Educator profile
Teachers on EF tours: Why Brady’s traveling in 2022
Sarah McLaughlin | January 18, 2022
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Here at EF, we could speak about the lifelong impact of student travel experiences all day—but it’s far more powerful when you get to hear directly from educators who have personally witnessed (and experienced!) their transformative effects. That’s why we sat down with Brady R., an Indiana social studies teacher who’s helped over 150 students see the world on 11 trips, to find out why he continues to proudly partner with EF after all these years.
Why Brady’s traveling today—and tomorrow
Brady felt the pandemic cast a shadow over his students, watching as they missed out on everything from sports games to prom to their scheduled EF tour. However, in October of 2021, he finally saw a break in those clouds when he found out they could safely resume their trip that year. “The literal cheers from these kids when I told them, ‘Yes, we are going to go to Europe,’ might get me through the entirety of the rest of the school year,” he says. Up next, Brady’s taking students to Costa Rica in March. “That excitement in their eyes just gets me out of bed in the morning, and helps me to keep doing this hard job in these difficult circumstances and times.”
The importance of exploring the unknown
Nothing grows in a comfort zone, which is one of the main reasons Brady encourages his students to step outside of their familiar bubbles. In addition to gaining an appreciation for different cultures, Brady believes going abroad radically changes how his students view themselves and their own lives back home.
Promoting future readiness
Increased independence. Greater self-awareness. Newfound confidence. Every time Brady leads a tour, he sees his students develop skills that will always stay with them. That’s one of the most special things about EF tours: They’re not just about the experiences students have on tour, but about all the ways those experiences will continue to impact them for the rest of their lives. As Brady says, “I tell every single teacher I come across, educational travel is an investment in their students’ lives.”
Adding fuel to his educator engine
Like most teachers, Brady’s deepest goal isn’t just to help his students grow from an academic standpoint, but to help them develop as well-rounded people, too. That’s exactly what EF’s student travel experiences are designed to do. Brady gets to see this growth happen both immediately on tour and once students return to the classroom. Even better? Brady’s also had several former travelers reach out to tell him how their EF trips have continued to shape their lives, whether their experience helped them find a new passion-turned-job or simply inspired a lifelong love of travel and exploration.
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Sarah McLaughlin
Sarah is a senior copywriter at EF Education First. When she isn’t writing, you can find her browsing through bookshops, trying to cook, or going to improv class (which is basically just an excuse for adults to play make-believe).
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