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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.
Peter Schmidt
Peter grew up in New Jersey and Massachusetts where he developed a love for foreign language, travel and culture as a young child. He began his linguistic journey in nursery school where he was taught Italian. In school he studied French, Spanish and Latin.
Peter earned a BA in Business from Saint Anselm College with a minor in Spanish. He studied International Business at the Universidad de Sevilla in Seville, Spain and then completed some graduate work at the Universidad de Costa Rica in San José, Costa Rica. Recently, he finished his M.Ed. in Educational Administration at Rivier University.
Peter is the Global Studies Coordinator at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire where he has taught Spanish and coached for many years. He was a recipient of the U.S. Department of State's Fulbright Fellowship where he conducted research in the field of Global Education before traveling to Brazil for a diplomatic teaching visitation. He was a participant in the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Think Tank on Global Education and a recipient of the Turkish Cultural Foundation's study-tour grant to Turkey.
His educational endeavors have recently brought him further afield to China where he taught American Culture and English at Pinkerton Academy's sister school in Tianjin.
Peter has traveled to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, China, Morocco, Canada, Turkey and much of Europe. He loves traveling and is passionately shares his love of cultures and languages with students.
Colleen Sheehan
Colleen Sheehan grew up in Upstate New York where she dreamed of traveling far away and imagined she would live somewhere new and exciting. After travelling the world and living in Spain for four years she realized the beauty in rural New York and has now lived in the same house for 29 years!
She studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain and after graduating college returned to live in Salamanca for one year and then spent two years in Alicante, on the Costa Blanca. While in Alicante she met and married her best friend, Said. Then they moved to the US where Colleen has spent the last few decades teaching Spanish and traveling with her students. Fortunately, Said enjoys traveling and has accompanied her on numerous student trips to Canada, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Spain. In addition, Colleen has traveled to the Dominican Republic, Panama and Peru.
She has taken three trips with Students Love Travel and on her most recent trip with students Colleen realized that she had many years of experiences leading student groups and could do it with ease and confidence. We were delighted when she asked to join us!
Tove Stigum
Tove grew up bilingual (English/Norwegian) in an immigrant home where visiting grandparents meant regular flights to Oslo which she now considers her second home.
While in high-school she spent a few weeks of summer living with a family in Zamora, Spain where she fell in love with the language and culture. She now has a degree in Spanish from UNH and an M.Ed. from Antioch New England and has been teaching Spanish for 15 years.
Tove is always ready for the next adventure - she was one of the first teachers to visit Puerto Rico with us, she was the first teacher to visit Costa Rica with us, and she recently spent a year in Segovia, Spain with her two children (who attended public school).
Tove's feedback over the years has been invaluable and her skills as a teacher and mentor have been inspiring. She is looking forward to traveling with you and your students, and we're confident that when the trip ends parting ways will be difficult!
Antonia Van Twisk
Antonia started studying French in middle school while doing home stays and she added German to her language classes in high school. She kept up her French and German skills while attending the University of Illinois, and studied francophone culture at the Institut Catholique in Paris for her junior year abroad.
After college she returned to France for a year with TAPIF (Teaching Assistant Program in France) where she taught English through music before returning to teach French at Neuqua Valley High School and at Chicago World Language Academy.
Antonia is an ultimate frisbee player and coach, and sits on the board of Illinois Ultimate.
Jennifer Vogelsong
Jen's fascination with world cultures and travel kicked into high gear when she visited a pen pal in Spain during high school. It drove her crazy not understanding the language, and it blew her mind how different, yet similar, teenagers were in Europe. She returned home determined not to let her red hair and pale skin keep her from becoming fluent in the Spanish language and cultures.
While studying international relations in Washington, D.C., she spent a semester in Venezuela. She has also traveled throughout Latin America -- including Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.
After a decade-long career as a journalist, she went back to school and became certified to teach Spanish. She took her first group of high school students to Puerto Rico with Students Love Travel and we stayed in touch. These days Jennifer runs a Pampered Chef business allowing her to grab every opportunity to travel as a Program Director.
Tad Williams
A native to the state of North Carolina, Tad studied French at East Carolina University.
In 1989 he had the opportunity of a lifetime:
He would live in Paris and study at the prestigious Sorbonne (University of Paris).
This time spent in the City of Light ignited a fire inside him for the French language and culture.
He would live in Paris and study at the prestigious Sorbonne (University of Paris).
This time spent in the City of Light ignited a fire inside him for the French language and culture.
Tad received his BS in Middle Grades Education (French and Social Studies) in 1990 and has been a teacher for more than 24 years.
He helped to design an Elementary Foreign Language Curriculum for Portland City Schools in the late 90s as well as a new FLES program in the Kennebunk Elementary Schools.
He helped to design an Elementary Foreign Language Curriculum for Portland City Schools in the late 90s as well as a new FLES program in the Kennebunk Elementary Schools.
Tad is currently teaching French at the Middle School of the Kennebunks in Kennebunk, Maine. Sharing his love for the French language and culture as well as his knowledge of and passion for the city of Paris brings Tad an amazing amount of joy - he has taken over a dozen trips to France with students!
Tad loves bringing the classroom to the real world and watching student’s faces light up with pride when they discover all that they really can do. Vive la France!
Alexandra Place
Meet Alexandra Place, Group Director
When she's not off running Marathons Alexandra teaches French and Theory of Knowledge at Fitch High School in Groton, Connecticut. Simultaneously she's an I.B. (nternational Baccalaureate) French Examiner...