Background

Sarah's Early Life

I was born Sarah Landsdown in Danville, Illinois quite a while ago:-) Early in my life, my family moved from rural Illinois to the "big" city of Galesburg Illinois, a town very similar in size to that of Wausau. While I lived there, I was an active member of 4-H, Key Club and numerous other activities and athletics, my favorites were softball and golf. After graduating from high school, I enrolled at North Central College in Naperville Illinois and earned a B.S. in Economics with a minor in Computer Science. While at North Central College in Naperville, I was fortunate to apply for a program that allowed me to study abroad at Queen's University in Belfast Northern Ireland. It was a wonderful experience to learn about another culture and learn more about the history of Northern Ireland.

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Sarah's Corporate Experience

After graduating, I moved to downtown Chicago to work at an economic consulting firm that specialized in litigation. My title there was research analyst but the main project I worked on was helping families who lost loved ones on 9/11 apply for wrongful death awards via the 9/11 Compensation Fund. Every day was very emotional as I connected with families who had lost their spouse, parent, sibling or child.

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Back to College

Once the project concluded in Chicago, I decided to further my education and earned a M.A. in Economics from UW-Milwaukee. During my time there, I studied abroad in Germany learning more about the European Union and also served as a Teacher Assistant in Milwaukee.

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Up to Wausau

With my degree in hand, I applied for and was hired as Economics Instructor at Northcentral Technical College. I teach a lot of different courses from Economics, Critical Thinking, Personal Financial Skills to Sociology. I also teach a few Economics courses at Upper Iowa University as well. Since becoming an instructor, my thirst for knowledge has continued and since I moved to Wausau, I have earned a M.S. in Instructional Design and Technology from Western Illinois University and a M.A. in Sociology from Arizona State University all being an online learner.

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Sarah's Family

I was fortunate enough to meet and marry the love of my life Matt Watson in 2012. Our family isn't complete without the pitter-patter of little paws and, after we lost our fur-child Dot right after the start of the pandemic, we adopted two more rescues Paco and Static. Both are spunky, but we love them so much!  I am very excited to continue to serve my family and community in the role of Alder and I look forward to meeting you and earning your vote.