Following the Equator | EF's Educational Travel Blog

EF Group Leader Spotlight: Gail Ingram

High school history teacher Gail Ingram has made a career out of bringing the world to her small South Carolina town of Cheraw—and, more importantly, of showing her students the world on her educational tours.

Gail is a longtime EF Group Leader, a frequent mentor to new group leaders and a regular presenter on EF's Free International Training Tours. Gail also has won two national teaching award from National History Day, including the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award this year.

Now, we are honored to have Gail join us here as a regular contributor to Following the Equator. Gail—pictured above with her daughter, Ruth, on tour this summer in Scotland—has a lot of wonderful stories and valuable advice to share, plus she's got a terrific sense of humor. So, in recognition of her joining our blog team, we'd like to introduce her in the Group Leader Spotlight.

EF Group Leader Spotlight: Janet McKinney

High school Spanish teacher Janet McKinney first began traveling with students when she had the opportunity to fill in for a teacher who was unable to travel to Spain on EF's Adventure in Spain tour. Several years later, she continues to travel with EF because she believes that seeing the world firsthand is one of the best ways to get an education. Here, she shares her experiences.

Tell us about yourself. What is your teaching background?
I have been teaching Spanish for the past 10 years and high school for the past five. It is so great when you see a student “get it.”  I love working with teenagers because often they think they can’t get it and they don’t try.  However, when they realize they can and they do put in the effort, the rewards are so great. It is fun to see that transformation.

What sort of skills do you think traveling teaches your students?
Students who travel gain an ability to be more independent and to see a more global world. They develop a desire to go back to the places we visited or beyond. Several of our previous students who traveled on an educational tour with EF have gone on to complete study abroad programs in Europe. Traveling with EF has given them a sense of adventure and independence.

How do you promote your tour to your students?
I am lucky to teach at a school where the administration is very supportive of offering travel opportunities to our students. We have taken students on many trips both national and international. There are also many teachers who are willing to chaperone these trips, so we never have to wonder if we have the support. We have been able to promote these trips at the school by advertising and through word of mouth. We now have more students who want to travel than we can accommodate.

What advice would you give someone who has never left the country?
I have loved every trip I have taken with my students. It is amazing how much they love everything they see. They take thousands of pictures. Also, they develop closer and new friendships with the other students on tour. This past year on our Dublin, London and Paris tour, part of our group was delayed by a day due to a cancelled flight. However, the students had a really great attitude and made the best of a difficult situation. That is good advice for students, teachers and group leaders alike.

Do you have any good advice for new group leaders?
The best advice I can give to a new group leader is to start talking about the trip to get students excited about it and to utilize your tour consultant who will help you in any way you need.

College Professor Spotlight: Wade Watkins

Wade Watkins (pictured at right), the Dean of Global Education at Northern Oklahoma College, takes some time to share his thoughts on studying abroad with students, "world domination," and the most effective ways to recruit college students for a short-term, study abroad tour.

Tell us about yourself. What is your teaching background?

I never imagined I would get into teaching.  I'm from a small town in southern Oklahoma and went to a large state school. There were more students at my university than people in my hometown and more people in my biology class than high school graduating class, so I sought out internship and study abroad opportunities to “escape.” However, those opportunities became the life-changing catalyst in my life. My experiences abroad in college continue to open doors for me.  I think I would have majored in 'World Domination' if they would have offered that degree, but instead I created my own major revolving around international relations and trade. When I was 26, I made the career switch from being an international trade consultant to being high school social studies teacher. After a few years, I went to grad school and then started teaching world geography for Northern Oklahoma College. That was six years ago.


What inspired you to begin traveling abroad with students?

Honestly, I inherited my first EF tour in 1997 from a high school teacher colleague who couldn't go. But, I had been planning on creating a trip ever since the first week of my education career when I was teaching a unit on Europe and was overwhelmed with the idea that if I could “just take them” so they could experience being “there” firsthand, that I could provide my students with the same life-changing opportunity that I had been fortunate to have. Ironically, one of my students from my first EF College Study trip now works as an EF Tour Consultant; love of travel is definitely contagious.


What kind of an effect has EF had on your life?
 
As a teacher, I believe my passion for the profession is derived from watching my students transition from “bodies at a desk” to life-long lovers of learning. This transformation can definitely occur in a classroom environment, but it happens more effectively and efficiently in an experiential setting like study abroad, without question. I cannot begin to expand on how my students' lives have been impacted through their EF travel experiences. The skills obtained by a short-term study abroad tour have greatly influenced my students' personal, academic and professional goals and passions, which in turn keeps me coming back year after year.  Many of my former students have jobs that are global in scope or they are at least more marketable because they are more culturally astute and possess a higher degree of self-confidence obtained from travel abroad.


How do you incorporate your EF tours into your curriculum?

I teach World Regional Geography so I show a lot of pictures that incorporate the places I travel into firsthand stories and lessons. Students see their peers in the photos and often that sparks a strong desire to go as well. It's critical for me to use personal stories and photographs in my classes; it creates a stronger link to the coursework and potentially our short-term study abroad programs as well.


How do you handle all the pre-tour planning? What ways do you keep your participants up-to-date with the latest tour details?

I create flyers and signs and post them around the campus, but presentations in class and word-of-mouth marketing are the recruiting tools I use primarily. I can't imagine not utilizing the EF website tools and email to stay in contact and provide info to travelers.  I also create a Facebook group for each trip and maintain a Global Education site for general information on all programs.

Do you have a favorite memory from tour?

Watching my students interact with locals is always a highlight; I'm not sure who learns more from whom. Seeing your students mature and gain confidence right in front of your eyes is very rewarding to say the least. Oftentimes, I get the opportunity to see my students discussing with each other or locals topics and issues we covered in my class, which is fun to witness as a teacher. 


Do you have any good advice for new group leaders?

Pick a trip and start recruiting! My colleague and I laugh about being cheerleaders for study abroad, but the enthusiasm is contagious and it's the best marketing tool imaginable. You have to mention it frequently in classes; sometimes I have students sign up three-quarters through the semester, after I've mentioned the trip more than a dozen times. Be organized and communicate with travelers. Consider having informal meetings at a local coffee shop to fuel the excitement.

Wedding Proposal at Edinburgh Castle

By EF Group Leader Thomas Sakole

The snow began falling at a rapid rate and many of the other tourists began to scurry for shelter.  Rebecca and I, however, lingered at the edge of the wall overlooking the city streets below.  “There could not be a more perfect setting,” I thought, as my heart began to race.  I rummaged through my backpack mumbling something about grabbing the camera.  Standing atop Edinburgh Castle, with a view of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, as a background, I dropped to one knee and asked her if she would be MY princess for the rest of our lives.

Now, you’re probably asking yourself what does any of this have to do with EF Educational Tours?  Well, actually quite a bit.  As far back as I can remember, I have loved to travel.  When I chose to become a teacher, I worried that my less than stellar salary might prevent me from those opportunities.  However, after a few years teaching at my high school, I came across a brochure for EF tours.  Within a year, I was off on my first trip with students to see London and Paris.  Chaperoning 25 high school students seemed like it would be an impossible task, but amazingly I ended up having a great time.  By the time we returned home, the students were asking when and where the next trip would be.  My second trip to Italy and Greece almost doubled in size!  Four tours later, with a fifth going back to Italy and Greece this summer and a sixth headed to Costa Rica next year, I still love the experience of traveling with students and getting to see places all over the world.

But again, you ask, what does my engagement story have to do with EF?  Well, I would never have had the opportunity to ask my fiancée to marry me in the romantic and beautiful city of Edinburgh had it not been for EF.  If you’ve ever led a tour with EF, you are familiar with their Global Points system. With my tours I had accumulated points, but never really knew what to do with them.  During one of my conversations with my tour consultant, she asked if I had ever considered using my points to go on an EF Teacher Convention Tour.  My first thought was, “Why would I want to go to a convention about traveling… I already know how to lead students on tour.”  But after she explained that an EF Teacher Convention was a tour for adults where you also learned from other group leaders, I started thinking differently.  I took a look at the tours being offered that year and saw a great opportunity—a tour that would spend New Year’s Eve in Edinburgh, Scotland.  It sounded absolutely amazing, and after making sure our schedule was free, I booked two places for the tour.

Now, let me give you a little background on our story. My fiancée's name is Dr. Rebecca Hayes. She is a professor of history and I also teach history, so we should have known we were a perfect match when we met.  A few years ago we met in Fort Collins, Colorado while grading AP World History essay exams for the CollegeBoard.  At the time, she taught at Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi, and I lived far away in Northern Virginia.  We became good friends, talking on the phone, texting, and emailing often, and I offered to show her around Richmond when she was visiting for a conference.  After that weekend, we both realized we were in love.  After more than a year of long-distance dating, she moved to Northern Virginia, taking a job teaching history at Northern Virginia Community College.

Group Leader Spotlight: Phil Leswing

First-time group leader Phil Leswing teaches psychology at Greenfield-Central High School in Greenfield, Indiana. Phil (pictured at left with his wife and son) began organizing his 2011 educational tour to Spain, France and Italy this past October, anticipating he would travel with a small group. Two hundred people showed up at his first meeting, and he now has a group of almost 70 travelers. Here, he shares his story.

What inspired you to take an EF tour?

The joy and inspiration I get from traveling was the first factor that motivated me to travel with EF. When traveling with a group, I get as much joy and inspiration from seeing other people excited as I do from my own experience. There is a powerful force generated by groups of people traveling together. I chose EF because of two things that seem like they can’t coexist, but they do. The professional side of EF is outstanding. I also appreciate the personal side of the company. The open and constant communication has made it easy as a first-time group leader to feel like I’ve been doing this for years.


How do you use your blog to promote your tour? Do you use any other types of social media (ex. Facebook, Twitter) to promote your tour?

I use the blog for trip and meeting updates right now. As we get closer, I’ll be adding information about the destinations and our trip details. My Twitter just announces the trip and connects to the blog, so it is not really in use yet, but I can see us using it in the future.


As a first-time group leader, you've been incredibly successful at recruiting students for your tour. What’s your secret to success? How do you encourage students to sign up for your tour? 

The first thing that made recruiting students successful was finding a core of social students who were very interested in going on a trip. I then involved them in the decision-making process of where we would go on our trip. We set up our first recruitment meeting in October, and I started going to classes and talking up the trip. The posters and itineraries that EF provides were hung up and distributed before our meeting, so even more people were getting exited. We had over 200 people show up for our initial recruitment meeting. I was amazed by the turnout. I had gotten some gelato to share with the group. I had Flickr slideshows going of the destinations we would be traveling to, and I had EF YouTube videos playing. One of the potential chaperones had traveled with EF in the past, so he spoke with the group about the professionalism and personal connection that EF provides. We had a best price deadline of October 31, and a first-night sign-up raffle for $50 off the trip.

Group Leader Spotlight: Jen Petrin

After changing careers from the corporate world, Jen Petrin has been teaching art and art history for eight years at Old Mill High School in Millersville, Maryland. She teaches Foundations of Art, IB Art 11 and AP Art History to students in grades nine to 12. Jen has traveled on five EF tours and will travel on Bell' Italia next month and the Kenya Safari convention this summer. Here, she shares her EF experiences.



What inspired you to take an EF tour?

I was inspired to take an EF tour because I wanted to show my art history students Greek, Roman, Renaissance and Baroque landmarks in person. I wanted them to feel how beautiful and awe inspiring art is in person; I hoped they’d catch the bug.



You recently presented at Paris O. What advice do you have for new group leaders?
I encourage new group leaders to plan ahead and think of every detail before you go. Start recruiting for a tour 18 months out. Attend an orientation or talk to an experienced group leader via email. Pack half or what you think you’ll need!
 


How do you encourage students to sign up for your tour?
Dealing with recruitment is a challenge in my district, but good news has a way of traveling. I plant a seed with the right students and then they come to me.



Do you use any types of social media (ex. Facebook, Twitter) to promote your tour?

I promote on Facebook, and I have the kids that are signed up promote to their friends to widen the communication beyond my own students. Good kids tend to be friends with students who value the same experiences.



Do you do any fundraising for your tour? If so, what kind of fundraisers have you held?

I have done every type of fundraiser in the past but this has become more complicated in recent years. Chipin.com is a great way for relatives and family friends to help the kids save money. I usually plan a trip more than 18 months out, so I encourage all of my students to utilize EF’s monthly payment plan. Since I teach high school most students get a summer job to help pay for the trip as well.



Group Leader Spotlight: Chris Seymore

After practicing law in Philadelphia for three years, Chris Seymore decided to change careers and become a teacher. Eight years later he says, “Without question I made the right decision. I look forward to coming to work every day.  I’m a million times happier as a teacher than I ever was as a lawyer.” Today, Seymore teaches World Cultures/Global Studies and Constitutional Law at Ridley High School, outside of Philadelphia. Since 2006, he has traveled on eight EF tours, and in 2009, he visited 14 countries. Here he tells us about his travel experiences.

What inspired you to begin traveling abroad with students?
My only international travel prior to 2006 was when I visited Toronto during my sophomore year in high school. As a world cultures teacher, I decided it was time to experience other cultures with my students  and do some teaching and learning outside the traditional classroom environment. Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine what the next three years would bring! In the last three years, I have been to Europe 11 times (eight tours, one Paris Orientation, one Rome Orientation and one personal visit to Italy on my own). I also visited Jordan and Egypt in 2009 as part of an EF Teacher Convention Tour. In 2010, I will travel on three EF tours: Discover Costa Rica, European Horizons and a customized tour of Paris, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and the Greek Islands. The impact on me has been tremendous, and the experiences we have had through EF have been life-changing for so many of my students.

Our 10 Best of 2009

Thank you to everyone for reading, sharing and supporting Following the Equator in 2009. We sure enjoyed posting great stories, facts, tips and profiles about educational travel and the group leaders who make it possible.

We're already planning some exciting new things for 2010. Most of all, though, we want to hear from you. What do you want to read and see on this blog—more interviews with teachers, more amazing travel photos, more fundraising and recruiting ideas, more tidbits about the things to see and do on tour? Let us know at equator@ef.com.

As we look ahead to an exciting year of travel in 2010, we thought we'd take a quick look back at a successful 2009 and our 10 favorite blog posts of the year. Feel free to post your own comments below.

Group Leader Spotlight: Maria and Corey Lumpkin

Maria Lumpkin is the Director of Student Life and Engagement at Spelman College. Her husband, Corey, is the Program Manager of the Public Health Sciences Institute at Morehouse College. Together, they take students all over the world with EF College Study Tours.

Spelman and Morehouse colleges are part of the largest consortium of historically black institutions of higher learning in the world. Corey has taught courses in public health and health-care administration at the collegiate level. Maria has lectured in leadership and urban education administration.

On their next educational adventure, Maria and Corey (pictured above on their last EF tour to Egypt) are traveling with students to Japan. In the Group Leader Spotlight, Maria talks about providing travel opportunities to their students, how to recruit travelers and her ideal convention destination.

Group Leader Spotlight: Carolyn Sanders

With 15 EF tours and nine convention tours under her belt, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Carolyn Sanders, a physical education teacher at Bill Reed Middle School in Loveland, Colorado, has visited 40 countries with EF.

Besides traveling to every continent (yes, she used her EF Global Points to take a trip to Antarctica!), she’s also met some of her closest friends through EF.

In the Group Leader Spotlight, Carolyn recaps some of her favorite travel adventures and talks about how she and some other EF Group Leaders once created their own EF convention to Thunder Bay, Canada.

Group Leader Spotlight: Linda Piccolo

From attending a Wiccan wedding at Stonehenge to bribing a housekeeper to let her see the suite where Agatha Christie wrote her novels, Linda Piccolo has had her fair share of adventures while traveling abroad with her students on EF tours.

The high school English and theater teacher from Montana has even been inspired by her travels to write a play, which was published and performed by one of her drama classes last year.

In this installment of the Group Leader Spotlight, Linda shares some of her experiences, describes how important travel is for students and hints at her next travel-inspired play.

Group Leader Spotlight: Chad Brannon

Traveling has always been an integral part of Chad Brannon's life. Now, as a middle-school science teacher in Alabama, Chad is making travel an important part of his students' lives, too.

And he has the stories to prove it.

Ask him about the effect that educational travel has on his students, and he'll tell you a story about the boy who once had no direction but now credits his tour for opening his eyes, or the boy who traveled to Costa Rica and now wants to major in Spanish education and help underprivileged kids speak English, or the girl who came out of her shell after braving the zip line through the Costa Rican rainforest.

Chad—pictured above on the right with his co-group leader, John DiPlacido—is preparing to lead his fourth tour with EF, taking his students back to Costa Rica in June. He took some time out of his busy spring break to share some of his favorite stories with us: