Young Alumna of the Year 2025 – Joanna Sudlow

We humans have many phrases about animals used to express our frustrations with the chaos of life. “It’s like herding cats,” we say. Or we take a step back and proclaim “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” We might try to “take the bull by the horns” or convince someone to “hold their horses.”

If you’re Joanna Sudlow, a member of the Class of 2015, herding cats and holding horses is just another day on the job. Joanna is the Lead Animal Trainer for Sight & Sound Theatres in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and while there is no circus, and no monkeys, Joanna has demonstrated her remarkable skills managing animals—and people—for theatre productions that draw over 1.5 million audience members each year.

Joanna’s Houghton story began in 2011, when she arrived on campus as a first-year student eager to grow as a young equestrian. She was active on campus as a member of the Houghton Equestrian Club and equestrian center chore crew, as well as the Society of Human Resource Management student chapter. Joanna shared her learning with others as a TA for Horsemanship-1 and as a counselor at summer equestrian camps. She spent a spring studying abroad in Leiden, The Netherlands, and completed two internships.

Joanna graduated with dual degrees in Equestrian Management and Business Administration. The Salutatorian of the Class of 2015, Joanna was inducted into the Equestrian Wall of Honor and was named 2015 Houghton College Business Student of the Year. Business Professor Emeritus Ken Bates remarked, “Joanna simply excelled at modeling fearless servant-leadership with an unselfish maturity of someone twice her age. Her bright, inquisitive, and pleasant demeanor set the tone for remarkable communication abilities in class. Her problem-solving abilities often prompted her classmates to simply step aside and allow her to excel.”

After graduation, Joanna didn’t follow the career path she’d imagined for herself, having realized during her internships that small business ownership and traditional office work wasn’t the right fit. Instead, Joanna accepted a position with Sight & Sound Theatre as an animal trainer. For over 30 years, Sight & Sound Theatre has brought stories from Scripture and from history to life in both live stage productions and film productions, which they do through two theatres, an online streaming platform and a film studio. In 2022, Joanna was promoted to the role of Lead Animal Trainer and has worked with a wonderful wide range of animals, including birds, cats, rabbits, skunks, dogs, goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, alpacas, donkeys, horses, cattle and camels. She also trained and rode horses for two of Sight & Sound’s film productions.