Healthcare Analyst to Super Bowl LIX: USD Alumna Balances Two Careers

Green confetti rained down inside New Orleans' Caesars Superdome as the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX this past February. Amid the deafening roar and dazzling chaos stood Eagles cheerleader Hanna Sahagon, her palms raised in celebration as she took in the moment.

"The clock went to zero and green confetti was all over," she recalls, still sounding awestruck. "I couldn't believe it was happening. I kept thinking, 'Someone wake me up.'"

What made this moment even more extraordinary was that just two years earlier, Sahagon watched the Eagles' previous Super Bowl appearance from a living room in Philadelphia as a newly-relocated healthcare data analyst. Now she was on the field, part of a championship team.

It represented success for Sahagon who grew up in Guam. As a child, she says she wasn't even the dancer in her family. That distinction belonged to her sister Sara, the "star" of their local studio.

"I had two left feet," Sahagon laughs. "I was just kind of there as Sara's sister."

She split her childhood between soccer — playing for Guam's youth national team — and dance classes where she says she struggled to keep up. Then something shifted around age nine. "Suddenly I was a pretty good dancer," she says.

Sahagon faced a choice: continue with both activities or focus her time and energy on one. She chose dance, setting in motion a path that would eventually lead her to the NFL, though nobody could have predicted that outcome then.

Growing up on an island of just 150,000 people, Sahagon always sensed a larger world calling. Her grandmother, who served in both the Army and Air Force in the 1970s, encouraged this yearning. "She's always been a beacon of empowerment for me," Sahagon says, "encouraging me to do what I needed to do, no matter where it took me."

That encouragement took her across the Pacific Ocean to attend the University of California San Diego (UCSD) for her undergraduate studies. The culture shock was immediate, transitioning from an island where everyone knew each other to a campus where just one lecture hall could hold hundreds of students. But Sahagon found two anchors: the university's dance team and her sorority "big" who also happened to be from Guam.

"I don't know if I would have survived my freshman year without her," Sahagon admits.

While dance remained her constant, Sahagon's academic path meandered. She entered UCSD as pre-med, shifted to public health, and graduated in June 2020 —"peak pandemic," she notes —with the thought of pursing law school.

"I was interning at a family law practice in San Diego, working as a legal assistant and office manager, still trying to figure out what I wanted to do post-grad," she explains. The experience proved clarifying. "I felt like I needed to go back to school. I wasn't sure I wanted to be a lawyer anymore."

Sahagon found her favorite undergraduate courses to be in health policy and biostatistics, so she went on the hunt for a graduate program that would support those interests. She discovered the Healthcare Informatics program at University of San Diego's (USD) Hahn School of Nursing and Health Sciences. "When I looked at it, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I think this is perfect for what I want to do in my life,'" she says.

She enrolled in January 2021, attending remotely while continuing to work at the law firm. "No matter how long my day was, I was always so excited to go to school and talk about things I was interested in," she says.

By April 2022, before completing her master's degree, Sahagon secured a position as a program analyst at Aya Healthcare. The pandemic that had complicated her education had also accelerated the opportunities for remote work, allowing her to accept a remote position with Aya Healthcare and move to the East Coast with her fiancé, Kevin.

The couple met years earlier at a USD concert. Kevin, a Cape May, New Jersey native was a lifelong Eagles fan. As they prepared to move, Sahagon told her friends that she was relocating because she dreamed of becoming an Eagles cheerleader.

That dream became reality when audition notices appeared in spring 2023. Despite taking off years from dance, Sahagon submitted a video application. From an initial pool of more than 300 candidates, she advanced through multiple cuts, learning choreography, participating in group interviews and performing solo routines.

When the email arrived announcing she'd made the team as one of just eight rookies selected that year, "I kind of just stood there for a second," she recalls. "I was like, there's no way this is real."

The rookie season proved exciting, but also challenging. Having stepped away from dance for such a long time, Sahagon had to rebuild her stamina while learning complex routines. The first time she stepped onto Lincoln Financial Field, "I don't think I've ever been anywhere louder in my entire life. It felt like the stadium was shaking."

Her first performance was to a Beyoncé mix, pumping through the stadium’s speakers as she danced on an NFL field, a space vastly larger than any studio or gym where she'd performed before. "I was just in my element," she says. "I had a blast."

Her story of making the Eagles cheer squad made headlines in her hometown in Guam, which resonated with many. At one Eagles game, a fan from Guam brought the island's flag, waving it enthusiastically whenever Sahagon looked his way. "It makes me so happy that there are people from Guam who are Eagles fans," she says.

When Philadelphia's playoff run began this season, Sahagon kept her fingers crossed for a Super Bowl appearance. The team entered the playoffs as the second seed, meaning if they kept winning, and the first seed stumbled, they could host the NFC Championship. When that scenario unfolded, "that was the moment it fully sunk in. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, we could end up at the Super Bowl.'"

In New Orleans, the team was swept up in a whirlwind of appearances, community events and preparation. They participated in a Mardi Gras-style parade down Bourbon Street, throwing beads to crowds. "It was great to be immersed in that culture," Sahagon says.

The Super Bowl itself unfolded like a dream. Actor Bradley Cooper introduced the team and started the Eagles' signature chant. "By the time they got to G, the stadium was roaring," Sahagon recalls. "The Eagles fans took over the stadium."

As she looks ahead to her April 2026 wedding in San Diego, a city that remains special to both her and her fiancé, Sahagon is contemplating her future in dance. She's begun coaching at a local high school in New Jersey and plans to audition for one more season with the Eagles.

"I think the next step for me is teaching the next generation of dancers," she says. "I've had my time. I'm thankful for everything I've been able to do."

Her mother, who once worried about her daughter leaving Guam, now beams with pride. While she isn’t always able to fly out to watch her daughter in person, this past December, she was there on an unusually warm December day in Philadelphia. The two joked that Sahagon’s mother "brought the Guam sunshine" to the East Coast.

It seemed like an appropriate metaphor for what Sahagon herself has accomplished: bringing warmth and light from her island home to every aspect of her life, whether analyzing healthcare data or performing under the bright lights of the Super Bowl. The once dance-challenged sister has now found her rhythm in life.

Photo at Super Bowl LIX by Brian Garfinkel
Thumbnail photo by Kiel Leggere

— Kelsey Grey ’15 (BA)