own life, and wanted to be a part of that transformative work in the lives of others. Pursuing a degree in counseling was the logical next step to reaching my goals.”
True to her desire to learn within a community, Veach names the other students in her program as “brilliant, brave, and loving people” whom she has loved getting to know.
Veach met her husband through the Nashville Ballet and is now the mother of two. Her family and friends were a source of great support as she pursued her degree, including an internship at AGAPE during her last year in the program.
“My Lipscomb experience has been amazing. The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program challenges you, supports you and changes you. I have grown so much both as a counselor and as a person,” said Veach.