Sarah Elizabeth Hansen
Born and raised in the heart of Los Angeles and the fast-paced city lifestyle, influenced by the saturated news and entertainment industry creates no surprise reaction to my broadcast journalism pursuit. Given that my upbringing could essentially be summed up by the two words • International Relations •. I am, naturally, a declared double major in each respective field, and ever so proudly at the greatest school in the nation – USC! My mother is from the gorgeous coast of Colombia, which I"ve traveled to annually, and my father from LA with strong and active roots in Ireland.
Growing up consisted of weekly Star Wars binges, BB gun battles and belly-laughter with my two older brothers, who are now married (and bestowed me with the title of auntie!), as well as hardcore attendance and study of ballet, with my kick-ass younger sister, Elizabeth.
I studied ballet for 15 years, and upon the brink of pursuing a professional career, I decided I wanted to attend university. The leave from ballet allowed me to explore alternative forms of dance, and stumbling upon hip-hop in high school rocked my world. Literally rocked my world. Through hip-hop and jazz dance I was given the opportunity to travel to The Netherlands, Estonia and Sri Lanka continuously for four summers to teach dance at schools and orphanages throughout each country with a group of incredible dancers from Los Angeles.
My high school experience was a b-l-a-s-t. Involvement and social connectivity is my favorite drug. I was the Varsity Dance Team captain, Junior class secretary in Associated Student Body, an active member of the Spanish Club and the V.P. of Best Buddies, the club on campus for students to connect and befriend the differently abled students within the school district.
For an entire year I introduced myself as Princess Sarah. For reason, other than my own royal aspirations – I was blessed to win the title of Tournament of Roses, Rose Princess. In the city of Pasadena, a parade takes place every New Year’s Day, along with a pretty well known college football playoff game, the Rose Bowl, in which the Rose Princesses are special guests of. In the city of Pasadena, every young girl aspires to become a Rose Princess and, I was no different. In 2014, one-thousand girls ages 17-21 stood in line on a hot September afternoon to participate in a series of interviews to dwindle down the thousand to, eventually, the winning 6 women.
On October 7th, 2014 I stood looking into a sea of journalists and news cameras. My mom's camera was flashing almost as bright as my father's smile. My parents stood in the sea of people beaming with pride. It was a pivotal moment in my life where I realized that my future, though uncertain, would be promising, and so far, the "future" has not let me down.
Above all, my family, friends and faith are my most treasured components of my life. Upon graduation I hope to either attend graduate school or become a reporter for ABC7, eventually working my way to become an international correspondent for CNN news.