Since she was a child, Laura has always viewed life as a great adventure. She believes nothing worth gaining is easy to achieve and that you should try to do something every day that scares you. These philosophies are evident in the unusual and unique challenges Laura has chosen to tackle in her life.

While attending college at Texas A&M University, Laura was part of the marching band. On the surface, being in band may not seem like a challenge, but the A&M military marching band is part of the Corps of Cadets, a demanding four year military ROTC program. Laura wore a uniform to class, did an uncountable number of punitive physical exercises, and was treated like a private in boot camp all through her freshman year. “I wasn’t sure that I could handle the pressure, but I knew that if I didn’t at least try then I would sit in the stands for four years, watching the band march and think I could have done that”.

During her college summers, Laura’s challenges centered on learning to lead adventure activities by working with various camps and adventure programs, from Texas and New Mexico to North Carolina. It was during those summers that Laura realized the rich and inherent value in taking people into the outdoors. She saw many people come into a program as one person and then leave as a stronger and more compassionate version of themself.

Programming Director Hiking Six days after graduating from college with a degree in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism, Laura packed her belongings and drove across the country for her next challenge: wilderness therapy courses with at-risk youth in Pennsylvania. “My first night on course the low was two degrees and I thought, what the heck is a girl from Texas doing sleeping in the snow?” In Pennsylvania she learned a lot about herself, surviving in the wilderness, and motivating others but after a year and a half of battling the elements and stubborn attitudes, Laura was ready for the next adventure.

Laura’s first international experience was in Costa Rica through two work trips in high school. Her teams dug septic systems by hand and broke multiple chain saws trying to build walls in the root infested ground, yet somehow the friendly and laid back Latin culture got under her skin. So Laura’s next adventure took her overseas to another little Latin American country in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic.

Laura spent the next five years living and working in the Dominican Republic, running an adventure program. She had the great opportunity to guide and supervise everything from rock climbing and rappelling to backpacking, snorkeling, and caving. In her free time she took up white water kayaking and tried to learn how to surf. (She hopes she’ll learn more about that in Costa Rica).

One of Laura’s favorite quotes, from author Shane Claiborne, sums up her desire to live life as an adventure: “All around you people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don’t tiptoe.” Laura cannot wait to begin her great adventure in Costa Rica with Outward Bound and is excited about once again bringing her passions of people and the outdoors together in a life changing and meaningful way.