As seen in the annual ‘Terrific Teens’ issue of West Hartford Magazine, 2015. Sabrina Carreira, of West Hartford, is a 2015 graduate of Northwest Catholic High School.

By Katie Cavanaugh. Photos by Todd Fairchild/ShutterbugCT.com

For our fifth annual spotlight on recent West Hartford high school graduates, we were once again challenged because the pool of “Terrific Teen” candidates is virtually never-ending. We discovered teens with talents, tastes for travel, and thirsts for new challenges – both big and small. Every young person has an interesting story, and what resulted are eight stories about eight great role models whose aspirations will inspire anyone of any age.

As seen in the annual ‘Terrific Teen’ issue of West Hartford Magazine. Sabrina Carreira is a 2015 graduate of Northwest Catholic. Photo by Todd Fairchild/ShutterbugCT.com

For Northwest Catholic’s Terrific Teen Sabrina Carreira, life has been a balancing act between academics and sports.

After attending St. Brigid School for both elementary and middle school, Sabrina moved on to Northwest Catholic. Now a freshman at Ana Maria College, Sabrina is majoring in Sports Management and playing on their Division Three Softball team. “I’ve gone to Catholic School my whole life. I can’t get away from it now,” she said jokingly.

Sabrina enjoyed her time at Northwest Catholic saying, “Everyone is so friendly (there). You can just go up to anybody and say hi.” When she was not studying, Sabrina participated in the book club and worked in the school apparel shop. When she wasn’t playing herself, she also could be found cheering on her peers at Northwest sporting events.

Softball, however, was always Sabrina’s favorite extra curricular activity. She was a member of both Northwest Catholic’s team and a travel team called the Northwest Shock. So, one can imagine how devastated she was when a knee injury left her out of commission.

“I couldn’t do the sport I loved or go to the gym as much as I wanted to,” she said. “ It happened in July and I didn’t get to play again until the end of November.” However, with passion and dedication to the sport, Sabrina was able to get back to the top of her game and became eligible to play in college.

While being a collegiate athlete can be stressful, Sabrina said she has the time management skills necessary to be successful. “I would want [people] to know that I’ve worked hard on being an athlete and a student,” said Sabrina. “I learned to balance both and both complement each other.”

Sabrina has been playing softball since she was five years old, and she does not plan on handing in her mitt any time soon. She would like to keep softball in her life by eventually becoming a coach. “I want to teach girls how to play the sport and fall in love with it,” she said.

Sabrina prefers to be active. While some people may look at going to the gym as work, she sees it as time to relax and let off steam. “That’s my alone time when I can get my stress out,” she said.

In addition to working out, Sabrina enjoys listening to country music and reading Nicolas  Sparks novels. “I recently read Safe Haven in two days,” she said.

As for her favorite food? “I’m Italian. Pasta is always a ‘go to’ with me,” she said.

Coming from a close-knit Italian family, Sabrina said she has always had a strong relationship with her parents. “My parents are my role models because they showed me that hard work pays off,” she said.

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