Sara Khanzadeh has been associated with Heart House since 2001 when she volunteered with the original site in Dallas. She also served as a Program Leader and Interim Volunteer Coordinator. Sara is originally from Dallas and first came to Austin as an Undergraduate at UT. “I moved away for a few years and just recently returned again in January to work.” When she’s not busy working as a Physical therapist, Sara enjoys photography, music, reading, watching documentaries and trying new foods. “I’m particularly interested in traveling to foreign countries to see how the rest of the world lives.”
Her most memorable Heart House experience was taking a group of Heart House kids on a field trip to UT. “They got to visit a genetics lab, see inside a student’s dorm, walk through the campus and try Tiff’s Treats cookies and Jamba Juice. I like to tell myself that it made a difference to them and helped them visualize themselves being college students. They were so excited by everything they saw. That was four years ago. I’d love to see where those kids are now.” The kids have certainly learned a lot from Sara over the years. “I hope they have learned to respect people that are different from themselves. I try to point out that being different is a good thing and something to learn from. I hope they see me as someone they can talk to about different issues that everyone has to deal with growing up. I like to take kids away from the group to have impromptu small group talks every now and then. They seem to like that kind of attention.”
Sara hopes to one day become a high school teacher to help kids think outside the box. “Heart House hasn’t changed my plans. UT makes me feel that for at least a couple of hours each week I’m not totally useless. I like to be goofy and ask silly questions. The kids don’t mind it. I can’t do that at work. Plus, I like the dirty, sweaty hugs. I can’t get those at work either.”
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