The commitment that everyone involved in the organization has to help teachers and students have the richest possible experience is nothing short of remarkable.

Executive Director, Leslie Gale, discusses the human drive to survive and thrive despite difficult circumstances.

Recently, we profiled Xperitas Board member and retired French Teacher, Jane Ditewig. Jane was and is a much beloved teacher at R.A. Long High School in Longview Washington. This summer Jane heard from Brad Carnine, one of her students from more than 20 years ago. He said we could share his letter with you. We hope every teacher who reads this letter is reminded of what an important job you do and how you all are changing the lives of your students.

At Xperitas, we aren’t in the business of sending students on “trips”.  Our mission is to transform lives through shared global experience and intercultural learning.   What does it take for travel abroad to be transformational?  It needs to be an experience that pushes students beyond their comfort zone, challenges them to confront their assumptions about the world and allows them to see themselves and others from a different perspective.

Board Member, Jan Ditewig, grew up in a small town in Washington and was always drawn to languages. When the family across the street hosted a French exchange student, she seemed exotic and fascinating to Jane. Read about her language immersion experiences and journey to becoming a language teacher.

In 8th grade middle school, I had to pick a language to study, and being half Mexican, my mom wouldn’t let me take Spanish since I already used it in my everyday home life. So, my only other option was French. At that point, I never thought I’d take it with me after high school, but I was very wrong.  Read Mercedes story.

Board Member, Carolyn Vanous, shares her story about traveling abroad as a student and her perspective of its value with future employers.

My name is Erica Besser and I attend Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. I will be a senior this upcoming year and start my first year in the Doctorate of Physical Therapy Program. I went on my trip in January of 2019 and had an amazing time.

Read this interview with Julie Rogers Bascom, a service-learning leader from Minneapolis, MN. She has been helping youth workers, teachers and young people to use service-learning as a strategy to solve problems in their communities for over 17 years.

This June, The Blake School, an independent high school in Minneapolis, departed for a Mandarin Chinese immersion program with Xperitas. The educational journey was a result of a year of preparation planning between the school’s language department, Xperitas and our partners in Asia to develop a six-week-long program.