Do you know where to find JCC royalty?
Monday morning Step class, of course!

Victoria & Sam Souvall

If you've ever wandered past the fitness studio and heard someone enthusiastically calling out instructions that sound vaguely like a foreign language, you've probably encountered Victoria Souvall. Her energy is legendary. Before I tell you about Victoria's accolades with the J, however, allow me to recount the origin story of Victoria and Sam. Their story begins at Shalom on the Range.

Circa 2002, Victoria was helping with the gala, modeling a necklace for the live auction and circulating through the crowd so bidders could get a closer look. During her rounds, she paused beside a handsome gentleman and suggested he bid on the necklace for his wife.

Caught off guard, he mustered a canny reply: "I don't have one. Why don't you be my wife?"

That gentleman was Sam Souvall. He bid on and won the necklace that evening. As it turned out, Victoria would never have to take it off.

More than two decades, seven children, and countless shared adventures later, Victoria and Sam have become the sort of couple that makes everyone else believe the long game is worth playing. They stand as a gentle rebuke to the notion that familiarity dulls affection.

Their story began with a chance encounter, but serendipity was merely prologue. The substance of any good story lies in what follows: the daily choice to commit, to shoulder, to look for the bright side. Spend a few minutes with Victoria and Sam and you'll note they move through the world as true partners, sharing an ease with one another that can only be earned. When I commented on their palpable chemistry, Sam didn't hesitate: "I fell in love with her the second I saw her," he said. "We were serious from the very first date. I knew it had to be her, figured I might as well take my shot."

Long before that fateful Shalom on the Range, Sam was coming to this building when it was still the Fort Douglas Country Club. When the building evolved into the JCC, Victoria helped shape what would become one of its most enduring departments. Drawing on years of experience as a trainer and fitness consultant, she built the Health and Fitness programs from the ground up, establishing a culture that continues to energize members decades later. As Sam observed, our JCC is uniquely Utah. It reflects the people who fill it and responds to the needs of this community. The J became the place where the Souvalls chose to raise their family, a fitting testament to their shared belief that communities, much like marriages, are built not by grand gestures but by people who show up, pitch in, work hard, and find joy in the process.

So! Pull on your cowgirl or boy boots and come to Shalom on the Range this year. You never know how your life might take an unexpected pivot for the better. And speaking of pivot turns! Do check out Monday morning step class. Victoria promises that after four classes you'll be confidently speaking the language of "repeater knee," "walk-away-mamba-to-shuffle," and "starburst."

More importantly, you'll discover the same thing the Souvalls found here years ago: your people.