Sabrina Epstein
Senior, Bullis School
When she was 15, Sabrina Epstein flew alone to China to meet up with other youths in a volunteer service program. She spent a month helping orphaned children with special needs. The Bullis School senior says the trip taught her to be more understanding and patient, and prompted her to do something to share the experience with others after she returned home to Bethesda.
During her junior year, Sabrina partnered with a friend and the nonprofit organization Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) to co-found a club that pairs Bullis volunteers with teenagers who have developmental disabilities. About 20 students and their buddies meet every other Sunday at Tilden Middle School in Rockville to dance, do yoga, play soccer and get to know one another.
“It’s special to see those relationships carry throughout the year,” says Sabrina, who has also organized school assemblies to raise awareness about disability issues, such as avoiding the use of the term “retarded.”
Sara Romeyn, one of Sabrina’s teachers and adviser for the KEEN club, says she was impressed by Sabrina’s vision to establish a program in which students could form long-term friendships. “She is very caring, very kind, and she’s super mature,” Romeyn says. “There is a real depth of commitment.”
Sabrina, now 17, is also president of the National Honor Society (NHS) chapter at Bullis and director of communication for the Model United Nations Club. Lisa Vardi, an adviser for both groups and one of Sabrina’s teachers, says Sabrina is trying to restructure the NHS to give students a larger voice in the chapter’s activities. Vardi has traveled with Sabrina to Model UN conferences, including one in the Netherlands, and says Sabrina cares about what is happening in the world.
“Sabrina leads by example,” Vardi says. “She has a calm, confident demeanor, yet is very humble in what she does.”
Sabrina plans to study psychology and business in college.