Sarah Vessenes

Name: Sarah Vessenes

Email: svessenes@explorica.com

Phone Number: 1.888.310.7120 ext 141

Bio:
I grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota, home to the Mall of America!  Cold, cold winters, humid summers, Caribou Coffee, and large indoor shopping malls marked my youth.

Through an interesting sequence of events (please ask me about Mr Leistikow our robust, bearded cheerleading coach), my love of communication was born and I became a die hard forensic.  I debated my first three years of high school and was on the speech team my last three years.

But it wasn’t until the summer my parents took my brothers and me to visit our family in Greece that my world was challenged.  I was captivated by a culture I didn’t understand and a language I had not been taught.  It was there I fell in love with the other – people, and ways of being outside myself and my upbringing.

One thing I promised myself that I would do before graduating college was study abroad.  England had the lure of a foreign country and the safety of a common language.  I matriculated to the University of Bristol, and my year of solitude across the pond turned into one of the richest experiences of my life.  I made great friends, developed a semi-authentic accent, nipped off on more then four holidays, traded in coffee for tea, and even found a thriving church community.

My senior year of college brought me back to Wheaton College where I immediately introduced myself to the Career Services department, where through a series of personality and skill tests, we determined that the next logical step for me would be teaching!  The inner city classroom had my heart for three years - but it was not without typical emotional ups and downs.

It wasn’t until I started working at Explorica that a good friend reminded me of my first year of teaching when I cried to her that, “I just want a job that will pay me to travel.”  Explorica has been the marriage of my passion for people and my desire to empower others with life changing experiences across cultures.

When I started working for Explorica I had visited 10 countries.  My running total is now at 22 – a whopping 11% of the world, which indicates to me I have a lot more to go.  My first educational tour was with Explorica in 2004.

I will never forget how seeing three countries, Italy, France, and Spain in 10 days transformed my previous travel experiences sipping cappuccinos while meeting the locals.  Fast paced is an understatement, but boy do you get to see a lot!  Each of my five Explorica tours have been unique.  I was able to do a teacher convention to Spain and Portugal.  Germany Switzerland and Austria called to me the year after.  I found myself back in England for an Explorica 101 in London before heading out this past summer to Costa Rica.

The travel component of my job is great, but the real reward is having worked with hundreds of teachers over the years and supporting them as they change their student’s lives.

In my down time I love drinking coffee, going to Pilates, early morning walks with the dog, and making things beautiful.

Last 5 posts by Sarah Vessenes