Sarah Phillips, UNT, M.Ed. 2025

One of my favorite parts of photography is getting to tell the stories behind the portraits. Recently I had the honor of photographing Sarah Phillips, a passionate educator, dedicated mom, and an inspiring example of perseverance. Her portraits are beautiful, but her journey is even more powerful. With her permission, I wanted to share the heart behind the smile you see in her photos.

Sarah first set her sights on earning her Master’s degree in 2021, but life had other plans. Instead of enrolling in grad school, she found out she was expecting a baby. That dream was put on hold for a season until she felt God nudging her heart to try again. In February 2023, just after her daughter Charlotte turned one and her son Troy was three, she took a leap of faith and officially applied to graduate school. She laughs now, saying she thought she might be insane for doing it then, but it was the right time.

Throughout her time in graduate school, Sarah’s family endured a series of challenges. Her husband Weston suffered a pulmonary embolism, her daughter Charlotte was diagnosed with a kidney condition, and her father faced cancer and surgery. Despite it all, Sarah pressed on. She says, “I just held on to the belief that God wouldn’t place this goal in my heart and call me to it without seeing me through it.”

And He did. Sarah has made straight As in graduate school and has fallen in love with learning all over again. Her motivation? The students she’s taught, both the two children she shares DNA with and the roughly 300 others she has impacted in her teaching career so far. She shared something that stuck with me deeply: “As a teacher I know I can impact about 17 students each year, but I’m hoping one day I can impact more than that.” That fire is what led her to further her education.

Sarah even recalled a moment that lit a fire in her. During a meeting, an instructional coach once said, “Some kids will never pass and we just need to be okay with that.” That didn’t sit right with her. She decided she couldn’t be okay with it, and she’s doing something about it.

One of the most emotional parts of her story is her connection to her grandfather, Dr. Charles Neill Howard Jr. Troy, her son, carries on his legacy through his middle name, Howard. Her grandfather was the son of a steel mill worker and grew up with very little support for education, but he pushed through. While married with two children, he worked labor-intensive jobs while putting himself through school, eventually becoming an MD and earning two PhDs. Sarah credits her own love of learning to him, calling herself a “nerd” with pride.

Dr. Howard passed away in July 2014, just before Sarah began her teaching career. She told me, “The hardest thing for me is that my grandpa isn’t here to see this.” But she feels his presence still, especially in cardinals. He used to sit by a big picture window with his coffee, watching cardinals in his yard. Now, every time Sarah sees one, she feels it’s a sign from him.

It is these moments, both the big victories and the quiet reflections, that make storytelling through portraits so meaningful to me. Sarah’s journey is still unfolding, but her grit, faith, and love for students shine so clearly. I’m incredibly honored to have captured this chapter in her life.