Still Home: Sarah Merriam ’89 Returns to the Hill

“I’ve never really had to leave home,” said Sarah Merriam ’89 as she wrapped up her Hopkins Assembly speech.

Merriam’s career has brought her to one of the nation’s highest courts without taking her far from the place where it all began. Today, as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, her chambers overlook downtown New Haven. From her office, she can see West Rock, New Haven Harbor, and the Green.

For Merriam, home extends beyond geography. Returning to the Hill as a 2026 Distinguished Alumna, Merriam said the feeling of connection came flooding back almost immediately.

What also returned was a memory of her 1980s fashion sense. She recalled the oversized T-shirt and ripped jeans she wore on her first day at Hopkins, the metallic blue eyeliner she once thought looked fashionable, and the hairstyle she now hopes never comes back into style.

“I wish somebody had told me in 1985 that I absolutely should not get a perm,” she joked to the students in the audience. “I know you all are going back to the ’80s with some of your styles, but let it die.”

Before offering students advice about careers, friendships, and values, she reminded them that she had once been exactly where they are now—an awkward teenager trying to figure things out.

Merriam said returning to campus felt both familiar and entirely new.

“It’s a little surreal,” Merriam said afterward. “The campus has expanded so dramatically and it’s such a beautiful place that it sort of takes your breath away. Things were a little simpler when I was here, but it’s remarkable how much it’s evolved over 40-something years.”

When asked what she was like as a Hopkins student, Merriam’s answer came quickly.

“Awkward,” she said with a laugh. “I liked school. I liked being here, but I can’t say I was as committed to my studies as I should have been.”

Rather than settling into one social group, Merriam remembers spending time in different ones.

“I sort of moved among those,” she recalled. “I didn’t have a specific spot that I anchored in.”

Inside the classroom, Merriam found her voice—even her singing voice—in the most surprising place. She recounted how Math teacher Clay Hall made such an impression that decades later she still remembers one of his math lessons.

“He had a whole song about negative exponents,” Merriam laughed. She still remembers the chorus: “What comes up must come down. Negative exponents turn around.”

Beyond math, Merriam followed her curiosity to other subjects.

“I loved physics. I can’t say I was all that good at it, but I really loved it. And I loved English and history.”

Her memories of Hopkins also center on the teachers who challenged and encouraged her.

She remembered how Assistant Head of School John Roberts, who was then her eighth-grade adviser during his first year at Hopkins, was a constant source of support throughout her time at Hopkins and beyond. And she recalled how former Chemistry teacher Anne Leighton patiently stayed after school until she finally understood chemical compounds.

After her assembly speech, Merriam spent the rest of the morning doing something she hadn’t done in decades: going back to class. She visited Dan Levy’s Constitutional Law class and Tim Phipps’ AP U.S. History class, answered students’ questions during a gathering in the Café, toured the campus with Annabel O. ’28, and joined students and faculty for lunch in the dining hall.

Throughout the day, amidst questions about constitutional law and judicial appointments, the conversation with students often returned to broader themes: finding purpose, building relationships, and discovering what truly matters.

As Merriam put it, being honest with oneself remains crucial to finding your values. “Know yourself and you’ll know the right choice when a tough situation presents itself.”

Throughout her speech and her visit, Merriam returned to a simple idea: don’t become so focused on building a résumé that you forget to build a life.

Long before she became a federal appellate judge, Merriam scooped ice cream, cleaned hotel rooms, fueled boats, stocked shelves, worked as a live-in nanny after college, and even stepped away from law for a period of time to help a friend run for office. She said she is grateful for what she gained in these experiences.

“You don’t have to get the perfect internship in the exact field you want to pursue. Just do interesting things that bring you into contact with interesting people.”

Her path eventually led to Georgetown University, Yale Law School, and later a Master of Laws degree from Duke University. After clerking for federal judges, Merriam served as a federal public defender before being appointed a United States Magistrate Judge in 2015, a United States District Judge in 2021, and, one year later, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Relationships, she explained, have held greater significance to her than accomplishments.

“It doesn’t so much matter what you do,” she said. “It matters who you do it with.”

Over the years, Merriam has collected friends everywhere—from classmates and colleagues to people she met through surfing, powerlifting, and even a Billy Idol concert. Merriam summed up the lessons learned from these varied experiences with one succinct message: “Collect good people at every stage of your life.”

Merriam’s final message centered on knowing one’s values. During her first interview to become a magistrate judge, Merriam was unexpectedly asked to identify her core values and explain where they came from. While she wasn’t fully prepared for the question at the time, it became one she has continued to reflect upon.

Today, she points to hard work, humility, generosity, civic duty, kindness, and loyalty.

“And all of those serious and meaningful values are complemented and enhanced by humor, flexibility, and creativity,” she said.

During the student question-and-answer session that followed, one exchange captured much of what she hoped students would remember.

“If you feel like you don’t fit in, think about how important your voice is in that room. Because if everybody else seems the same and you seem different, they need to hear from you,” she said.

Near the end of assembly, Merriam reflected once more on the unexpected shape her life had taken. Today, from her chambers, she can see many of the places that have shaped her life. She still regularly encounters fellow Hopkins alumni throughout the legal community and beyond.

“This place has impacted a lot of lives,” she said. “And it connects a lot of people.”

The Hopkins Distinguished Alumni Program was established in 1991 to recognize Hopkins graduates who have demonstrated extraordinary accomplishment in their professions and in service to their communities.