Jeffrey, history teacher
Over the course of his 15 years leading student trips, Jeffrey has developed a love of exploring the road less traveled. He is a life-long learner with a passion for history, so he chooses tours that will enrich his students’ understanding of the world, as well as his own. “I tell my juniors at the beginning of every year that my goal is to inspire them to become connected to the global community. I want them to be able to look back on their lives and say, ‘It was important that I was here because I made a difference in the world.’”
When Explorica introduced a Make A Difference tour to Morocco, Jeffrey jumped at the opportunity. “I wanted to help my students better understand their lessons about Islam and the Muslim culture,” he explains. “I knew a service trip would provide the meaningful connection I was looking for.”
In June 2015, Jeffrey and his students boarded a plane for Casablanca. Their journey took them through the exotic souks of Marrakech, over the colorful Atlas Mountains and down to a remote Berber village on the banks of the M’Goun River. There, they worked side by side with villagers to paint a school, make traditional mud bricks, clear silt from vital irrigation trenches and plant corn. In the evenings, they were fed and entertained by the townspeople, playing music and learning traditional Berber dances. Jeffrey saw his students “stop being tourists in a strange land, and start connecting in a deeply meaningful way,” he recalls. “On the last night of the tour, we sat on our hotel balcony, reflecting on the work we had accomplished and the friendships we had built. It was one of the greatest moments of all of our lives; not one of us will ever forget it.”
For more information about Make A Difference tours like the one, please visit explorica.com/makeadifference or call 1.888.310.7120.