Now a Tour Consultant working in the Denver office, Lisa W. first started traveling with EF as a Group Leader in 2013. In the below post, which we recently featured in our brochure, learn why Lisa is so passionate about educational travel and how her experience as a teacher shapes her current role as a Tour Consultant.
Lesson-filled mornings. After-school help sessions. Evenings spent grading papers. Lisa W., one of our Tour Consultants, appreciates just how much teachers do every day—because she used to be one herself. “Teachers have no free time,” she says, “which is why my top priority is to make their lives easier. I do everything I possibly can to help them with their tour so they can stay focused on their number-one priority, which is teaching.”
Lisa’s first experience with EF was in 2013, when she traveled with her students to Italy. “I can’t say enough about how much that trip changed everybody’s life—including mine. The kids were so excited to get outside of Chicago and see that there were different places and different people. It opened their eyes to an entirely new world.”
Via Lisa
After seeing what a profound impact the trip had on her students, Lisa realized she wanted to bring this opportunity to as many students—and teachers—as possible. “It was so rewarding to give my students these once-in-a-lifetime experiences,” she says. “As a
Tour Consultant, I get to make those moments happen every day.”
When working with Group Leaders, Lisa assures them she’s there to serve as a catch-all, to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. “I tell them I was in their shoes a few years ago,” she says. “I remember how many questions I had before my first tour, how I’d wake up in the middle of the night afraid I’d forgotten something.” But, she says, her Tour Consultant was there to help and guide her, which is one of the reasons she’s so committed to doing the same.
And because of her firsthand experience, she can promise teachers that the experience itself is truly unbelievable. She was able to see the world through her students’ eyes and watch as they developed confidence, independence, and the knowledge that they could navigate new situations.
Today, Lisa works with teachers from Orange County, CA—a very different region from where she taught in inner-city Chicago. Yet, she’s realized that many of the takeaways from travel are universal. “It’s about seeing things through a new perspective,” she says. “It can be empowering to realize there’s more out there than what you’ve experienced. And for students who have passion for life, it propels them to the next level because they understand ‘I can do this, I can be in a new place, and I can walk away with a deeper understanding and a richer background.’”
To make this possible for your own students, work with a Tour Consultant like Lisa. Set up a time to chat with your dedicated Tour Consultant here.
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