​Sabrina Sanchez, a sophomore digital journalism major and Bronx-native, has found her place at Pace through her involvement with on-campus jobs and creative interests that express various facets of her personality.

​One of the ways Sanchez is involved on-campus is through her position as a resident assistant (RA) in Martin Hall. But Sanchez does not want her position as an RA to make her peers feel like they cannot approach her.

​“I’m super friendly, and I try to make everybody happy,” she said. “Sometimes people can be intimidated by their RAs, but there’s nothing to be afraid of. We are people first.” 

​Sanchez takes her people-pleasing nature with her while working in the RA position.

​“As an RA, we have to deal with conflict, so I try to be a mediator,” she said. “The way that I approach conflict is that I’m a compromiser. I try to do the best that I can to get everyone on the same page, or at least starting over with a new page.”

​Before this year, Sanchez commuted from the Bronx. As a commuter, Sanchez feels like she missed a lot of the activities on-campus, so living in the dorm has presented her with opportunities to meet more people and be more involved. However, living on-campus also presents challenges like homesickness. Sanchez credits both experiences as a commuter and as a resident with shaping her growth as a person.

Along with her position as an RA, Sanchez also works in the writing center.

After just a semester of working at Pace’s writing center, Sanchez was asked to help conduct research. Earlier this October, Sanchez presented research on behalf of Pace’s writing center at the International Writing Center Association’s (IWCA) annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

​Alongside writing center director Michael Turner and other students working at the center, Sanchez presented on a panel addressing replicable, applicable, data-driven (RAD) research. RAD research is about applying research that would be conducted in a science lab to writing centers, humanities, and social sciences.

​“The challenge with that is replicability is difficult because in science, if you have the same variables, you may get the same result over and over again while social sciences, and specifically writing centers, are dealing with different people and different learning objectives and methods, so it’s hard to replicate studies,” Sanchez explained. 

​The research Sanchez was involved with was a success at the IWCA conference. Sanchez got feedback from the conference’s attendees, and some suggested she publish the research she presented.

​Writing has always been something Sanchez has loved. She now runs her own blog where she writes about topics that interest her like her daily life, her identity, and social justice issues.

​Sanchez’s creativity does not end there. She also makes music. Two of Sanchez’s recent singles—“Too Late” and “Paraiso”—are available on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, and other music platforms. Sanchez also has a YouTube channel where she has an official music video for “Paraiso.”

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“I’ve been recording since I was about 14, but those songs were more of a hobby,” said Sanchez. “My two most recent songs I’ve taken more seriously, and I’ve done what I can to market myself.”

​Sanchez is currently working on more music and networking with other musicians.

​With so many commitments and responsibilities in her life, Sanchez, like many college students, experiences anxiety. She has to make a conscious effort to take care of herself by reading a book, writing a blog post, watching a TV show, or holding her Beanie Baby.

“A really strong personal goal that I have right now is just making time for myself,” said Sanchez. “Because I am very involved, I can sometimes forget to take care of myself. And I’m also working on balancing social life and work life.”