Spider Love
I do, then Go Spiders
I thought, ‘I’m their good luck charm. We’re staying.’
How does a Spider celebrate her wedding day? If you’re former Richmond Rowdies president Sarah Huang Spota, ’13, the answer is Spider basketball. In 2019, just after her wedding ceremony in UR’s Cannon Memorial Chapel, she and husband John hopped a trolley to the Robins Center for the UR-VCU game
“All the stars aligned,” she said. The wedding party planned on watching for about 10 minutes, but with the game close, Spota — still in her dress and veil — wouldn’t budge. “We had just gotten the lead for a little bit. I thought, ‘I’m their good luck charm. We’re staying.’”
As she celebrated her third wedding anniversary in March 2022, Spota was moving forward in her career in public service, becoming deputy secretary of education in the new governor’s administration.
As she traverses the halls of Virginia’s executive branch, she again finds herself in the company of Spiders. Three members of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive cabinet are Richmond graduates. Richard Cullen, L’77, is counselor to the governor; George “Bryan” Slater, R’88, is secretary of labor; and Margaret “Lyn” McDermid, GB’00, is secretary of administration.