Julian founded Sustainable Horizon upon returning from Costa Rica where he worked at the INCAE Business School’s Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development. His experience at INCAE and travels across Costa Rica expanded his knowledge about sustainable development and environmental issues. This new knowledge and appreciation of Costa Rica’s bounty of nature and wildlife, along with his desire to offer students a unique experience that would not only benefit them, but the people and environment around them, served as the catalyst for creating Sustainable Horizon. Prior to living in Costa Rica, Julian worked in Washington, DC in the travel and tourism industry. He graduated Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia with a BA degree in Psychology and the Hill School in Pennsylvania.

Born with an infectious love for international travel, Jessica joined Sustainable Horizon after working and traveling throughout Central America. Living in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic ignited her Pura Vida spirit, love for the Spanish language and passion for the vibrant Latin American culture. Jessica established SH College working with colleges and university students around the country placing them with individual and group volunteer placements around Latin America. She is now working with the SH high school team. She shares a unique vision of community development, sustainable travel and volunteerism with her brother, Julian, and wishes to share her knowledge and global experiences with all of their participants. You will rarely find Jessica without an American football in one hand and a frozen mango smoothie in the other. She graduated from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with a degree in public relations.

Costa Rica office

Sarah Joy Staude Latin America Operations Coordinator

Through early high school trips to Mexico and Honduras, Sarah Joy became enthralled with the indigenous and modern cultures of Latin America and the Spanish language. These interests prompted her to seek out semesters abroad during her college years in Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. She graduated from Lewis and Clark College with a degree in Hispanic Studies and she has since dedicated her professional career to international education.

She has made her home in Costa Rica and joins Sustainable Horizon as our Latin America Operations Coordinator. Sarah Joy counts herself as lucky to have a unique opportunity to facilitate sustainable long-lasting change in rural communities of Latin America while simultaneously giving US high school students the opportunity to receive a unique education and experience personal growth through service learning. In her free time she enjoys sharing good meals with friends.

Julio César Barrantes Morales Latin America Operations Coordinator

His passion for traveling started as a Tropical Biologist student in his native Costa Rica. Julio had the great opportunity to make many field trips and discover the most fascinating secrets places of his beloved country at the same time that he learned about its natural resources. Later as a researcher and as a naturalist guide he has had the opportunity to expand his borders and explore Central America and parts of the USA. All this traveling has given him a wider vision of the different realities of the world and how different and similar we all are. Julio joined Sustainable Horizon as a Group Leader in Costa Rica and has moved from that to coordinating all our countries in Latin America and throughout the world. Julio's personal goal in the organization is to give young people the opportunity to witness with their own eyes that all people are more similar than we believe, and that there is more out there than just our personal reality. This is why he loves working on creating safe, educational and fun experiences for all our participants.