CREAR is run by a multi-cultural staff, made up primarily of the international volunteers who come to our community. We incorporate social, environmental and cross-cultural themes, as well as foreign languages, in our curriculum, hoping thereby to contribute to the formation of a spirit of multicultural curiosity, global awareness and tolerance in the program’s youth.
Who We Are:
La Asociacion CREAR is made possible by all who help us. The businesses and individuals that help financially, the volunteers, the community support and community participants all make CREAR the success that it is, that it has been and that it will continue to be. If you would like to help, please click here.
The Directors:
The directors of CREAR head up all program development, fundraising projects, volunteer recruitment, librarian duties, and administrative responsibilities, and most importantly, they are the ones in the classrooms and after school programs every day.
Andrea Keith, Program Director:
Andrea is originally from Texas, where she attended Austin College and graduated with a dual degree in Psychology and Spanish. During her third year at Austin College she attended La Universidad Nacional in Heredia, Costa Rica and taught English. She returned to Costa Rica in January of 2008 to perform a research project on the relationship between tourism and the local culture of Costa Rica. After graduation, Andrea worked as a translator and case manager for a non-profit organization in Houston that provided care for adults with developmental disabilities. She moved to Sámara permanently, as CREAR's Program Director, in January 2009.
Johannah Waite, Fundraising and Environmental Director:
Johannah grew up in the small town of in Bayfield WI and attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She visited Costa Rica for the first time in 2006, where her interest in both learning Spanish and caring for the environment were sparked. She graduated from UWM in 2009 with a BA in Conservation and Environmental Science. During her time in Milwaukee she interned with a local non-profit, Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful, as the Education and Outreach Assistant. Afterwards she became a part time educator with the Urban Ecology Center, another non-profit that focuses on environmental education. In the fall of 2009 she returned to work for KGMB as the Fundraising Coordinator and in the spring of 2010 became the Coordinator for the Great American Cleanup as well as an Educator with KMBG’s Waste Management Recycling Education Program. In her spare time Johannah loves adventure, running, hiking, swimming, dancing, cooking, teaching and crafting.
Adjunct Staff:
Nikola Ruhlow, Boy's surf and lacrosse coach:
Nicky was born and raised in Playa Carrillo. He currently splits his time between the beach and San Jose, where he studies Business Administration at the Universidad Latina. Nicky grew up surfing and was invited to participate as a member of the Costa Rican National Surf Team at the age of 16 and then again at 18, leading him to ultimately place second in Central America in Guatemala in 2007. Nicky joined our staff in December of 2011 as our lacrosse and boy's surf team coach. In his free time he enjoys shaping surf boards, surfing and diving for lobsters.
Advisory Board:
Laura Ellington, Executive Director:
Laura was born in Switzerland, grew up in England, then moved to the US, where she completed her BA in English Literature with a minor in teaching Spanish as a Second Language, at Skidmore College. She has RSA/CELTA Teaching Certification from Cambridge University, and a Post-Graduate Certificate in English-Spanish translation and linguistics from the Universidad Internacional de las Américas, Costa Rica. Her MA is in Cultural Anthropology, from the City University of New York. Before settling in Costa Rica, Laura worked for Women in the Environment, a small USAID-sponsored non-profit which worked on environmental, literacy, sustainability and health issues. She also interned with the Nature Conservancy in Indonesia and worked for the DAC Gender Mainstreaming unit of the OECD in France, before returning permanently to Costa Rica. She is the founding director of Intercultura Language School & Cultural Center, from where she co-founded CREAR as the non-profit branch of the school, in keeping with a desire to give back to and work for the community. She has been a guest speaker at the National University, and participated in numerous conferences on Cross-Cultural Identity, Education and Second Language Acquisition in Costa Rica and abroad. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her daughter, reading, yoga, Latin dance, biking and swimming at Sámara's beautiful beach.
Lindsay LaVelle:
Lindsay was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and then moved to New York City as a teenager. She received her Bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from Eugene Lang College of The New School and her Master's in Teaching from Pace University. She was a New York City Teaching Fellow and worked with children and adolescents as a Special Education teacher in the Bronx, NY before moving to Costa Rica in 2007. In her spare time, Lindsay enjoys yoga, dancing, reading and traveling.
Board of Directors:
Marielos Acosta, Priciple of El Torito Elementary School
Marla Hernández, Lic. Children's Psychologist, Fundación PANIAMOR
Kelly Kammerer, JD. Former USAID Director and the OECD Development Assistance Committee
Sally Staton, PhD. President, Write Now! Consulting and Senior Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Lic. José Miguel Alfaro Gómez, Partner of Alfaro Law firm and the International Lawyers Consortium, Costa Rica.
Collaborators:
Lic. Iván Nuñez, Contador/Accountant Pro Bono
María Schwab, Founding Director, Teacher, Administrator
Luís Díaz Gómez, Environmental and Wood-working Teacher
Laura Ellington, Founder, Teacher, Administrator
Tyrone Jackson, Founder, Teacher, Administrator
Gabriela Pérez C., Teacher, Administrator
Guillermo Alvarez, Administrative and fundraising
Kattia Palma: Jewelry Making Teacher
M. Fernanda Gálvez: Studio Arts Teacher
Karol Castro-Leal : Dance Teacher
Lázaro Rocha: Music Teacher
Xinia Caravaca: Culinary Arts Teacher
Guadalupe Urbina: Music and Theatre workshops
Carlos Loría: Music workshops
