During her first term, Sarich earned a reputation as a tight fiscal conservative, at times calling on the board to have its budget audited after reporting a 10 million dollar deficit.

[5][6] In her bid for re-election in 2004, Sarich polled the most votes out of all 14 candidates in the Catholic district race and outpolled her Ward 2 opponent Jim Urlacher by a margin of almost 2 to 1.

Following the election, Sarich was appointed to Cabinet by Premier Ed Stelmach to the position of Parliamentary Assistant to the Education Minister, Dave Hancock and served in this role until 2011.

Highlights while serving as Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Education included mandated to support the Minister in the evaluation of education infrastructure, chair and release the task force report "Building Financial Capacity for School Board Trustees and Superintendents", and to serve on the committee and contribute to the report "Inspiring Education-A Dialogue with Albertans."

[8] Sarich's community volunteer contributions included: a business mentor with interVivos, Board of Director and Chair, Speakers' Bureau with the Alberta Association of Former MLAs, and served as an advisory committee member to the Junior League of Edmonton and Catholic Social Services.