Bipeds of Brookland: Sara Woodhead

Sarah Woodhead is an architect who came to Brookland in 1991, with her husband and  three kids. They bought an abandoned house on Kearney with graffiti, no heat, and mice living in the oven. “We fixed it up while living in it and it took us 10 years to get it all fixed. We did a lot of work ourselves. After we finished it we had to move because I needed projects. So we bought another project house, and we’ve been here for 12 years. It’s not done yet.”

She has worked in DC, Arlington and PG counties on building and modernizing schools. “When I was 12, I just started designing buildings. I didn’t know any architects so I didn’t know how to go about it.  So my undergraduate degree is in Middle East Studies and Arabic.  So then I went back to graduate school and got a degree in Architecture.”

Sarah benefited from both degrees when she lived for several years in Jordan building schools for USAID.  “We built 28 new schools and we added onto 100 existing schools, regular public schools, because they have overcrowding and really some very poor conditions in some of the schools.”

“My grandparents came over from Lebanon 106 years ago. My mom was born in the US. My mom grew up not knowing any of her Lebanese cousins. They were the only Muslim family in their town. But over time we started meeting some Lebanese cousins who emigrated at different points. So it was a great opportunity for me to go to Jordan, and I could go to Lebanon for a weekend and get to know my family there.”