Feature Story
Finding God in Her Interests–Leigh-Anne Verburg’s (‘26) Growth at Southern Virginia University
Leigh-Anne Verburg (‘26) is making the most of her time at Southern Virginia University by being involved in as much as possible and finding the Savior in every aspect of her busy schedule.
“The more that I’ve done things that I’m passionate about, the more that I’ve felt the Savior’s support and I’ve been able to find opportunities to enjoy myself and grow myself, but also look outwardly and to serve others,” said Verburg.
Verburg has seen the most personal growth as a member of the university’s women’s wrestling team where she started wrestling for the first time. During a particularly hard day, a teammate told her that God is on the mat with her and she took the message to heart.
“The more that I realized that God is on the mat with me, the more I realized that God is not just on the mat with me—He’s at home with me,” Verburg explained. “He’s walking across campus with me. He’s at work with me. And these are all things that I knew, but for some reason when she said that to me it clicked.”
A member of the Polynesian Heritage Association and Sigma Delta Pi as well as a tutor at the writing center, Verburg currently serves as student body president in student government and as the Young Single Adult Stake Relief Society President. Her many responsibilities have taught her to delegate and lean on others for support.
“This campus wants you to succeed. And by that I mean, the administrators, the professors, the coaches, everybody wants to see the students here succeed, and I’ve been able to feel that and see that in the way that we have so many resources on campus for students to partake in.”
Working to become an English teacher, Verburg is an English major, Spanish minor, and a member of the teacher licensure program. She is taking advantage of the Rockbridge Teacher Education Consortium that prepares students to earn a Virginia state teaching license.
“The RTEC program has just been such a flourishing of inspiration and growth in every class that I’ve taken that has helped me to realize that I’m supposed to be a teacher,” said Verburg. “Teaching is a job where you provide a service for somebody, and so I’m excited to be able to do that for somebody, and I just hope that I can do good as a teacher. And I think I will. I think I’ll get a lot of opportunities to do good.”
“Everything that I’ve been a part of at SVU has not only helped me to be involved on campus, but it’s given me important life skills that I’ve continued to apply, such as being able to balance a lot,” continued Verburg. “I like doing what I can, I like being active, and SVU has afforded me a lot of opportunities, and I feel really lucky.”