Victoria Orcutt

Born to Serve

This record-breaking competitor finds her greatest successes in her ability to positively impact others.

Victoria Orcutt has mastered success. Her impressive accolades as a multi-sport scholar-athlete include competing and winning at the State and National levels while academically maintaining a 4.71 grade point average. Highlights include setting 11 school and 4 district records in swimming, being named Northwest Florida’s Swimmer of the Year in 2018, and representing the United States at 2018 Modern Pentathlon Youth World Championships and the 2017 and 2018 Pan American Championships.

While she is a determined competitor, she never forgets Albert Einstein’s words of wisdom: “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” Her parents have modeled these words for Victoria her entire life. As a military family, sacrifice and selflessness have always come first, and the family has “packed our lives into boxes and followed the path of service,” on many occasions. With the constant moves, sports, academics, and service have helped Victoria stay grounded. And seeing her father rise to the call of duty time and time again has inspired Victoria to push through her own challenges, including the stress of multiple deployments and a personal growth plate injury, to channel her inner strength and emerge even stronger for the experience.

While she has given more than 900 community service hours to a variety of deserving organizations, she has two primary passions: supporting military deployed families and working to raise awareness of suicide prevention. After losing a teammate to suicide, Victoria established the Vikings Take Five to Save Lives, a suicide prevention program that raises awareness and funds for mental health support. She led a group of 50 volunteers and ran daily activities during National Suicide Prevention Week, culminating in a Community Mile for Mental Health Run. Her efforts reached over 50,000 community members and her program is being adopted by other local schools. As a participant in Florida’s American Legion Auxiliary Girls State program, Victoria wrote and advocated for a bill to promote mental health resources in schools, which now sits on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk. While she won the Girls State Outstanding Citizen Award for her efforts, she’s most proud of the impact she’s made, which could help to save lives.