Celebrating Ten Years of Impact: OSD Alumni
Sarah (right) with her host mother Sarah Flitter (middle) and friend Joanna Tomlinson (left) at St. Augustine’s Church in Birmingham, where Sarah served as Director of Music.
Sarah Fox ('15)
Sarah Fox said that her time at WKU allowed her to grow into her own uniqueness. Sarah grew up in Russelville, so she was able to continue serving as the organist in her home Episcopal church while attending WKU. However, her studies would take her far from home.
Sarah graduated from WKU in 2015 with degrees in history and music and was a student in the Mahurin Honors College. Sarah, an Ogden Foundation Scholar, said that she appreciates her experiences at WKU and the support she received from her faculty mentors.
“My music studies deepened my knowledge of music and provided an abiding source of joy and friendship, especially singing with and accompanying the WKU Chorale,” Sarah said. “My history studies, on the other hand, alerted me to a passion of which I was previously unaware: that of loving to study and analyze cultures.”
Sarah was the first WKU student selected to attend a Fulbright Summer Institute for Undergraduates, during which she studied at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. While at WKU, Sarah combined her passions for music, education and social change, founding an after-school music program at T.C. Cherry Elementary School and teaching a leadership course for Super Saturdays. Sarah also received a Lifetime Experience Grant from the Office of Scholar Development to complete a score study in New York City with renowned choral composer and conductor Alice Parker.
Sarah received a Fulbright U.S. Student Grant to pursue a master’s degree in choral conducting in the United Kingdom. She studied under Dr. Simon Halsey, the director of the London Symphony Chorus and the Berlin Radio Choir, at the University of Birmingham.
“I discovered a lot about myself, and about the world, in Birmingham,” Sarah said. “I discovered that cultures of music are just as prevalent and varied as cultures of people. I discovered that connecting with the local community is a crucial part of the learning experience.”
Sarah began her second master’s degree in August 2016. She is pursuing a master of arts in religion with a concentration in sacred music through the Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. Her program is interdisciplinary, and she is learning from scholars of divinity, music, visual arts, literature, and history.
“Looking back, I am very grateful to WKU, to Birmingham, and to my home community in Russellville.”
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