When Sabina Vargas first joined Summer Search, college didn’t even feel like a possibility. 

“I’m a first-generation student, and college was never in my plans,” she shared. “I never thought that it was reachable.” 

Today, Sabina is studying social-cultural anthropology at CSU East Bay, working for the university’s Department of Anthropology, and helping younger students see new possibilities for themselves, just as Summer Search once did for her. 

Check out Sabina’s interview from the 2025 Alumni Summit.  

Sabina, a Summer Search alum from the Bay Area, says one of the most transformative parts of her journey has been mentorship. Through every transition, challenge, and milestone, her mentor Jocelyn has remained a constant source of support: “Jocelyn is like a big sister to me…I feel like I can confide in her anything that I go through.”  

But long before she found herself working in higher education, Summer Search introduced her to experiences that expanded her understanding of what was possible.  

On one of her summer experiences, Sabina traveled to Colorado and Arizona, where she worked on restoring pathways connected to the Hopi Tribe. The experience sparked something in her that would eventually shape her academic and professional path. 

 

 

“Because of the knowledge that I learned from [the] Hopi that time, it made me at 15 think about what major I wanted to focus on.” 

Before that trip, she says, college had never been mentioned as a possibility in her household. 

But through her Summer Search trips, Sabina began to see herself differently and began connecting more deeply with her own passions and culture as well. She shared that her Summer Search trips made her reflect: “I I think I wanna do this forever. Just learn about cultures.” 

 That passion led her to anthropology, where she now studies culture, community, and identity while also speaking publicly about her own experiences. She shared: “Within that pathway, I learned about my own culture, and now I’m able to do land acknowledgments and speeches about my own culture.” 

 

 

 

One of Sabina’s favorite Summer Search memories came when she shared her story at a gala in front of hundreds of people, with her mother and grandmother in the audience. 

“It was one of the first times that my grandma had traveled from Mexico, and she was able to see me talk about my story and my journey in front of so many people.” 

Today, Sabina is focused not only on her own future, but on helping younger students believe in theirs too. Every summer, she works with nonprofits supporting young people ages 13–18, many of whom come from communities that look like hers. She hopes young people growing up in communities impacted by violence and systemic barriers can see beyond the limitations they’ve been told to accept. 

For Sabina, success isn’t just about achievement. It’s about becoming someone her younger self would be proud of: “I hope that 15-year-old me can look every year and continue to be proud of who she is becoming.” 

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The Summer Search journey doesn’t end with a milestone—it continues to evolve through the lives and leadership of our Alumni. We’re excited to continue our new Alumni Spotlight Series to answer the question, “Who are Summer Search Alumni?”. This series will feature conversations with Alumni across our community who share their experiences with Summer Search, how they are building careers, strengthening their communities, and navigating what’s next.