OjoOido Intergenerational Latina Role Model: Sabine Harrington

Sabine, a 2013 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and currently pursuing her Master’s of Physiological Sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson, exemplifies what can be achieved both personally and professionally through individual goal setting, time management and prioritization—all fundamental tenants of OjoOido’s pedagogy.

A Latina Breaking Barriers 

Earlier this summer the OjoOido team introduced our readers to our Intergenerational Latino Role Model series.  OjoOido’s Intergenerational Latino Role Models not only showcase Latino Talent in a diversity of fields and endeavors, but provide tangible examples of what can be achieved both professionally and personally through individual goal setting, time management and prioritization.  All part of OjoOido’s driving mission to improve the academic lives of Latino youth in the US.

Here at OjoOido we use three categories to select our Role Models.  First, the OjoOido Role Model has demonstrated ethical conduct that serves as an ethical template for the exercise of adult responsibilities.  Second, the OjoOido Role Model serves as a symbol of special achievement.  Third, the OjoOido Role Model must be a nurturer that can provide special educational services. 

Latina Heritage 

Today OjoOido is proud to feature Sabine Harrington as one of its Intergenerational Latina Role Models—click here for Sabine’s video introduction.

Sabine, like many Americans, is a blend of many cultures, all of which she is proud of.  Her father’s side has deep roots in Colonial New England, and even further back to 12^th century England and Scotland.  Her mother’s side (Leon, Morales) has very deep origins in Sonora, Mexico, making Sabine a fifth generation Tucsonan.  She is very proud to call the Southwest her home.  She is also very grateful that her parents placed a high value on her education and encouraged her from the beginning to work hard in school and to take it seriously – for that was the only path to getting into a top university and learning the skills to get what one wants out of life.

Commitment to Studies & Use of Study Skills 

Sabine, a 2013 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and currently pursuing her Master’s of Physiological Sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson, exemplifies what can be achieved both personally and professionally through individual goal setting, time management and prioritization—all fundamental tenants of OjoOido’s pedagogy.  Through the cultivation of such fundamental academic and life skills, Sabine is able to successfully balance her academic pursuits with her driving interest in athletics and her own entrepreneurial pursuit.

Sabine began her academic trajectory early at the original BASIS charter school in Tucson.  There she was challenged with a demanding curriculum of biology, chemistry, mathematics, public speaking, music, economics, and other courses. From there she went on to University High School, where she took all Advanced Placement and Honors courses, a decision she believes positioned herself to get accepted toand succeed at a top university. 

Sabine was fortunate to have the benefit of parents and a high school counselor who encouraged her to aim high when applying to colleges, not to rule any out because of low acceptance rates. “I knew I had done all the hard work necessary up to that point and thought, why count myself out? The worst that can happen is a school says no, and no matter where I go my educational experience will be what I make of it.” So with that attitude she applied to many of the highest ranking universities and was accepted to almost all, including the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Vassar College, Washington University in St. Louis, and others. 

At Penn Sabine studied Paleobiology, an interdisciplinary field that includes biology, paleontology, geology, chemistry, anatomy and other background sciences. She chose this track because it was a unique approach to pre-med – nearly all the pre-health requirements, but with a classical context within which to situate the modern biomedical sciences. Sabine believes it helped her to view life science as a single discipline no matter what organism or level of complexity was being studied. She minored in anthropology and also did elective study in physiology and nutrition science out of deep personal interest. 

Sabine finished her Penn career with her senior capstone project.  Sabine really enjoyed the interdisciplinary nature of her project – she was fortunate to get input from experts in Penn Medicine, Penn Veterinary Medicine, the Anthropology Department, and the Academy.  Sabine was awarded the Penn Paleontology Summer Fellowship and Greg & Susan Walker Endowment after graduation in May 2013 to continue the project and make it publishable. She and her research partner (a VMD back at Penn) are currently drafting the case report and hope to get it into a research journal.

Sabine is excited for her next chapter: a Master’s of Physiological Sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She is looking forward to finally getting to focus on her favorite discipline.  While unsure if she will pursue a PhD or medical school afterwards, Sabine is confident she will be prepared for either.

Commitment to Athletics & Development of the Entrepreneurial Spirit 

If Sabine were to describe herself in a couple of sentences, it would be as follows: “I love to move and feel alive. My passion has always been learning about the body – whether experientially by using it, orintellectually by studying it.”

She grew up being active and tried out many different sports. “I think it was with taekwondo that I got an appreciation for total-body training, and I started running on the side to gain aerobic fitness,” she says. Sabine ran varsity cross-country at University High School in her senior year and earned MVP. She also ran varsity track at still holds the #7 all-time spot for the 3200m, something she is very proud of! She has competed in numerous local road races and a few sprint triathlons, and also loves to climb, weight-train, and practice yoga.

More recently, Sabine has been an indoor cycling/group fitness instructor for over three years. “I like to train my body holistically so that no part is neglected. I don’t have a strict regimen, but I aim for a balance of upper and lower body, and resistance and aerobic training.”  

Alongside her commitment to developing her athletic prowess, Sabine embarked on her first business venture, an online plant-based nutrition website which she launched at the start of 2014, PlantBasedAndPowerful.com™. This business is her way of combining her different interests: cooking, nutrition, fitness, physiology, food presentation, photography, and entrepreneurship. Sabine’s goal is to be an effective communicator and ambassador of science to the general public, making it accessible but at the same time keeping the content at a high level. Sabine actively posts on her business Facebook page topics ranging from recipes to research, medicine to athletics – anything health and wellness related.Sabine also presents wellness seminars to the Tucson community that focus on workplace health and applications of nutrition science and physiology. Sabine’s commitment to her own health and wellness, while sharing her techniques with others, is particularly important to share with the Latino community, as diabetes is an urgent health problem among this group. Their rates of diabetes are almost double those of non-Latino whites. Getting information to the community about the seriousness of diabetes, its risk factors and those who may be at risk, as well as ways to help manage the disease, are all essential.Most recently, Sabine self-published her eBook, “PlantBasedAndPowerful: My Integrative Wellness Lifestyle” in the iBooks store. It is a project that Sabine started right after she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania two years ago. Her book contains 67 pages of mainly her healthy recipes, plus a body-weight/yoga section. The book is grounded in nutrition, physiology, and anatomy. A sample download and also the full book are available here.

OjoOido Principles in Action 

OjoOido Role Model, Sabine Harrington, exemplifies that women can succeed and do well in the STEM field. She is also an athlete and an entrepreneur, consistently pushing herself to succeed in all her chosen pursuits and interests.  Sabine is able to compartmentalize her passions and her academics so she has time to fit it all in.  As such, Sabine proves that if you make effective use of time management, everything you love, along with your responsibilities, will come to fruition.

It is clear from Sabine’s academic story, athletic interests and entrepreneurial pursuits that her conscious and deliberate use of study habits/skills—the processes of learning to achieve effective study practices—allowed her to juggle multiple demands.  As an OjoOido Intergenerational Latina Role Model, Sabine “brings home” the idea that Latino students can and should be helped to develop conscious, deliberate control over the mechanisms of their own learning.  Although the set of study habits/skills is large, the core fundamental skills are time-management, goal-setting, prioritization, utilizing the Time Matrix, and writing a study action plan—all skills taught and supported by the OjoOido Time Management Module.

The OjoOido Latino Role Models go beyond simply conveying information and inspiring you.  They actually demonstrate how the OjoOido Time Management Module results in not only success with your academics, but a healthy lifestyle, filled with your passions and non-academic interests.  All students are capable of creating this type of success for themselves by integrating our OjoOido Role Models’ advice into their daily routine.  

The OjoOido Latino Role Models prove that success is there for you when you learn the techniques outlined in the OjoOido Modules.  You will never find yourself dismissing an opportunity with the overly used phrase “I don’t have time” because you have learned how to schedule your day and early evening so that you can fit in all you need to accomplish.  Irrespective of your particular interests or personal goals, all are achieved the same way, with the effective use of time management, prioritization and goal setting. See, hear and learn from OjoOido’s Intergenerational Latino Role Models. 

The OjoOido team applauds Sabine for her ethical conduct, special achievement and nurturingcommitment to improving the lives of other Latino students by sharing her personal academic journey and development of life skills. 

See. Hear. Learn!