San Francisco / Oakland cohort
Program Assistant
As a 2020 alum of OEI, Athena Sabaria (they/them) is humbled to be returning as the Spring 2021 Program Assistant. They are concurrently working as a Lab Manager studying the social behavior of tuco-tucos, a rodent endemic to Argentina. Balancing between the binaries of gender, nationality, and (dis)ability, they hope to serve as a bridge to greater access to the outdoors. Their goal as an outdoor educator is to break down the barriers that separate the “human” and “non-human” world. To create a more holistic understanding of environmental literacy, Athena combines the knowledge of “natural” sciences, eco-feminism, indigenous practices of reciprocity, and non-human narratives.
When they are not focused on surviving under capitalism, Athena finds comfort in cooking vegan dinners with their housemates, watching sunsets, and expressing their creativity through various forms of art. And if people are open to it, they are excited to share their love of spiders, astrology, and destigmatizing mental health.