The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets will dedicate the engraving of the name of U.S. Navy Ensign Sarah Mitchell of the Class of 2017 on the Ut Prosim Pylon during a ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at the War Memorial.

Mitchell, of Feasterville, Pennsylvania, died July 8 during a Naval training exercise in the Red Sea. She was 23 and leaves behind a large loving family and a fiance, Dave Collins, who is currently deployed with the Navy.

The ceremony is open to the public and all are welcome to attend. Mitchell’s is the 432nd name added to the Pylons and the first woman.

Cadets remember Mitchell as a hands-on and charismatic young leader who left a lasting impression on everyone who met her. During her senior year, she commanded the corps’ Alpha Company and served as a platoon commander for the university’s Naval ROTC.

“When I came to Alpha Company as a sophomore, she insisted on sitting down to have a meal with every new member of the company, making a conscious effort to get to know us as individuals,” said Cadet Daniel Grigg, a senior in Naval ROTC majoring in political science with a focus in national security and foreign affairs. “This was characteristic of her sleeves-rolled-up, ownership-based approach to leadership, and it inspired all of those around her.”

Mitchell graduated with a degree in biochemistry and minors in chemistry and leadership studies. She commissioned in May 2017 and reported to the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham as a surface warfare officer that June. The destroyer was on deployment to the Middle East from its home port of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.