Group Leader Spotlight: Jana

Jana

Jana, drama teacher

Jana had a specific vision for the kind of trip she wanted to lead. “I went to New York City when I was in junior high and it changed my life,” she explains. “If just one of my students had an experience like that, it would be worth it.”

Jana began researching student tours, but was quickly disillusioned. “Every company had almost the exact same trip,” she recalls. “They were all just a few days, with only one Broadway show. If I was going to bring my students all the way to New York from Oklahoma, I wanted to be there for a while and take in a few performances.”

Then she called Explorica. “I remember my consultant saying, ‘You tell me your dream trip—every place you want to go, everything you want to see, how long you want to be there—and I’ll crunch the numbers.’ It was such a revelation; no other company had offered that to me.”

Just seven months after that first phone call, Jana gave 28 students the trip of a lifetime. She now has five tours under her belt and is planning numbers six and seven. “One time we were able to get a backstage tour of Radio City Music Hall with the Rockettes,” she recalls. “All the students were crying! Another time, I discovered that one of the performers in “On the Twentieth Century” was from our town, so I asked my program consultant if he could get us tickets. It wasn’t one of the options, but he pulled some strings and got us in. The actress, Kristin Chenoweth, was so touched that she met up with us after the show and sang with my students. These are the kinds of experiences that Explorica makes possible.”

Learn more about our North American tours by visiting explorica.com/northamerica or call 1.888.310.7120.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *