Sarah Eggart

Meet Sarah Eggart

Sarah Eggart, a native of Newport, Tennessee, transferred to ETSU in 2013 after completing her first two years of college at Walters State Community College.  On May 5, she graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in communication studies with a minor in marketing, and was recently named the 2018 Outstanding Student in the Department of Communication and Performance.  Eggart’s journey toward her degree has been especially challenging, as she juggled scholarship pageant competitions, commuting from Newport, taking a year off to earn her cosmetology license, and completing many classes online from San Diego, where she and her husband lived as newlyweds while he was stationed there with the U.S. Navy.  She recently completed an internship in marketing and social media coordination for a cell phone repair business in Newport.  Eggart is a longtime church youth leader, and has also worked as a consultant in helping young women build confidence and leadership skills as they prepare for pageant competition.   

How did you first get started competing in pageants?

I started in seventh grade.  My mom owned a store, and her employee, whose daughter did pageants, said I should enter one, and so I did just for fun.  There were about 50 girls in our county fair pageant, and I made the top 10, which was amazing to me.  I’ve always enjoyed performing and being on stage, because I sing, as well, and to me, it was just performing and having fun.  I slowly did all the small-town fairs and festivals, and went to Tennessee’s Junior Miss as a junior in high school.  That led to competing for Miss Tennessee.  I went my senior year of high school and was completely shocked; I had no idea what I was doing, but I still loved it.  I took a year off to mature and learn about the system and the process of being Miss Tennessee, and then I competed in 2013 and 2014, and got first runner-up both times.

What led you to choose communication studies as your major?

When I started at Walters State, I wanted to be an art teacher, which is completely opposite of what I’m doing now.  That turned into a double major, but I was also competing for Miss Tennessee, and I had to be a full-time student but didn’t want to overwhelm myself.  So I changed to business, and that was fun.  But with my experience in the Miss Tennessee system, I learned a lot of the ropes with communication, and that training led to my major in communication studies.  I sought that out in coming to ETSU.  The staff is wonderful, and the teachers have been great.

After my husband and I married, I was able to get all my classes online.  Since 2013, I’ve been continuously going to ETSU from San Diego, because it was important for me to graduate from ETSU.  I did not want to transfer anywhere else, and I wanted to complete my degree here.  There was only one year that I took off – 2015-16 – to complete my cosmetology license in San Diego.  My minor was originally radio-TV-film, but it was hard to do that from a distance, because you have to learn all the technical aspects on-site.  I knew it was not realistic, so I switched to marketing, because that is another passion that I have, as well.

What led you to seek your cosmetology license?

I always wanted to go to cosmetology school since I was a young girl.  I had a dream of owning my own salon in our town, but when I graduated (from high school), my parents did not want me to do that.  They knew the importance of having a college degree, and they felt like I needed to do that first and then maybe get my cosmetology license just to have a back-up plan.  Once I was married and on my own and was taking classes part-time, I thought, “Well, this is my opportunity to do it.”  For me, that was achieving the dream I’d always wanted.

What are some of your dreams and goals for the future with your communication studies degree?

It’s difficult because I am a military spouse.  That’s the main reason why I’m even home, because my husband went on his first deployment.  It was perfect timing, because I was able to complete two semesters and finish my degree at home, because I was left with classes I could only complete in person.  We’re supposed to move back to San Diego once I graduate, and after he finishes his last year in the Navy, we’ll move to Virginia so that he can go to school.  I’m really blessed and thankful that this degree has so many doors it can open.  It’s trained me in a variety of ways, and every company needs somebody who can help with communication.