The world is my classroom.
Access is my mission.

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In 2011, I founded the Global Studies program at Bethel University with a simple belief: education should extend beyond the classroom - and beyond a student's zip code.

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That March, I led ten sociology students on an alternative spring break to Costa Rica. What happened there changed everything. Students who had never owned a passport or flown on an airplane returned with confidence, clarity, and a deeper understanding of the world - and their place in it. Word spread. Enrollment grew. What began as a single trip evolved into a rigorous, credit-bearing model rooted in ethical service, community-identified partnerships, and transformational learning.

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By 2016, Bethel expanded the program to include high school students and community members, recognizing what I had already seen firsthand: when access is widened, impact multiplies.

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Then came December 10, 2021.

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A devastating tornado tore through my hometown of Dresden, Tennessee, just weeks before local high school students were scheduled to depart for Costa Rica. Families lost homes, businesses, and financial stability overnight. Canceling the trip would have been easy. But after years of disruption from COVID, these students had already lost too much.

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So we did something different.

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I began raising scholarship funds, and donors responded. Several said something that permanently reshaped this work:

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"If you started a nonprofit, I'd give more - and more often."

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In 2022, I co-founded Global Citizen Adventure Corps (GCAC) to expand access to international education through donor-funded scholarships. What began as a response to disaster quickly became a nationally recognized nonprofit, earning honors for innovation, community impact, and expanding educational opportunities for students from rural and underserved communities.

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Together, Bethel University and GCAC demonstrated what was possible when higher education, philanthropy, and global partnerships worked toward a common goal: making international education more accessible.

Today, that journey has come full circle.

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After helping build GCAC into a nationally recognized organization, I returned to Bethel University to lead the next chapter of the program where it all began. My focus is no longer on building wider. It's on building deeper.

Rather than serving students across many institutions, I'm returning to my roots - working to ensure that every Bethel University student who dreams of seeing the world has the opportunity to do so, while continuing to create life-changing international experiences for students from high schools throughout our region.

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To date, I've led more than 875 students and community members on more than 65 programs across 21 countries, but the numbers matter less than the lives transformed. Students return home more confident, more culturally aware, and better prepared to lead.

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Over the years, this work has been recognized nationally - not because of where we travel, but because of how we travel. I've been honored with awards for teaching excellence, community leadership, innovation in international education, and ethical service-learning, including being named the Student & Youth Travel Association's first-ever Traveling Teacher of the Year, recognition as a National Geographic Certified Educator, a Daily Point of Light, and multiple awards celebrating innovation, philanthropy, and community impact.

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I still believe what I believed in 2011.

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International education shouldn't be a luxury.

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It should be a launchpad.

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And I'm committed to making that launchpad available to as many students as possible.

 

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