Sarah Touchstone wanted to set a good example for her family by becoming more involved and growing the Shreveport-Bossier City community. That desire led her to apply for the executive director position at the Renzi Education and Art Center last fall. As executive director, Touchstone looks forward to the future and wants the community to learn more about the Renzi Education and Art Center as well as expand the programs.

Q&A with:

SARAH TOUCHSTONE

Q: What drew you to apply at the Renzi Education and Art Center? Touchstone: I applied for the executive director position at the Renzi Education and Art Center out of a desire to become more involved in building a strong foundation for the community and my family.

Q: What is the best part about working at the Renzi Education and Art Center? What inspires you the most? Touchstone: The best part about working at the Renzi Education and Art Center is seeing kids from all different backgrounds being friends and working together towards a bright future. No matter who these kids are outside the center, once they arrive they are all Renzi kids!

Q: What do you want the community to know about the Renzi Education and Art Center? Touchstone: I want the community to know that the Renzi Education and Art Center is an after school program that provides free highquality art and academic classes to K-12 youth in the Shreveport- Bossier City area. Offered throughout the school year, the after school program runs in four seven-week sessions (Fall I, Fall II, Winter, and Spring.) Renzi students take two 25-minute academic classes and one 50-minute art class each day they are enrolled for a session, Monday to Thursday. Up to 50 students attend Renzi classes daily. For each session, the Renzi Center staffs 20-25 professional artists and instructors.

Q: What kind of programs does the center provide children? Touchstone: The center offers core academic classes such as language arts, reading, math and homework every session. We often change or alternate our offerings of art and academic classes that give students supplementary knowledge (such as geography, cooking or nutrition) each session, so students always have a variety of courses to choose from. Some of our current offerings are cartooning, clay/ pottery, creative writing, painting, paper mache masks, photography, sculpture, quilting, theater, wire sculpture, science, microwave cooking, typing, gardening and music.

Q: What do you hope to achieve in your first year as director? Touchstone: In my first year as executive director I hope to get even more people in the community excited about Renzi! We are looking to do new events that will involve people from all over the city and bring further awareness about the work we do here at the center.

Q: What kind of things do you like to do outside of work? Touchstone: I love to travel, hike, garden and spend time with my family.