{"id":5959,"date":"2016-01-18T09:21:17","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T14:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/?p=5959"},"modified":"2016-01-13T13:34:24","modified_gmt":"2016-01-13T18:34:24","slug":"group-leader-spotlight-jeffrey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/group-leader-spotlight-jeffrey","title":{"rendered":"Group Leader Spotlight: Jeffrey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jeffrey,<\/a>

Jeffrey, history teacher<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the course of his 15 years leading\u00a0student trips, Jeffrey has developed a love\u00a0of exploring the road less traveled. He\u00a0is a life-long learner with a passion for\u00a0history, so he chooses tours that will\u00a0enrich his students\u2019 understanding of\u00a0the world, as well as his own. \u201cI tell my\u00a0juniors at the beginning of every year that\u00a0my goal is to inspire them to become connected to the\u00a0global community. I want them to be able to look back\u00a0on their lives and say, \u2018It was important that I was here\u00a0because I made a difference in the world.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When Explorica introduced a Make A Difference tour to\u00a0Morocco, Jeffrey jumped at the opportunity. \u201cI wanted\u00a0to help my students better understand their lessons\u00a0about Islam and the Muslim culture,\u201d he explains. \u201cI\u00a0knew a service trip would provide the meaningful\u00a0connection I was looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June 2015, Jeffrey and his students boarded a plane\u00a0for Casablanca. Their journey took them through the\u00a0exotic souks of Marrakech, over the colorful Atlas\u00a0Mountains and down to a remote Berber village on the\u00a0banks of the M\u2019Goun River. There, they worked side\u00a0by side with villagers to paint a school, make traditional\u00a0mud bricks, clear silt from vital irrigation trenches and\u00a0plant corn. In the evenings, they were fed and entertained\u00a0by the townspeople, playing music and learning\u00a0traditional Berber dances. Jeffrey saw his students \u201cstop\u00a0being tourists in a strange land, and start connecting in\u00a0a deeply meaningful way,\u201d he recalls. \u201cOn the last night\u00a0of the tour, we sat on our hotel balcony, reflecting on\u00a0the work we had accomplished and the friendships we\u00a0had built. It was one of the greatest moments of all of\u00a0our lives; not one of us will ever forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about Make A Difference tours like the one, please visit explorica.com\/makeadifference<\/a><\/strong> or call 1.888.310.7120.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the course of his 15 years leading\u00a0student trips, Jeffrey has developed a love\u00a0of exploring the road less traveled. He\u00a0is a life-long learner with a passion for\u00a0history, so he chooses tours that will\u00a0enrich his students\u2019 understanding of\u00a0the world, as well as his own. \u201cI tell my\u00a0juniors at the beginning of every year that\u00a0my goal is Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,172],"tags":[58,427,218,429,128,172],"class_list":["post-5959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-explorica-news","category-teachers","tag-educational-travel","tag-make-a-difference","tag-morocco","tag-service-learning","tag-student-travel","tag-teachers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5959"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5966,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5959\/revisions\/5966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}