Otero College Alumna Sarah Johnson Hardwick Credits Hometown College for Career Success

Description: Sarah Johnson Hardwick, 2007 Otero graduate, found a foundation for success at her hometown college.

Otero Alumna Reflects on the Impact of Otero College 

LA JUNTA – Sarah Johnson Hardwick is a 2007 graduate of Otero (Junior) College with an Associate of Science Degree. She is now living in Elizabeth, Colorado, married, the mother of two young children, and the owner of her own insurance company, NestGuard Insurance.

Hardwick grew up in La Junta, the daughter of the late Chris Johnson and Monica Johnson, both Otero (Junior) College graduates. She is one of hundreds of students over the past several decades who have taken full advantage of the concurrent credit classes offered at their local high school. Upon graduating from La Junta High in 2006, Sarah lacked only two semesters to complete her first two years of a bachelor’s degree.

“There was never any question in my mind that I’d go anywhere other than my local college,” said Hardwick. My plan was to eventually earn a bachelor’s degree in audiology & speech language science from the University of Northern Colorado; however, when I did the math, I realized that with the scholarship opportunities at Otero, and the concurrent credits I brought in from high school, I could completely knock out my first two years of pre-requisites for UNC’s speech program at Otero, and enter UNC with absolutely no debt,” she explained.

Those two semesters at Otero were life changing for Hardwick. In addition to taking a full load of math and science-laden credits, she also became a work-study in the Student Services office, where she worked closely with Vice President Jeff Paolucci and Cashier Maxine Fisher.

“I learned so much from working in Student Services about customer service, scheduling, work-flow efficiency, and so many other tasks that years later I would use on a daily basis,” she said.

On the academic side, she is especially grateful for the course rigor of her math and science courses; especially her experience in Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) with Lisa Gallegos.

“Lisa Gallegos’s class was one of the most rigorous classes I’ve ever taken. The material was hard, but Mrs. Gallegos taught us how to study and how to process the information and apply the knowledge. The following year at UNC I had to take the next level of A&P, a course that historically less than half the students passed. I went into the course kind of worried, but after the first week I knew ‘I had this!’ Mrs. Gallegos had prepared me so well for the next level that I easily passed the course and built my confidence in my ability to have academic success, because I knew how to study,” she said.

Other instructors at Otero who made a lasting impact on Hardwick were history teacher, Fred Boettcher. She said his classes were interesting, thought-provoking and again, taught her how to study efficiently. She took courses under Darlene Blackford and sign-language courses with April Darnell and Sue Bemiss.

“All three of those women are exceptional human beings, and I saw in them the compassion that I would need to emulate for my future career in speech therapy,” she stated.

One course that was required at Otero, but not part of her math and science curriculum, was a business course on computers. She took that course with Robert Sameniogo and learned foundational skills for business processes.

“At the time, I could have had no idea how impactful that course would later become in my eventual career. I use many of the skills I learned in Mr. Sameniogo’s class today in my insurance business, and I’m so grateful that the class was required to graduate,” she stated.

Hardwick went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from UNC in audiology and speech language science. She worked for a few years in the field, spending two years back in La Junta at BOCES as an assistant speech language pathologist. 

“My goal was to eventually return to UNC to earn a master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology; however, I missed being accepted into the program two times, so it was at that point that I decided I’d look at other career options,” she said. “The work experiences I’d had up to that point made me realize that there was a little bit of an entrepreneur in me and that maybe I’d like to have my own business someday. I found that opportunity in the insurance field, and for the past 15 years I have gone down that path, opening my own insurance agency a little over a year ago.”

Today Hardwick is a wife, mother and independent broker for NestGuard Insurance in Elizabeth, Colo. Reflecting on her time at Otero College, Hardwick said that many aspects of that student-experience helped her build a solid foundation for her current life and career.

“At Otero I learned how to study, I learned how to manage my time, I learned about teamwork and collaboration, and most importantly, from the examples of faculty and staff, I learned how to be a good person who wanted to be of service to others. The people at Otero truly loved students and their kindness and friendship have left a lasting impression on me.me,” she reflects.

For students who are on the cusp of entering college, Hardwick’s advice to them is all about giving themselves the grace of time to get things in life figured out.

“Give yourself grace and the permission to not have a career path mapped out at the age of 18 or 19. Just get your foundational work done and you will be surprised how doors will open, pointing you toward your future. Life rarely follows a straight path, and if you are open to change, some beautiful things will happen,” she advised.

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