The #HCSS spotlight this week is shining on Sarah Ruthven, a Microbiology senior from League City, TX! Ruthven is a MavElite Tour Guide, former Orientation Leader, and VP Recruitment Information in Alpha Chi Omega.

Sarah Ruthven poses outside College Hall.

MR: Tell me about your experience being a Microbiology major.

SR: Originally I started off as a Nursing major, and then I found that all my friends were like, “I want to help people,” and that was not what drove me. I realize that could be bad, but I really want to help society from afar, not the individual. So I had taken Microbiology, fell in love with the course, and then decided to change my major to that. Originally, I thought I would go the healthcare route, and do more in medicine, but after taking some classes I fell in love with the environmental side. Limnology is probably one of my favorite classes; environmental microbiology was also really cool. So, bioremediation, using microbes to clean up oil spills, that kind of thing really drives me.

MR: What has your experience been like in the Honors College?

SR: The Honors College has been fantastic to me. For my first two years, I was a part of the Learning Community in Vandergriff Hall. I was [in] the guinea pig class for that, it was awesome. I always advocate for that when I’m on tours as well. I got to meet a lot of really great, substantial people, both peers and faculty. That’s just really shaped my college experience, and I couldn’t be happier with it.

MR: What are your goals after graduation?

SR: I would love to work with a nonprofit organization. Helping clean up water, test water – if ever that’s possible – clean up oil spills, that kind of thing. Dam removal projects, super passionate about those. My boyfriend, who’s an engineer, is like, “No, dams are great,” and I’m like, “No, the ecosystem!”

MR: How has the Honors College affected the way you attain those goals?

SR: The Honors College has really pushed me to strive for the very best in everything that I do. It’s also pushed me to reach out to my professors and make contact with them, as opposed to being the afraid little freshman in the front – actually going up and talking to them. I’ve made a lot of what I would think are friends that way, so definitely understanding how to put yourself out there is fantastic.

MR: Imagine it’s your first day at college as a freshman. What advice would you give yourself?

SR: To sit back and enjoy it. Don’t rush it. Enjoy your freshman moments, because as soon they’re done, you’re not getting them back.

MR: Tell me about being part of your sorority. What is that like, being the VP of Recruitment Information?

SR: I didn’t rush my freshman year. I waited a year because I never, ever, ever thought I’d be the sorority girl. My mom went to UT and back when she was there, it was a totally different environment than what it is here. After my first year, I saw my roommate go through the process and she fell in love with it. She had great, real friends. They weren’t all like, “Oh my God, glitter and nails!” …I found that they were real people, and that’s where I found that a lot of the leaders on campus were involved. So I was like, “I want to get in there,” because I was really involved in high school, so it was an easy magnet for me. It did take a couple semesters for me to become a leader in the position that I currently am. But now that I’m in it, it’s a lot more than I ever thought it was. I’m definitely in the right spot.

[In] my position, I get to do research on the potential new members – AKA, stalk them on all the social media and then make a database about it. So it’s a lot of things I never thought I would be doing, and my first year of recruitment, I was like, “Oh my God, this is so much. Gross.” But now I’m head of it, so that’s pretty cool.