University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Biochemistry
Great Minds in STEM is honored to introduce our Scholar of the Month for July, Sabino de la Cueva. Sabino was awarded the DiCarlo Family Scholarship at the 2022 GMiS Conference. Sabino joins us from Los Angeles, California as a Biochemistry major at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Sabino was originally born in Zacatecas, Mexico and migrated with his parents to Los Angeles at an early age. From his early years, Sabino has been the go-to person for his family. Not only is he the eldest, but he is also the only male in his immediate family. Growing up, Sabino’s parents relied on him as their translator. He shares that at times he would miss school in order to help his mother navigate the hospital for her doctor’s appointments and help his father communicate with his bosses. Rather than seeing this as negative, Sabino decided to take these experiences and create a positive impact. He began advancing his linguistic skills in both English and Spanish and used his skills to help his community. Sabino took it upon himself to assist his family members and neighbors with online documents, translating phone calls, mail, etc. For his excellence in Spanish, he received the California Seal of Biliteracy. This award is given to high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in one or more languages in addition to English. The award is marked by a gold seal on the diploma or transcript.
Sabino’s motivation to excel continued throughout his high school years. While attending Garfield Senior High School in East Los Angeles, Sabino kept busy. He was not only enrolled in courses at his high school, he was also dual-enrolled at East Los Angeles College (ELAC) where he took classes in engineering, robotics, Spanish, mathematics and health. While attending ELAC, Sabino was also on the Dean’s Honor List. On top of that course work, he also took part in the California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) Upward Bound Program for four years. During his time with the CSULA Upward Bound Program, Sabino had the opportunity to attend after-school tutoring, Saturday sessions with free SAT preparation, as well as summer sessions where he received high school credits. Due to Sabino’s hard work and dedication, he was placed on the Principal’s Honor Roll at his high school and most notably was awarded the Advanced Placement (AP) Scholars with Honors. This title is given to less than 10% of graduating high school students in the nation. The culmination of Sabino’s accomplishments led to his acceptance at UCLA.
Since the 2022 GMiS Conference, Sabino has completed his first year at UCLA. His future plans include graduating from UCLA with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry as well as attending medical school. Sabino shares that his passion for the biomolecular sciences fuel his inquisitive spirit in trying to better understand gene expressions, the effects of drugs, and the development of therapeutics for infectious diseases. We cannot wait to see how you continue changing the world!
Sabino will be joining us in this year’s 2023 GMiS Conference as a GMiS Conference Delegate for our 2023 GMiS Conference in Pasadena, CA, taking place October 11-14.