Our Team
They were born for this role.
They have dedicated their lives to teaching, have traveled extensively, and want to share their passion for travel with the next generation.
Spend a minute with any member of our Program Director Team - ask them about their favorite spots, or their fondest memory of traveling with students - and you'll want to drop everything and go travel with them.
Jocelyn Judge
Despite never having been in an airplane before turning 16 and having only 3 years of high school Spanish experience, Jocelyn exchanged to Uruguay during high school. During her time as an undergrad at Grinnell College, Iowa she spent a semester in Sevilla, Spain. She completed her masters in Santiago de Compostela, Spain and has spent summers in Costa Rica and Mexico teaching English and developing her Spanish.
Jocelyn has been teaching Spanish for 30 years! During that time she has led her students on trips to central and southern Spain as well as Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has also taken personal trips throughout Europe, to Puerto Rico, Argentina, and Montreal. She and her husband, along with (at the time) their 13 year old daughter, did half the Camino de Santiago on bikes.
Her favorite experiences abroad are: going to grocery stores, experiencing art museums, navigating, and trying new foods (rabbit and cow brains, once, by accident!). She encourages and supports learners trying new things, stretching themselves, and accepting other people and cultures. Jocelyn resides in Center Harbor, New Hampshire.
Justin Fecteau
Living, traveling, and learning abroad have defined Justin’s life. He studied abroad in both high school and college, and he was stationed in Germany with the US Army.
Justin's a high school German teacher, and he's an Art History teacher specializing in the effects of war and Nazism on art and politics throughout Europe.
He holds a B.A. in German Studies and an M.A. in Art History and has taught in North Carolina and Maine, where as a State Representative he passed the largest high school diploma reform in more than a decade among other pro-student and pro-teacher initiatives.
Justin loves to help students become more independent while traveling, become more confident interacting with locals, and find hidden art and historical treasures in the world’s most exciting cities.
Abbie Andrew
Abbie Andrew traveled to Quebec as a high school junior, to France as a high school senior, and by sophomore year of college Abbie knew she wanted to be a French teacher.
She has been teaching French and Spanish at Goffstown High School since 1984 and has been traveling with her own students to France and Quebec since the early 90’s. Her students have come away from these trips with an appreciation of the region as well as the valuable skills of a traveler. The beauty of language and culture paired with new abilities in navigating previously unknown places is a lifelong gift Abbie is proud to share.
Abbie has traveled exclusively with Students Love Travel since 2012!
Colin Burke
Colin grew up in the Seacoast area of New Hampshire as an avid athlete playing golf, hockey and lacrosse. He attended the University of New Hampshire earning a B.A. in History with a focus on medieval and ancient Rome and a Master's in Education while playing on the school's lacrosse team.
It was not until after graduating that Colin caught a case of “itchy feet” and began expanding beyond New England. His love of history first brought him to Italy and then to many of Europe's major cities. A highlight of his travels was walking the Camino de Santiago through Northern Spain. More recently he has begun exploring Latin America. In April of 2013 he had the opportunity to volunteer with Project Eden in rural Honduras building a community garden in a village outside of San Francisco de la Paz. Colin is passionate about sharing his experiences with his seventh grade social studies students in Exeter New Hampshire where he has taught for the past nine years. His relationship with Students Love Travel began as a group chaperone with a Spanish language group to Puerto Rico.
Amber Burks
Amber Burks grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York and didn't start learning a second language until seventh grade when she fell in love with French. She continued studying French at SUNY Albany during which time she spent 3 months in Tours, France and came home wanting to see more of the world. So far she has traveled to Spain, Belgium, Canada, Haiti, Mexico, and Morocco.
She received her Bachelors degree in Math and French in 2001 and her Master's degree in World Language Secondary Education in 2006.o.
Certified in both French and Spanish, Amber has taught for 15 years at the elementary, middle and high school levels, and now teaches both languages at Falmouth Middle School. She is a past-president of FLAME, has served as a World Language Teacher Leader for the state of Maine, and has presented as "Best of Maine" at NECTFL.
Wenyi Chu
Wenyi is a native of Xi’an. In 2004 an English summer program at Xi’an Jiaotong University taught by a group of American volunteer teachers sparked her love of immersion language programs and her belief in experiential learning as a way of life as well as a journey of self-growth and discovery.
Since 2005, she has participated and led various experiential learning projects including: co-teaching with American volunteer English teachers in a rural area in Henan Province; serving as teaching and residential assistant at Harvard Summit for Young Leaders in China (HSYLC); and leading the University of Virginia in Shanghai Intensive Chinese Language Program.
Wenyi is also a Chinese language teacher. Since 2008, she has taught Mandarin at an International Baccalaureate program in a private school in Maryland, the University of Virginia, Brown University, and University of Macau.
Sarah Cole
A New Hampshire native, Sarah pursued her passion for languages by moving to Canada for college; she studied Spanish and French at McGill University, graduating with the Spanish Embassy Book Award. While calling Montréal home Sarah traveled around the world to further her language skills, including a summer working and traveling throughout southern Spain. Sarah also studied at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso in Chile, during which time she traveled from the desert north to the glacial south of Chile and visited Argentina. Additionally, Sarah has explored Puerto Rico, France, Andorra, and eastern Canada. She knows four languages and hopes to learn more!
Sarah now works full-time at Students Love Travel as a Customer Care Associate, and serves as Program Director for our Québec locations.
Evan Czyzowski
Evan Czyzowski is a NH native and a first-generation American of Polish and French-Canadian decent. He teaches English, drama, and philosophy at Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston, NH. He graduated from UNH with a BA in English, minors in philosophy and history, and an MA in literature.
Evan lived and taught in Kraków, Poland from 2006-2007, and from 2009-2011 he was Co-Director of the Polish-English Summer Program in Krotoszyn, Poland. He has taught in China with the Sino-American Bridge for English and Health (SABEH) each summer since 2012 and is currently their Director of Education.
Since 2007 he has led student trips Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Greece, Italy, Spain, England, Ireland, and China.
A lover of food, words, music, and art, he is always ready for travel.
Robert Delorie
A New Hampshire native, Robert is a Co-Founder of Students Love Travel.
He attended Middlebury College where he studied German, French, Spanish, and Italian while earning his B.A. in German Language & Culture.
While pursuing a career in business management Rob lived and traveled extensively in Europe, but his favorite place will always be Germany.
Now, as a veteran of the educational travel industry and a former high-school French teacher, his favorite part of the job is sharing the joys of language and travel with the next generation.
CONTACT ROBERT
Peggy Durbala
Peggy grew up in northern Illinois, fell in love with Spanish during high-school, and majored in Spanish at college before spending several years teaching Spanish at the middle-school and college levels. She has traveled to Mexico (extensively), Spain, Guatemala, Argentina, Uruguay, and Costa Rica. But Illinois is still home.
In 2014 and 2016 Peggy served as co-director of a summer study abroad program in Tuscany, where she fell in love with all things Italian. She returned to Italy in 2018 and spent the summer living with a wonderful Italian family in Cesena, helping them learn English while simultaneously learning Italian and immersing herself in the culture.
Through all of these experiences, Peggy has seen first-hand the life-changing power of international travel and thoroughly enjoys nurturing this change in others!
Kristin Gillett
Kristin Gillett began learning German in seventh grade in Massachusetts. Everything clicked for her when she participated in a three-month homestay during her junior year in high school, and she fell in love with the culture of Germany, and with travel abroad. Kristin went on to study German, earning her B.A. (including a junior abroad year in Salzburg) and M.A. in the language she loves.
She has worked tirelessly to share that love with her students during her 25 year teaching career in both high school and middle school, including a year as a Fulbright Exchange teaching year in Magdeburg, Germany. Kristin believes that travelers are stewards and students of the world, and takes special care to engage students in viewing their experiences as more than just tourists.
Jennifer Hunter
While growing up in northern Maine, Jen was inspired to learn languages by the region’s French Acadian heritage and the many exchange students her family
hosted. During a high school exchange year in Arras, France she took her first Spanish class. Her love of French and Spanish led her to McGill University in Canada, which led to working/living on a coffee cooperative in Costa Rica for a month. After earning her teaching credentials in California, Jen taught at a bilingual school in Puebla, Mexico before returning to Maine. She has been teaching Spanish at the high school and junior high levels for the past 13 years, leading many student trips to Quebec for the French Club and to Puerto Rico for the Spanish Club.
During the fall of 2017, Jen took her family on a sabbatical semester to Spain during which time they lived and studied in Salamanca, and hiked the Camino de Santiago del Norte.
Brad Johnston
World travel became a driving force in Brad's life beginning in elementary school when his family moved to Caracas, Venezuela and he has continued to explore the planet ever since - as a student, public health promoter and expedition leader.
While in college Brad moved to Spain for a year to study at the University of Barcelona and he traveled extensively throughout Europe. After earning a B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, Brad joined Amigos de las Americas and carried out a variety of public health projects in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama and Mexico. Soon after, Brad became a field instructor at the National Outdoor Leadership School and, over a ten year span, led dozens of kayaking, sailing and mountaineering expeditions in Washington State, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile and India.
Today Brad lives in New Hampshire and teaches Spanish at the North Hampton School while raising a family and coaching a variety of sports. For fun, he surfs, climbs and runs. Although Brad enjoys his work in the classroom, he knows in his heart that the best learning happens in the field, when perceptions are challenged and comfort zones are stretched. He is committed to experiential education and loves to help students discover the power of world travel.
Chris Kauffeld
Chris is a proud UW-Madison Badger who caught the travel bug when he spent his junior year abroad at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. After graduation he traveled to Trinidad, Tobago and Venezuela before moving to Zaragoza, Spain where he taught ELL for two years before completing a Master’s Degree in Spanish Literature at the University of Santiago.
Chris has taught for thirty years and has led students on trips to Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, France and Spain. He has found these trips to be as eye-opening and rewarding for his students as his time abroad was for him and is committed to and excited about continuing to work with students that are excited to explore the world.
Over the years he has been to every continent except Antarctica, walked three different Camino de Santiago routes in Spain (he can’t recommend them highly enough) and has taken his two daughters along on many of his trips. His hobbies include backpacking, mushroom hunting, gardening and cooking. He lives with his wife and their two daughters along with two dogs, two guinea pigs and twelve chickens in Minnesota.
John Maattala
Originally from the great state of North Dakota, John graduated from Syracuse University with a B.A. in International Relations.
During this time, he spent a year studying at universities in Chile and Argentina and continued to live, work and travel throughout South America.
John spent six years teaching Spanish in New England before joining Students Love Travel.
He now enjoys planning trips as our full-time Travel Operations Manager and occasionally serves as a Program Director where he can share his love of travel with a new generation of global citizens.
He now enjoys planning trips as our full-time Travel Operations Manager and occasionally serves as a Program Director where he can share his love of travel with a new generation of global citizens.
He also holds a Master of Tourism Management degree from Colorado State University and loves any itinerary that involves bicycles. Even as a long-tenured New England resident, he continues to root for his Minnesota sports teams.
Peter McGowan
Originally from Ireland, Peter founded Students Love Travel with Robert Delorie.
Growing up he was fortunate to have parents who loved to travel abroad, and as a boy scout he spent his youth exploring the island with friends by foot, bicycle, and train.
As a sophomore in high-school he heard about Camp Counsellors USA and the following summer he found himself working with the Boy Scouts of America on the waterfront at Camp Yawgoog in Rhode Island. This was the first of many summers in the USA.
Peter graduated from the Waterford Institute of Technology as a Computer Scientist and was sponsored for a US Permanent Resident Visa by Digital Equipment Corporation. He spent the following decade designing systems for Healthcare, Finance, and Media companies, eventually finding himself designing systems for a travel company that specialized in "bus tours" for large groups of students. That's where he met Robert and found they agreed that smaller groups would be WAY better.
Over the Summer of 2009 they founded Students Love Travel to provide an alternative "no bus" approach to educational travel for small groups. They never looked back!
CONTACT PETER
Carolyn Nichols
Carolyn Nichols grew up in a lighthouse on the Massachusetts seashore where she developed a passion for the beauty of the natural world.
She circumnavigated the Caribbean Sea with Sea Education Association and graduated from Wheaton College (Massachusetts) with a double major in biology and fine art. Carolyn then earned a Master of Fine Art degree in Medical Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.
She escaped from academia to southern Chile where she guided four-month sea kayak expeditions for Raleigh International to the San Raphael Glacier. During her time off Carolyn traveled extensively in Bolivia and Peru.
Carolyn and her husband, Chris, have traveled extensively in Alaska, Iceland, and Canadian Maritimes and currently reside in Brunswick, Maine. She works as a high school science teacher and teaches graduate courses for teachers on Burnt Island in Boothbay Harbor for the Department of Marine Resources.
Carolyn’s passion for the outdoors is palpable and her students (young and old) thrive with her creative hands-on learning environment in and out of the classroom.
Matt Pachniuk
Matthew Pachniuk is a Connecticut native and the History Department Head at the Oxford Academy in Westbrook, CT.
His zeal for soccer and literature cultivated a strong interest to travel at a young age. As an International Relations major at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, Matt studied global politics and economics and was able to visit Italy and England with the Men’s Soccer team. Upon graduation, Matt backpacked the majority of Western and Central Europe. After living and working in Manhattan for a few years, the need to explore further became too much. Embarking on a four month trip around the world, Matt traveled to Japan, Thailand, Laos, Nepal, India, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Europe. He has traveled to 28 different countries to date.
Matt holds an M.A. in Education from Fairfield University, a National Diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, and is an AP European History teacher.
He has led students on trips to France, Quebec, and Italy and is constantly amazed how travel harnesses genuine enthusiasm, curiosity, and growth in young people. He is also an avid supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C."
Tracy Peterson
Growing up in Chicago, I developed a passion for other languages and cultures. Studying Spanish Education at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana provided me with an experience that changed my life: I spent six months living in Granada, Spain.
During that incredible time I developed a desire for travel and for having experiences outside the guidebooks. I have traveled extensively throughout Europe, and have also traveled to Africa, Mexico, Honduras, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Each experience has enriched my life.
I currently I teach ELL (English Language Learners) at a suburban high school near Chicago and my students enrich my life as we share cultures, languages, and a common passion for learning. I have traveled frequently with my students over the past 15 years throughout Europe - I have returned to my beloved España seven times!
Chris Pomeroy
Chris Pomeroy grew up in and currently lives in the small town of Manistee, Michigan where he teaches high school.
He graduated from Central Michigan University where he majored in Social Studies and minored in History. While studying to become a history teacher, Chris decided that the best way to learn about the people, places, and ideas he was going to teach about was to go and see those places in person. His favorite book is On The Road by Jack Kerouac which was a driving force behind his move to leave Michigan on his own to teach in Virginia, where he taught World History for seven years. He was able to fulfill his goal of visiting the historical places he taught about after his second year of teaching when he travelled with a group of students and teachers to Spain, France, and Italy.
One of his goals while teaching history is to constantly encourage his students' sense of adventure and independence as they leave his classroom and explore the world on their own. He has chaperoned students on two trips with Students Love Travel; one to Paris, France and San Sebastian, Spain, and the other to Ireland.
Karalee Rocker
Karalee Rocker was born in upstate New York, raised in Durham, North Carolina, and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Unable to go on the high school French trip with her class, she became determined to travel when she could. As one administrator put it, she was the only graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill to actually do two Junior-year abroad, one in Montpellier, France, and the other in Lima, Peru.
She taught Spanish in North Carolina for 3 years at a middle school, then she moved to Paris where she studied at the Sorbonne in Early Childhood Bilingual Education while teaching English and working as a Tour Guide for EF Tours. She led tours with American students through Paris, the Loire Valley, Geneva, Switzerland, and London, England.
On her return to the US she worked for four years at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. - including a mission trip to Antioquia, Colombia - before returning to teaching.
She's been a teacher for the last 11 years at Galileo Magnet High School in Danville, Virginia, and has taken her students on to London and Paris, then Spain, then Italy and southern France.
Recently she brought students on a trip to Paris and San Sebastian with Students Love Travel, and then a trip to Ireland. Delighted with the experiences, she joined the team!
Rodrigo Rosa-Blackburn
Rodrigo Rosa-Blackburn, "Profe" as his students call him, was born in Brazil, moved to the US at a young age, and grew up bilingual in Southern New Hampshire before graduating high school and attending Keene State to pursue a career teaching Spanish.
After teaching high school Spanish for a half a decade, he took his first trip to Spain, caught the travel bug, and now, 11 years later, has traveled all over Europe, Mexico, Canada, and even Central America; with students, with adults, with family, with friends, with whomever wants to go with him!
Profe brings years of experience in student travel, fluency in three languages (Spanish, Portuguese & English), and a growing competence in Italian to our programs.
He's looking forward to sharing his passion for language, culture, and travel with your group!