By Zac Dunn
Published November 8, 2019
Scottsdale Independent
A good story does more than entertain; it connects us to each other and to our history in ways that nothing else can, breaking down the walls we’ve built between each other, sharing hard-earned lessons across time and space.
Sabrina Arevalo, 18, has crouched in midnight foxholes, flinched at the crack of a jungle branch, dozed in the damp squalor of a prison camp and gritted teeth at the white-hot rip of shrapnel through delicate skin.
Ms. Arevalo has never been to Vietnam --- not in person --- but after hours spent interviewing veterans of the Vietnam War and sharing in their remembered hardships, she has a better understanding of that brotherhood than most --- and of the horrors, too.
Ms. Arevalo is no stranger to physical conflict, although her war zone is more regulated than the battlefield: a black belt in karate, she recently became the first Scottsdale resident ever selected to represent her country on USA Karate’s Junior National Team.
There is an athlete’s intensity at Ms. Arevalo’s core, offset by a sparkling demeanor. Her passion is clear in her eyes when she talks about the veterans she’s interviewed, in her voice when she retells their stories. Sabrina recently graduated from Notre Dame Prep, where she leaves behind three years as the chapter president of Veterans Heritage Project, an experience she credits as foundational to the person she is today.