SarahRose Bernhardt, the very definition of “a truly lovely human being.” (All photos poached from her Facebook account)
SarahRose Bernhardt is special.
Always has been, always will be.
It takes a special talent to light up every room you enter, to make others feel good about themselves, to achieve and inspire without asking for credit.
But that is SarahRose.
We live in a world which has grown harsher in the past few years.
Or, at the very least, one in which people are much more inclined to be abrasive to each other, to demean and ridicule.
There are days where it feels like there is little hope of kindness reclaiming the public mood.
Which is why SarahRose is like a light at the edge of the world, buffeted like the rest of us, but not willing to give up the fight.
In the same year that the Coupeville High School grad and her fiancée, David, returned to find their home burning to the ground, she has endured, and she has prospered.
As a new year dawns, SarahRose is not sitting back. She has moved to the front of the crowd, pursuing a medical calling at the height of a worldwide pandemic.
In the pictures she and her proud parents have posted, we see a young woman who pulls on fire gear, hefts a saw half the size of her body, and moves into action.
“Badass” Bernhardt (far right), ready to battle whatever comes her way.
We see a brilliant student, a talented dancer — an actress and cheerleader during her high school days — who, clad in PPE from head to toe, brings healthcare right to the front doors of those in need.
Working for Dispatch Health out of Seattle, SarahRose is, like the others she works with, a reassuring face in a troubled time.
That she would make this decision, to be part of the solution at a moment of crisis, is not surprising to me.
While I don’t think I’ve seen her in person since back in the Videoville days, SarahRose, like her parents and siblings, was always something special.
She graduated from CHS in 2004, after being a member of the Hi Q Academic Quiz Bowl team, serving as a school board rep, participating in the Learning Partner program, and being a group leader for Honor Society.
Not content to stop there, SarahRose was also a tutor, an active volunteer in the community, and a team leader for the Wolf cheer squad.
Graduation from the University of Washington, after a similar string of accomplishments, arrived in 2008.
In her post-school days, she used her love of dance to inspire countless people through her work at places such as Barre3 Bellevue and Daybreaker Seattle.
And now, a frontline worker in a troubled time, a continuing ray of hope in all she achieves, and how she reaches those goals.
A day at the beach with her fiancée and the doggos.
As I said before, SarahRose has never been one for beating her chest, screaming out why she rules (even if she does), and expecting folks to get in line and bow to her.
Too bad, cause we’re going to do the latter part right now.
That’s because we’re capping 2020 by inducting SarahRose Bernhardt into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.
Since it’s technically a digital shrine to athletic achievement, she’ll be listed as a cheerleader, even if she’s really going in for that and a billion other things.
After this, if you wander past the top of the blog and look under the Legends tab, that’s where you’ll find her hanging out.
At least on-line.
In real life, SarahRose will be found where need arises, where her skills and hard work will accomplish much, where she can leave behind an impact on the world she moves through.
She is a badass, and she is the light, and she makes her hometown proud, every day.
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