PTPI Blog

Name: Sarah Houston

Title: Managing Director, Student Programs

Start Date at PTPI: March, 2006

Sarah Houston

1. Where were you born?

South Bend, Indiana USA.  (My mom’s family grew up on a farm in a little town called New Carlisle, Indiana.)

2. Where all have you lived in the world?

Homes have included (in order):

-New Carlisle, Indiana
-Jackson, Tennessee (for a very short time I had a nice, thick Southern accent)
-Bloomington, Indiana
-Lawrence, Kansas (for most of my childhood and through college, except for six months where I lived in Warsaw, Poland when I joined my father for his work sabbatical from the University of Kansas)
-Colorado Springs, Colorado
-Denver, Colorado
-Wichita, Kansas
and…Kansas City

3. What is your favorite outdoor activity?

Running.  I love going out with my Sunday running group, and I equally enjoy running alone in the mornings for the “thinking time” it gives me.  Some of my best ideas have come from my runs.  Every year I like setting a goal of a marathon or half marathon.  They truly show that you can do anything you put your mind to!

4. Do you have a favorite saying or quote?

“Live as if you were going to die tomorrow.  Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Ghandi

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

5. If you could pick anywhere in the world to volunteer for a year, where would it be?

In 2008 our student EXPERIENCE program traveled to Costa Rica.  We spent time in the Cloud Forest of Monteverde volunteering at the Children’s Eternal Rainforest (Monteverde Conservation League).  Ever since I left, I have this urge to go back and volunteer while also learning Spanish.  We had such a great experience working with this organization and Monteverde and the people are absolutely incredible.

If (or rather, WHEN) I go back to Costa Rica, there is also a volunteer project in the Guanacaste Region helping to protect sea turtles (and their nesting areas) that I would love to be a part of.  I saw a story a few years ago about these amazing animals and that, because of human threats, they are nearing extinction.  It’s very sad, but fixable with programs such as these.

Tags: PTPI Staff

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