Mission First, People Always: How One FCPS Grad Turned Military Moves Into a Path to Leadership

April is the Month of the Military Child, a time to honor the resilience and strength of children who grow up in military families—often adapting to new schools, new friends, and new beginnings.

For Sarah Locke, a 2011 graduate of Mount Vernon High School, that experience is deeply personal. The daughter of two U.S. Army officers, she moved frequently throughout her childhood—living in Texas, Virginia, and Germany, sometimes homeschooled, other times enrolled in public schools.

Despite the constant change, one place always felt like home: Fairfax County. Her parents had purchased a townhome there as a home base, and she returned to it between duty stations. 

It was in Fairfax County Public Schools that Sarah found a sense of belonging—and a spark that would lead her to follow in her parents’ footsteps.

A proud graduate of West Point, Sarah credits both her military upbringing and her time in FCPS with shaping her values and inspiring her path to service.

“Virginia has always kind of been home, even though I was born in Texas I didn’t spend a lot of time there. Virginia is my home turf,” she said. “Fairfax County has always felt like home because so much of my formative years were spent here. I started kindergarten in Virginia, then came back for high school. 

“I got my driver’s license here, had my first car accident here. It was all my foundational experiences.”

She said not only did FCPS help prepare her for the real world, but it also helped prepare her for military life and a career.

One of those ways came about when she had a choice about which high school to attend. 

Sarah was zoned to attend the then-newly opened South County High School with her friends, but then she learned of Mount Vernon High School’s International Baccalaureate program.

She said at first she didn’t want to go because it meant leaving all of her friends, something she had done many times before during her many moves.

“I was beside myself because all my Silverbrook Elementary friends were going to South County, and I wanted to go there,” she said. 

She said she went and never looked back.

“I didn't understand at the time, but the International Baccalaureate program helped a lot in preparing me a little bit more for the real world. It helped with critical thinking. I had fantastic teachers at Mount Vernon, so I definitely do not think I lost out on anything,” she explained. “I also think Mount Vernon offered a lot of glimpses into the real world. The Home Economics classes were better, there was a huge sports program, but also, a really well-supported theater program.”

Sarah, who participated in multiple sports programs at Mount Vernon, also found a home in the theater and art programs. She credits her theater teacher, Beth Becker Demarco as having the biggest impact on her life. 

She said Demarco helped her identify, control and express emotion in healthy ways as opposed to bottling it up.

“She was just phenomenal,” Sarah said. “She knew how to have in-depth conversations with us and get stuff out of us so we could mature and develop.”

She said she bonded a lot with her peers in class and found a place where she belonged.

“Whatever social oddities I had coming out of being homeschooled, no one in the theater community was going to notice,” she said. “We were running around pretending to be other people and flinging paint at each other. No one cared if I couldn’t pick up on a couple of social cues.”

Art teacher Mr. Klinke also played a pivotal role in her development and preparation for the real world by letting her express their emotions through art. 

She said there are many misconceptions about military leadership and certain degrees, but said her experience in theater and art helped her be a good fit for the Army because of its people-first mindset.

“The Army is a people business. We don't have carriers; we don't have fighter jets. We don't have all of the stuff that the other branches do,” she explained. “We are way bigger than the Marines, so we have to be good at managing our people. And the Army is in the people business. 

She continued: “We have a motto that says, ‘Mission First, people always,’  and it was easy to adopt that mentality because I didn't come into the Army as an engineer or as a chemical specialist or as a lawyer, or one of those other things that require specialization. 

“You don’t have to have a degree in thermonuclear engineering to be a successful lieutenant, you just need to know how “to people.” And my theater instructor probably pushed me more than pretty much any of my other teachers and I think it just made me that much better at understanding emotions and understanding how to communicate and I really think that set me up for success.”

The third teacher that helped shape her was her Cross Country coach and one of the schools MCJROTC founders and instructor Mr. Willie Medley, who taught her to always do her best.

“My first day of Cross Country tryouts, he paired me up with an 11th grade girl and said ‘OK, this is Corinthia. You’re going to run one lap around the track and you’re going to try to keep up with her. How you do on this run is going to determine whether or not you make the team,’” she recalled.

“I was so nervous, I had no measure for how fast this girl was, I mean I literally learned her name 60 seconds before that and we took off, and she smoked me. I mean she was a gazelle, and I was so demoralized, but I kept thinking I have to do my best, I have to try my hardest even if I can’t keep up with her.”

She said when the lap was over, he asked her how she felt and she said she felt awful.

“Did you try your hardest?” he asked, to which she replied ‘Yes.'

“And he said, ‘Good, that is all I needed from you. I need you to know how far you can push yourself, that you can overcome mental barriers like watching someone beat you.’” she recalled. “And I was like, ‘Wow! I hate this and I love this.’ But it made a huge difference for me, for my mental perseverance.”

She was 17 when she started applying for college, and at the encouragement of her parents, she applied to the service academies. She received the Presidential nomination for the service academies and got accepted to West Point, like her mother. 

Her military career has taken her to South Korea and Kuwait in support of Operation Allies Refuge during the evacuation from Afghanistan. 

She has had what she called a “super interesting and nonstandard” career path where she spent her first years in the military working as an active duty corrections officer in military prisons, like Leavenworth. 

She also was an instructor for two years where she taught newly commissioned lieutenants within the military police and helped them get branch-qualified before deploying to their first duty stations. 

She earned a bachelor’s degree from West Point in U.S. History and Civil Rights in WWII, later a Master’s degree in business and organizational security management and is currently working on a Master’s in Policy Management at Georgetown University. She graduates in May and then will serve two years at the Pentagon as part of the program.

Sarah said she feels lucky to have come up through FCPS when she did, and said it will always be her home and hopes to retire here someday.

During the Month of the Military Child, Sarah is one of many who shines for her sacrifice and service.

“FCPS had such a positive impact on me in my formative years,” she said, adding that she’s proud to be from a place in America that has such a high propensity for military service.

To learn more about the Month of the Military Child and support Educate Fairfax in uplifting our military families, please visit EducateFairfax.org.