Student Spotlight: Sarah Sigmon of “Selfies With Alma”

By Indira Midha

Sarah Sigmon is a sophomore studying Advertising in the College of Media at UIUC. She has always been very creative and photography has always been present in her life. Her mother took a lot of pictures of her and her brother while growing up, so that love of photos continues to be in Sarah’s blood.

Sarah runs the Instagram account @selfieswithalma, where she posts a selfie with the University of Illinois’s Alma Mater statue every weekday during the school year. This idea originated from Sarah taking a selfie with Alma on the day she came to campus to register for classes the summer before her freshman year. She decided it could be something fun to do for herself in order to be able to reflect on the progression of time throughout her first collegiate year. She first posted these selfies on her personal account, and later on her mom suggested creating a separate account just for these images. Before she knew it, people were finding the account and following along with her! You get to see how the seasons, as well as Sarah herself, change, all in a beautiful grid.

Sarah views Alma as a welcoming figure with her arms open to all. She herself tries to live her life in a similar manner – opening her arms to all, whether it be on a personal level or through her blogging adventures on her fashion blog, faintlyfamiliar.com. She considers Alma to be iconic, and loves having this tradition.

Sarah plans to continue her selfies throughout her time at Illinois, concluding with a photo of her in her cap and gown on graduation day. When asked if she is ever tempted to just skip a day, Sarah immediately said “no.” Taking these selfies is a highlight of her day; it’s something that she gets to do for herself in this hectic time that is college. Each day the process only takes a few minutes, and it never fails to put a smile on her face.