About Me

Profile

About: Hey there! My name is Sarah Alpert, and I’m a 2nd year Pre-Nursing major at the University of Texas. I grew up in North Richland Hills, TX and am the middle child in a family of 5. You should know that if I hear something funny, I will laugh and when I laugh I inevitably cry—don’t be alarmed. I love spicy food and have been known to put chili powder and hot sauce on anything, from popcorn to watermelon. Music is my passion, and if you put my iPod on shuffle you could hear anything from the Beatles and the Everly Brothers to Iggy Izalea and Justin Timberlake. Last but not least, I love my family more than words can say, and I would not be the person I am today if not for our family poker nights, cooking competitions, white water rafting adventures, and SpongeBob marathons.
Growing up, we took family trips to Austin almost every summer and it soon became a second home to me, despite the fact that I still get lost trying to find my classes. When it came time to choose a college, I visited other schools expecting to find amazing live music, a pancake that rivalled the ones at Kerbey, a donut that could match up to Gourdough’s “Dirty Berry”, and tacos that could produce as much pleasure and pain as the Brushfire from Torchy’s….to say the least, I was disappointed. Not only did these schools lack the incredible originality of U.T., but they simply did not feel like home.
One of my favorite things about this city is that no matter who you are or what you do, you belong! I was born and raised as a conservative Jew and faith has always been extremely important to me. I grew up one of the only Jews at my school, and so after feeling different for so long, it was a breathe of fresh air to come to a city and a school with a melting pot of culture, religion, and heritage and to know that here, I can be who I am without fear of judgment or discrimination. My favorite part of Judaism is that we don’t focus on what happens after we die; our goal is to make this world a better place while we are here. I can’t think of a better way to give back to this world than biking across the country for a cause that touches the lives of millions of people every single day.

Why I Ride

I ride for Bob Alpert, my grandfather lovingly known as Papa. I was only 5 when he passed away from cancer, and yet the few memories I have of him are close to my heart. A Navy veteran and father of five children, he was a family man and the ultimate “do-it-yourself” guy. If there was a problem, he would fix it, and if he couldn’t fix it, he would pick up a guy from the nearest Home Depot to do it for him. I cherish the home videos we have of him dancing to the Backstreet Boys with me, showing off the sweet dance moves he definitely handed down to me. The videos where you can hear his Boston accent with every word he says. When I slept over at Nanny and Papa’s house, I would run to the breakfast table in the morning, drench my Special K in sugar and milk, and wait for him to come in and inevitably grumble around the kitchen, doing his best impression of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, before he called me his Belle. Growing up, every accomplishment I made, my Dad would always tell me how much I reminded him of his father, so driven and full of ambition. My whole life I have been extremely close with my grandmother whom we call Nanny, my Papa’s princess and the love of his life. I call her every single week and truly cannot imagine my life with hearing her laughter, listening to her loving words, and feeling her endless support for me no matter what choices I make in life. It is commonly said that you can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends, and I cherish the fact that I have the gift of both a loving family member and a wonderful friend in my sweet Nanny. I can’t help but think that if Papa were around today, he would be right there next to her, forever my friend, my confidant, and my partner-in-crime. He was only in his sixties when he died, and the cancer took his life quickly and suddenly, shocking our family. With the accomplishments we’ve made thus far in the field of cancer research, I can’t help but wonder if he could have been saved with modern technology. I ride for all the little girls out there who love to dance on their father’s and grandfather’s feet. For the children who never got to know their grandparents because cancer took their breath away too fast. For the people that had plenty of fight left in them, but found themselves trapped in a weak body they did not recognize. Last but most certainly not least, I ride for the survivors and the people who are still fighting that inspire me every single day and prove to us all that with hope, knowledge, and charity, cancer CAN be beaten.