THE LEADERS
Take a look at some of the outstanding individuals who have led Walking Tree programs!
Jump to name starting with:
a b c d f h i j k l m n r s t v z
Adam Elliott Wilson
Brown University B.A. Latin American Studies
In 2006, Adam received a Fulbright grant to spend ten months in Merida, Venezuela, where he taught English and gave lectures at various universities and private institutions. During his junior year at Brown, Adam studied abroad in both Chile and Cuba, where he undertook a research project on the oral and musical traditions of the Afro-Cuban religion, Santería.
Fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese, he has spent the past five years traveling to seventeen countries, nine of which were in Latin America. He has worked for a number of years as a private tutor and he loves to learn anything from cooking recipes to philosophy. A children’s fiction novelist and trained musician, Adam has recently moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he plans to work as a bilingual counselor before pursuing graduate studies in educational linguistics.
Angela Steele
Stanford University BA Cultural & Social Anthropology
Enrolling in Chinese on a whim freshman year, Angela never knew it would lead to years of study and lifetime’s worth of adventures. Angela first traveled to China in 2004, spending six months studying Chinese language and culture at Capital Normal University and Peking University. She became friends with many urban artists, dancers and musicians and wrote her undergraduate thesis on Hip Hop in Beijing. She graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Cultural & Social Anthropology in 2006. Angela played Women’s Rugby for 3 years at Stanford and was the MVP of the 2006 National Championship Team. As a 2007-2008 Fulbright Scholar, Angela documented Hip Hop culture in 13 Chinese cities. Angela has traveled extensively in China and is always learning something new about ancient and modern Chinese culture. Angela is certified in First Aid and CPR.
Adam Dunshee
Emory University B.A. in Spanish, University of Denver M.A. in Global Finance, Trade & Economic Integration.
Adam studied abroad in Havana, Cuba during the summer of 2001 and has traveled throughout the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, Mexico, and Panama. His professional background has been in the realm of trade finance where he assisted US exporters and financial institutions structure credit insurance and guarantee programs underwritten by the Export-Import Bank of the US and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
In 2009, he completed his master’s study and relocated to sunny Miami. Following a brief preview of retirement, he has recently transitioned into the field of microfinance working for a Miami-based lender who services microenterprises and entreperneurs with their access to commercial credit. Adam speaks Spanish and is hoping to add Portuguese and Creole to his repertoire in the near future. He is also certified in CPR and Standard First Aid.
Alec Hutchinson
Virginia Tech B.A. International Relations with emphasis on Environmental Sciences, Magna Cum Laude. Masters candidate, Environmental Management, Universidad para la Cooperacion Internacional, San Jose, Costa Rica
Growing up, Alec spent summers living in Bermuda where he worked at a local dive shop. In college, he studied abroad twice, in Spain and in Ecuador, where he became fluent in Spanish. His travels in Ecuador brought him to the Galapagos Islands and to spend time living with an Amazonian tribe, the Huaorani, in a remote jungle village where he perfected his accuracy with a blowgun. His time spent in Galapagos and the Amazon solidified his passion for nature and wildlife conservation, and after graduation he began a career in sea turtle conservation working simultaneously with Conservation International and the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group in Washington, DC.
After leaving DC, he took a position as director of sea turtle conservation at a local Costa Rican NGO and moved to Costa Rica in August 2007. Alec has been highly successful in the conservation field, having published several works related to sea turtles and identified two new sea turtle nesting beaches on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. He lives full-time in Costa Rica where he has built Robinson Crusoe-style beach camps, led mountain and beach horseback tours, waded barefoot through crocodile-infested floodplains, and ruined at least two perfectly good rental cars during river crossings. He enjoys all aspects of travel, including cultural exchange, trying new foods and taking in the natural sights at all opportunities.
Alissa Hoffenberg
Illinois Wesleyan University, B.A. in Hispanic Studies and double minor in Education and Psychology, Magna Cum Laude.
In college, Alissa spent a semester abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico. A year later, she went on to complete an independent study in Mannheim, Germany. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Technos International Prize for outstanding academic performance and commitment to the cause of international understanding.
Alissa went on to complete her first teaching assignment in Chicago, where she taught Spanish and Psychology. Soon after, however, she headed back to Mexico where she took on a teaching position at el Technológico de Monterrey, where she taught Communications, Literature, and Comparative Cultures to college prep students. After spending 4 years in Mexico, Alissa returned to Chicago in 2006 to embark on her career in corporate learning consulting. Nowadays, Alissa takes time away from her work to stay involved in education and international awareness by volunteer teaching and traveling as much as possible. She has been to 18 countries over the past 6 years, is fluent in Spanish and German, and is CPR and First Aid certified.
Anna Demmler Kane
Fordham University B.A. in Sociology and Spanish Language & Literature.
Anna’s love of the Spanish language started at East High School in Denver, Colorado and then further grew when she studied abroad her junior year of college in Alcala de Henares, Spain. After graduating, she worked for an international education organization in New York City, working to bring students from Latin America to the United States for cultural and language exchange programs.
Her job then took her down to Argentina where she lived, worked, and traveled for almost a year. She has traveled extensively throughout South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Her experiences traveling and learning about other cultures has led her to pursue an M.A. in International Development at the University of Denver where she is currently studying in hopes of addressing inequality and poverty in Latin America. She is fluent in Spanish and certified in CPR and First Aid.
Anna Walters
BA Harvard University in Folklore and Mythology. Certificate in Latin American Studies.
Anna’s first experience living and traveling abroad in the Galápagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. After a fascinating and transformative summer there teaching English, living with a host-family and swimming with sea lions, Anna focused her studies on Latin America. Her undergraduate thesis research took her to Cuba to conduct field research on dance and music traditions. She returned to Ecuador as a writer for the Let’s Go budget travel guidebook covering the highlands, beaches and mangrove swamps of northwest Ecuador uncovering local legends and secret surf breaks along the way. And for fun, she has traveled to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Costa Rica. Anna is an avid backcountry adventurer and dedicated to experiential education. She led backpacking trips for the Harvard Freshman Outdoor orientation program. Currently based in Los Angeles, Anna is the California Director for MindFish Test Prep developing college preparatory classes for high school students. She can also be found on the stage, hiking in Malibu and learning to skateboard on the boardwalk.
Bretton Rodriguez
University of Chicago B.A. History; University of York M.A Literature, Notre Dame University PHD candidate
While an undergraduate, Brett made several trips to Spain, which included spending time in Málaga studying Spanish and working on an archaeological dig at the former Roman city of Tiermes outside of Segovia. After graduation, Brett moved to Santiago, Chile, where he taught English for six months to a wide variety of students before backpacking through Chile, Perú, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Argentina. Upon returning to the United States, Brett worked as a newspaper
correspondent before leaving to do an M.A. at the University of York in England. Having received his degree, he briefly returned to Chicago before moving to Huajuapan de León in the Mexican state of Oaxaca to teach English at la Universidad de la Tecnología de la Mixteca. Recently, Brett has returned to the United States and is currently pursuing his doctorate at the University of
Notre Dame.
Caitlin Dee
Skidmore College B.A. Spanish Language and Literature and minor in Studio Art.
Ever since learning her first word in Spanish in 8th grade, Caitlin discovered the thrill of understanding a new language and knew that she wanted to learn Spanish in its entirety. Reaching near-fluency in high school inspired her to spend her junior year of college studying at the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Spain. As a Resident Counselor in her sophomore year she gained valuable experience working with students, and during her year in Spain, Caitlin taught art classes to elementary and middle school students and taught English to high school and university students. She also studied Social-Linguistics and Sociology of Language, exploring the different dialects/accents within the regions of Spain and among Latin American countries. Her passion for linguistics and etymology drew her to expand her studies to French and Italian when she returned to Skidmore for her senior year. After graduating in 2006, Caitlin taught French and Spanish in an after-school program for elementary and middle school students. However, her hunger for travel motivated her to leave the teaching world and buy a one-way ticket to Paris to embark upon another European adventure. She returned to Boston after several months of adventuring, and after becoming certified as a medical interpreter, worked in a prestigious Boston hospital. Caitlin is a member of the American Translator’s Association, fluent in Spanish and French, conversant in Italian and is certified in CPR and First Aid. When not traveling, she works as a freelance artist and translator.
Ceiwen Bushey
University of Washington B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature
Born in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, Ceinwen Bushey grew up with the Rocky Mountains as her backyard, and the Blackfoot River as her swimming pool. After graduating from her small-town high school, Ceinwen was ready to get out and explore what the world had to offer, so at 17 she took off on a summer study abroad program in Quito, Ecuador. From that moment on, she found her passion in travel, language, and cultural studies. Upon her return to Montana, she studied Spanish and Nature-Based Tourism at the University of Montana. This let her to an outdoor adventure internship in Antigua, Guatemala, where she lived for a year and a half and worked as an outdoor adventure guide and elementary English teacher. Before returning to university, she took time to travel to various countries including El Salvador, Scotland, Sweden, Spain, and Colombia. Ceinwen transferred to the University of Washington, where she worked as a medical interpreter and graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish Language and Literature. She is fluent in Spanish, is learning Portuguese, is becoming TEFL certified and plans to move back to Latin America to teach English before pursuing graduate studies in International Relations.
Christina Reynolds
Grinnell College, B.A. in French
Christina grew up trilingual in Austria, France, and the cornfields of Iowa. During her junior year at Grinnell College, she left the prairie to study in francophone Africa. She lived in Senegal for a memorable five months, conducting an internship in Dakar and living with a polygamous host family. Christina’s experience working with Senegalese youth broadened her understanding of language and education. She has now worked with teens on three continents and in a variety of linguistic programs: French immersion for Americans teens, English classes for French high schoolers, and English enrichment for rural Mozambican students. Christina teaches elementary French immersion in the Milton Public Schools, just outside Boston and is fluent in French and German.
Christine Henning
University of Colorado-Boulder B.A. Spanish Language and Literature, Secondary Teaching License in Spanish
During her junior year at CU, Christine lived in Barcelona for six months and studied Spanish Literature at the Universidad de Barcelona. After graduating in May of 2007, she was a Spanish instructor for Upward Bound at the University of Colorado, a program designed to support Native American high school students from underprivileged backgrounds and to promote their future success in higher education. Christine completed a semester of student teaching at East High School in Denver in the fall of 2007 and in the fall of 2008, Christine moved to Buenos Aires for eight months to work at a commercial real estate firm and explore Argentine culture. She has guided three consecutive programs in Costa Rica and has helped with Walking Tree recruiting in Southern California. Christine has traveled extensively around Europe and South America and is fluent in Spanish, is certified in CPR and First Aid, and currently lives in San Diego.
Christopher Palacios
Amherst College, B.A. Spanish and Psychology.
Christopher has loved to work with children since high school. He continued his work with children throughout his time at Amherst College where he had an internship his Junior Year working at Children’s Village in Dobb’s Ferry, New York. His work there inspired him to become a teacher. He has a passion for writing and photography. He interned with MTV Networks as a production assistant in 2001. After college he was accepted to Teach For America in Charlotte, North Carolina where he taught High School Spanish. He then went on to teach at elite preparatory schools in Florida. While working for these schools he had the opportunity to embark on various adventures with high school students which took him backpacking and hiking through Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina and kayaking through the Everglades in South Florida. He has been published in the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Language magazine “The Language Educator.” He attended Concordia Language Village in Bemidji, MN for a graduate level seminar for teachers in second language and immersion. He lived in Spain as a child and began speaking Spanish at an early age. He has traveled to Europe, Mexico, Cuba, and extensively throughout the United States. Christopher is fluent in Spanish and certified in CPR and First Aid.
Craig Lowry
DePauw University, BA in Spanish and Economics; University of Notre Dame, MA in Spanish Literature
Craig’s interest in travel began when he visited several European countries and China to perform with his high school’s band and orchestra. In college, Craig studied abroad twice, first in Botswana and then in Santiago, Chile. In Chile, he studied educational policy and social change, interned in an English classroom in a secondary school, and became fluent in Spanish. After college, he went immediately to the University of Notre Dame for his Master of Arts in Spanish Literature and to teach introductory Spanish courses. While at Notre Dame, he received a grant from the Nanovic Institute for European Studies to travel to Toledo, Spain and help teach a course in Spanish literature as part of a study abroad program for college students. At the end of his graduate studies, he earned the Kaneb Center Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Teaching.
Craig is currently a Spanish teacher at Marian Catholic High School in the Chicago suburbs where he enjoys working with students to understand the rewards of learning a second language and exploring different cultures. He took a group of students on a weeklong service trip to Mexico over the summer where they worked hard to install a septic tank in a small, rural community. Craig just finished the course work for his Illinois teaching certification this spring and is excited to begin his first adventure with Walking Tree in Costa Rica this summer!
David Godfrey
Seattle Pacific University, B.A. Spanish and French, Magna Cum Laude
Born and raised in small-town California, David exchanged his dusty flip-flops for rain boots at 18 when he moved to Seattle to begin his undergraduate studies. It was here that he discovered his passion for international relations while working as a Spanish translator for a development-minded NGO. While in school he seized every opportunity to travel, spending a semester abroad in Madrid and traveling to Mexico and Quebec in between quarters.
After graduation, David’s insatiable wanderlust led him to Paris, where he taught English for a year and took advantage of the French affinity for paid vacation to travel extensively through Europe. Upon returning to the States, David moved to San Francisco to take an internship at the Global Fund for Women, which furthered his interest in social justice issues. He is now home in Seattle, plotting his next adventure: grad school.
David Gordon
Loyola Marymount University. Double majored in Spanish and Humanities with a concentration in Sociology. Minor in Natural Sciences.
David played rugby and volleyball in college. He now plays Gaelic football in which he has three national championships. He first traveled in high school the summer before junior year where he met up with a sports friend from Austria, and then traveled to the motherland, Scotland. He has since been hooked on traveling and has visited or lived on every continent but 2. Part of those travels includes studying and living in Ecuador where he made frequent trips such as swimming in the Amazon, summiting Andes mountains, canyoneering cloud forests waterfalls, and snorkeling in the Galapagos islands. On other occasions he has traveled throughout South America, Asia, South East Asia, Europe, and is currently traveling through Central America. He is fluent in Spanish and has his WFR (Wilderness First Responder Certification)
Debbie Stadfeld
Emory University B.A. in Spanish and Political Science; Boston College M.Ed. in Secondary Education with a concentration in history
Ever since she went on a family trip to Spain at age 15 and was lucky enough to have an unforgettable high school Spanish teacher, Debbie has loved Spanish language and culture. In college she spent 6 months studying political science at the Universidad de Buenos Aires in Argentina living with a host family. During this time she explored Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, and little bit of Chile.
Debbie has also traveled extensively in Israel. She led 2 summer leadership programs for high school students in Israel and also traveled there while working for an educational non-profit organization after college. Debbie is currently teaching world history at a pubic high school just a few miles outside of Boston.
Flora Mendoza
Yale University B.A. Latin American Studies, Humanities Concentration.
Flora was born in Manhattan to a Mexican father and Spanish mother and raised in rural Pennsylvania. In college, she studied abroad and interned in Argentina, Brazil, and India. As an undergraduate, she studied at the School of Music, sang in a cappella group, and worked as a multicultural recruitment coordinator for Yale University’s admissions office. Upon graduation, she was awarded a Humanity in Action Fellowship that gave her the opportunity to research Islamophobia in Denmark. In collaboration with Libraries Without Borders, she also worked to supply a new middle school with learning aids in a village of the Dominican Republic where she served as a medical translator. Most recently, she represented the U.S. Youth Network for Sustainable Development at the UN’s Commission for Social Development. As a resident of New York City, she volunteers for the Queens-based Brazilian health care NGO, Mundo Real, and is pursuing a career in the performing arts. She never ceases to be interested in exploring the intersections between her love of music and academia, and was recently accepted into the Emerging Young Artists Program at the Hemispheric Institute of Performing Arts and Politics, sponsored by NYU. She is fluent is Spanish and Portuguese, and is conversant in Italian. She enjoys making jewelry, composing and writing short screenplays, and is an avid performer of opera, musical theatre, and jazz.
Fernanda Parra
Seattle University School of Law, J.D with an emphasis in Human Rights and Immigration Law; University of Washington, B.As in International Studies and Communications, track in Human Rights, States, Law and Society and International Communication.
Fernanda is currently practicing law in San Jose, Costa Rica where she works as a Visiting Professional Attorney at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, one of three international human rights courts in the world. Fernanda is very passionate about social justice, and her work abroad demonstrates a particular dedication to indigenous, women, and children’s rights.
While in college Fernanda volunteered in Cape Town, South Africa, teaching high school students in Langa township and writing a report with the Ministry of Social Services and Poverty Alleviation on the effectiveness of funding for AID/HIV relief programs. Before law school, she ventured to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she worked with the women and youth of two distinct favelas.
Fernanda’s adventurous spirit has taken her across every continent, yet she calls three places home: Guanajuato, Mexico, where she was born, Portland, Oregon, were she was raised, and Seattle, Washington where she practices. Fernanda is perfectly fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and loves all things outdoors, oil painting, writing, and cross-country running!
Hassana Hedrick Diallo
Hassana Hedrick Diallo graduated from The Evergreen State College in Washington state in 2004, with a degree focusing on business management and entrepreneurship. He was born in the rural community of Dindefelo, in southeastern Senegal and lived there until the age of 10, when he was adopted by Peace Corps Volunteers who had served in his village and who brought him back to the States. He learned English and attended school in Olympia, Washington and Washington, DC, going to The Maret School in D.C. and graduating from Olympia High School. All the while in the United States, he returned every year or two to Senegal, never losing his native languages or his connection with Senegalese culture. After graduating from college, he worked in two positions in Washington state government, focused on customer relations and training. In 2008, a year after his father returned to Senegal to become the Peace Corps Country Director, he also returned to Senegal to start a new venture, focused on the agricultural supply chain, which now employs 6 people. While doing this, he has worked with and mentored several Peace Corps Volunteers in the Kedougou region. Hassana has traveled throughout West Africa and some parts of Europe. He speaks English, French, Pulaar and Wolof.
Heidi Hendrickson
University of California Santa Barbara, BA Dance and Education, Masters in Education
Heidi grew up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California where her parents ran an Outdoor Education School. She spent her childhood outdoors, where her love for adventure began. In high school, Heidi attended an international symposium called One Earth, One People, which brought high school students from all over the world together. This was her first real experience interacting with people from a variety of cultural backgrounds, and she knew she wanted more. As a follow up to the symposium, Heidi spent two weeks traveling in Costa Rica with other high school participants. Heidi was high school valedictorian. During college, Heidi studied abroad in Morelia Mexico. After receiving her Masters in Education and Multi Subject Teaching Credential from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Heidi headed back to Costa Rica where she lived for the past two and a half years. She taught fourth grade at the Cloud Forest School, a bilingual school with a focus on environmental education. While in Monteverde, Heidi also taught dance and yoga to local children. Heidi considers Costa Rica her second home and is excited to head back this summer to share this amazing country with a group of students! Heidi speaks Spanish fluently and is certified in CPR and First Aid.
Hunter Patterson
Hunter’s fascination with the languages and cultures of the Hispanic world began at an early age on family vacations to the sunny playas of Jalisco, Mexico. He later attended Escuela Latona, a bilingual elementary school in his hometown of Seattle and as an undergraduate at the University of Washington, jumped at the chance to receive college credit abroad in the Spanish speaking world, spending his junior year furthering his language studies in the small town of Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Upon graduating from the school of Spanish and Portuguese Studies in 2008, Hunter was awarded an assistant teaching position in a public elementary school in Madrid, Spain. After two years of working and exploring the vast cultural and linguistic landscape of España, Hunter has developed a deep love and appreciation for travel and the unforgettable people, places and experiences of the Spanish speaking world. His future plans include a Master’s degree in education and he hopes to teach Spanish at the high school level.
Ian Hegarty
Cornell University B.S. City and Regional Planning, M.S. Regional Planning
Ian received a Masters in Regional Planning from Cornell University in 2004, with a focus on the role of local arts and culture in economic growth. After a stint as a public bus driver in Albany, New York, Ian moved to New York City in 2005. It wasn’t long before he was running a small moving business with a friend and touring across the country with a rock band. In 2008, Ian took a job as a City Planner for the New York City government. He works in Queens, where about half of the population is born outside the United States. In this role, he works with local communities throughout Queens developing land use plans and addressing issues surrounding housing, economic growth, transportation, and urban design. Ian lives in Queens with his wife Sarah Zimmerman. He has traveled to Chile, England, Germany, and Italy.
Jadihel Taveras
B.A in Political Science from Siena College with a minor in Multi-Cultural Studies.
Jadihel gained his first experience in international development through his study abroad experience in Stellenbosch, South Africa where he was heavily involved in community development projects. His experience working on a development project in a rural village in Pa Deng, Thailand, fortified his love for traveling, international development and cross cultural experiences. Upon graduating he interned for The Foundation of Sustainable Development in Cochabamba, Bolivia. While working in a rural village in the outskirts of Cochabamba, he was able to allocate enough money to design and launch a micro-credit program for local women vendors which created the first market in the village of Santa Barbara, Bolivia, granting the community access to nutritious foods. He is a native Spanish speaker with an unyielding love for his Latin American Culture and who thoroughly enjoys his time spent with his very large family. In the fall of 2010 he will be attending SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, VT, where he will pursue a master’s degree in Sustainable Development.
James Riley
B.A. French and History, Middlebury College, University of Minnesota Studies in International Development, Dakar, Senegal
James Riley began his career as an adventurer at the age of five, when he bravely escaped his sister’s soccer match and trekked over a mile home, without a guide. James has since traveled at least 65º of latitude, hiked across the Italian Alps, repeatedly backpacked France, and sailed to the Canary Islands on a 200-ft English tall ship, from which he first glimpsed the western coast of Africa. He would first voyage to Senegal after graduating from Middlebury College with degrees in History and French, which prepared him for an extended work-study experience in Dakar. Living with a local family, James interned with a rural development NGO while he studied the Wolof language at the West African Research Center, volunteered at agricultural projects, and surfed frequently. Since returning in 2010, James has worked as a teacher at NYC public schools while continuing his study of Wolof at Columbia University.
Jonathan Downey
Tufts University B.A. in Economics and Spanish Literature
Jonathan is an avid wanderer and language enthusiast. He has traveled extensively by train and bus throughout Europe, South and Central America. He also spent a year studying in Spain at the University of Cadiz. Jonathan has a special interest in linguistics, specifically concerning second language acquisition and next year plans to do begin graduate work in interpretation and translation.
Jonathan speaks Spanish and French and is a member of the American Translators Association. He works as an interpreter for the local public school system and as a preschool teacher at the Denver Montclair International School. His principal pastimes are playing basketball and passing hours in his favorite coffee shop. Jonathan looks forward to returning to Central America this summer and to his first trip with Walking Tree!
Jonathan Yutzy
Arizona State University B.A in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus in Latin American History and Creative Writing.
Jonathan first visited Costa Rica with a student group in 1999, where he was introduced to the beautiful and dynamic Latin American culture that has played such an important role in his life ever since. During college, Jonathan spent time as an exchange student in Quito, Ecuador, and a year working in a bi-national center in Merida, Venezuela. He is fluent in Spanish and enjoys writing fiction and creating short films. He understands the importance of personal growth through firsthand experience and tries to find creative ways for his students to learn more about themselves and the cultures in which they are immersed. Jonathan has led Walking Tree programs in Costa Rica and Peru and helps with school visits as well as other aspects of Walking Tree.
Julia Torres
Wesleyan University, B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature, coursework equivalent to an Architecture minor
Julia grew up in a bilingual household and has traveled to Mexico, her father’s native country, throughout her life. She spent a semester of college studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and took the subsequent semester off from school to stay in Buenos Aires in an international artist cooperative house, while working as an English tutor. She returned to Wesleyan and graduated with her class in seven semesters. She has since traveled to Costa Rica, where she worked on an organic farm in an indigenous reservation, and visited Panama, Uruguay and Spain. While not traveling, Julia participates in a variety of collaborative creative projects, including working as a script consultant and actor for a film production company that recently premiered its first film, Utopians, at the Berlin Film Festival. She now lives in Boston and continues to work in film. She also works as a glassblowing and woodworking teacher with elementary, middle and high school students.
Katie Laird
University of Notre Dame B.A. in Spanish and minor in Journalism, Cum Laude,; M.Ed.in Secondary Education.
Katie spent a semester abroad in college in Toledo, Spain where she studied Spanish literature and lived with a host family. While in Spain, Katie volunteered at an ESL school and assisted with adults learning English. She was able to travel throughout Spain and other European nations. After college, Katie moved to Phoenix, Arizona as part of a service-teaching program where she received a Masters in Secondary Education while teaching Spanish at the high school level. During her time in Phoenix, Katie served as a leader on a mission trip with her school to Tijuana, Mexico. Together the group of students, teachers and parents lived in tents for five days and built a total of six houses for underprivileged families living in poverty. This past year Katie returned to Chicago and is currently teaching Spanish at Montini Catholic High School. She is certified in secondary foreign language teaching in both Indiana and Illinois and plans on working towards her English as a New Language (ENL) certification in the near future. She is fluent in Spanish and CPR/First Aid certified.
Kelly Breymeier
B.A. Spanish and Education, King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, PA, M.A. Spanish, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO
Ever since her first language experience at 14 years old in high school, Kelly has been hooked on learning Spanish. This passion has continued into her adult hood and has helped Kelly thrive as a high school and middle school Spanish teacher for the past ten years. She has led her students on service learning projects in Costa Rica, Panamá, México, Guatemala, Ecuador, Perú, Turkey and Greece. Kelly has experienced how lives can be transformed through travel and is grateful to have shared these journeys with amazing young people who will surely make the world a better place! In addition to traveling extensively and earning her degrees in Spanish through US universities, Kelly has also spent multiple semesters studying abroad in Spain, México and Costa Rica. Over the past decade, she has traveled to over 20 different countries, including Japan, Kenya, Tanzania, and many countries in Europe and throughout Latin America. Kelly currently resides in Golden, CO where she dedicates her life to teaching, traveling and outdoor adventures. She is CPR and First Aid certified.
Lesleigh Gennace
Syracuse University B.A. Spanish and Geography. Middlebury College, Masters in Spanish
Lesleigh is a Spanish teacher at Trinity School in Manhattan. After completing her undergraduate degree, she landed her first Spanish teaching position at her former school, Montclair Kimberley Academy in New Jersey. While there she received a grant to study in Cuernavaca, Mexico for the summer to develop lesson plans.
She completed a Masters Degree in Spanish at Middlebury College in Madrid, Spain in 2005. Before teaching at Trinity School she was an Administrative Assistant at the Instituto Cervantes in New York, a non-profit Spanish cultural center. Lesleigh is fluent in Spanish and certified in CPR and First Aid.
Lynn Jarvis
Western Michigan University – Secondary Education; English / Spanish B.A.
Since graduation in 2005, Lynn has been teaching high-school English. Post college she took an extended travel experience to Spain, which increased cultural and linguistic knowledge. Her travel experience includes; Mexico (several locations), the Virgin Islands, Morocco, Canada, and almost every state within the continental U.S. Lynn relocated to Scottsdale, AZ in 2007. Since then, she has been teaching Spanish, active as the Varsity cheer coach, and teaching Yoga & Pilates. As an adolescent herself, she participated in service mission trips every summer to the Appellation region of the U.S., and values immensely volunteering and service projects to this day. Lynn believes part of a person’s development is defined and enlightened through service to others, especially when that allows for embracing a culture very different than one’s own. In the coming fall Lynn will leave teaching, continue to tutor, teach yoga, etc. and will be going back to attend school full time for Holistic Health and Nutrition with an emphasis on Western Herbalism.
Marc Perrault
Keene State College, B.A. Spanish, Secondary Teaching Certification, Magna Cum Laude. A language enthusiast since the age of 16, Marc has been actively honing his international travel and language skills for the past 7 years. After catching the travel bug on a high school exchange trip to Aix-en-Provence, France, Marc quickly expanded his travel resume to include the UK and Spain. While studying Spanish and Education in college, Marc continued to travel, spending a semester in Seville and also visiting Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland and Germany. In January of 2010, he was selected with an elite group of Keene State students to build homes in El Salvador. After serving as a Walking Tree leader last summer, Marc relocated from New England to his new home in Boulder, Colorado. He teaches elementary school at Broomfield Academy, and escapes to the mountains to ski, climb, and hike whenever he gets the chance. He can often be found performing music at local venues and teaching swimming to his elementary students after school. Marc is CPR/AED and Lifeguard Instructor certified.
Mario Tapia Meza
ICPNA (Peruvian-North American Cultural Institute)
While in Lima, Mario spent two years learning English then he moved back to Cusco when he started to study Tourism for three years at I.S.T.P. Antonio Lorena Institute, during those three years he learned about Peruvian history, geography and archaeology, has traveled all Cusco area, Puno and Bolivia while studying he has worked for ProPeru a non-profits organization based in Sacred Valley as translator, Aventura Quechua, Munaycha Experience and Chaski Ventura cusquenians tour companies as tour guide. He organizes activities like horseback riding, mountain biking, trekking and soon will run his own business.
He has led group of tourist in Arequipa (Colca Canyon), Puerto Maldonado (Tambopata Reserve), Ica (Nazca Lines), Ayacucho (Vilcashuaman) and others Peruvian touristic areas.
Three years ago he met Gabriel Duncan and Luke Mueller showed them all Cusco and Ollantaytambo’s area where most of Walking Tree programs homestays are located.
He is fluent in English and Quechua (Peru’s native language), likes to travel, dance and loves his country like no one else.
Merrybelle Guo
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, BA in International and Area Studies, and Asian Studies.
Despite being Chinese, Merrybelle did not connect with her heritage until she spent a spring semester of college weaving her way through Beijing’s ancient alleyways and between its towering new buildings. Since learning the secret to using chopsticks she has also worked, researched, and traveled throughout China, including on an educationally based oral history project in rural Shanxi province. As an undergraduate, Merrybelle organized and led several disaster relief trips and received a Chancellor’s award for outstanding leadership, character and scholarship. After graduation, Merrybelle spent some time traveling before returning home to work at her local rape crisis center and on an oral history project documenting North Carolina social justice activists. She now lives in Oberlin, OH and works for a non-profit that focuses on educational exchange between Asia and America. One of the best parts of her job is facilitating undergraduate projects to Asia. Aside from her official work, she also continues to further her passions for education by volunteering at the public library’s children’s section and local heritage center, and is currently working on an oral history based curriculum for the local elementary school. Merrybelle has also traveled to a dozen countries on four continents and is an approved Rough Guides contributor.
Noemi Fernandez
Williams College, BA in History and Spanish
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Noemí grew up in Arizona speaking Spanish infrequently and reluctantly. It was when her high school Spanish teacher took her at the age of 14 on a two month immersion program through Spain that she discovered a love for all things Spanish. This high school experience kick started her passion for language education and travel. Since then, she has traveled by plane, train, bicycle, foot, boat, and myriad modes of transportation through western Europe, north Africa, Mexico, and across the United States and lived in six different states. She moved to Granada, Spain, for a year where she studied at the University of Granada and worked as an English teacher before graduated from Williams College in 2009 with a degree in military history and Spanish literature. Afterward she became a high school Spanish teacher. Outside of the classroom, Noemí coaches and plays soccer and lacrosse and is working on her degree in education and policy. She currently resides in Connecticut.
Tracy Motz
Northwestern University B.A. Learning & Organizational Change
Having spent a summer studying in Hakodate, Japan and a year in Paris, France, Tracy moved to New York City after her graduation in 2002 to pursue an internationally-focused career, working first in French public relations and later for a Swedish consulting company. Guided by a general sense of wanderlust and intrigue, she left the business world in 2005, learned how to ride a motorcycle, and left for a solo, two-wheeled journey that would unexpectedly take her through 19 countries and last for almost three years. During this time she learned Spanish and organized an earthquake relief effort that resulted in the building of houses for 84 displaced Peruvians.
In 2008 she left her motorcycle in Argentina and returned to NYC, settling in Brooklyn to establish herself as a photojournalist. She continues to pictorally document the stories in the world around her, and is set to try her hand in cinematography this summer. Tracy is fluent in Spanish and French, and good enough with basic Japanese to entertain tourists.
Ruthie Ditzler
Lewis & Clark College, B.A. in International Affairs and Hispanic Studies
Ruthie ‘s love of Spanish and belief in the importance of community service were solidified during her first trip to Guatemala, as a participant in a leadership program in the summer of 2005. Ruthie took a gap year following graduation from high school, and spent six months living and working in Antigua, Guatemala, with time spent traveling through the rest of the country, as well as in Panama. During college, she studied abroad twice, first in Valparaíso, Chile, and then in Alicante, Spain. While in Chile, Ruthie volunteered as a teacher’s assistant at a neighborhood community center, and spent time exploring the local terrain on trips with her favorite class, Deportes de Montaña. During her semester in Spain, Ruthie tutored preschoolers and college students in English, and was fortunate to travel through many European countries, including time spent working at a farm in the south of Holland.
Sara Schwartz
New York University B.A. in Education and Spanish, University of Pennsylvania MSW class of ‘13.
Sara began studying Spanish in elementary school and took her first trip to Cuernavaca, Mexico, in fifth grade. Traveling and speaking Spanish became a central focus of her life and her studies. Sara took a trip to Spain with her high school and was so fascinated by the country that when it came time to study abroad during her junior year at New York University, she went straight back to Barcelona! Since graduating from NYU, Sara has participated in the 2006 international observation of the municipal and legislative elections in El Salvador, she ran an after school coping skills program for homeless youth in New York City, and in July of 2007, she moved to Cusco, Peru, for a year to run an empowerment through sports and English program for girls. During her year in Peru, Sara traveled extensively through South and Central America.
Sara currently works for a non-profit organization in Philadelphia, where she teaches workshops on teen dating violence and sexual health to inner-city students. Sara will begin pursuing her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania this fall. She is fluent in Spanish and certified in First Aid and CPR.
Sarah Zimmerman
Cornell University B.A. in American Studies; Bank Street College of Education M.S. in Bilingual Education; City College of New York M.S. in Secondary Mathematics Education
Sarah took up Spanish during her sophomore year at Cornell, and in 2003 she studied abroad in Santiago, Chile. While there she became fluent in Spanish and traveled throughout Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia. Sarah is currently in her seventh year as a bilingual educator in New York City public schools. She began with Teach for America in 2004 as a third and fourth grade teacher of new arrival students from Spanish-speaking countries, and continued as a fifth grade teacher at the Twenty-First Century Academy for Community Leadership Dual Language school in Harlem/Washington Heights, where she supports bilingual elementary and middle school students and teachers as the Math and Science Coach. She has also taught a course on Language Acquisition to graduate students at Bank Street College of Education. Sarah and her husband, Ian Hegarty, live in Queens, New York, from where they each commute by bicycle to work. A softball and baseball enthusiast, Sarah played softball on her high school and college teams, and now plays on weekends with a local intramural team.
Shannon O’Halloran
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service B.S. Regional Studies of Latin America. Boston University M.S. International Education Development
Shannon first fell in love with travel and the Spanish language in her senior year of high school at Phillips Exeter Academy, when she studied in Cuernavaca, Mexico. She went on to study international relations at Georgetown, where she focused on language and cultural studies of Latin America. She studied in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during her junior year and received the Hispanic Studies Award upon graduation. Passionate to learn more, she moved to Boston to receive a Masters in International Educational Development from Boston University. She is a founding director of The Wandering Scholar, an organization that works closely with Walking Tree and is tasked with academically and financially supporting under-served high school students who want to participate
in experiential travel programs. She has made numerous trips back to Mexico and has traveled throughout Europe, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Puerto Rico. Shannon loves planning trips, writing, spending time at the beach, and challenging both herself and others to try new things.
Tighe Kayser
Fort Lewis College, BA International Studies, Latin American Emphasis; University of Denver MSW candidate.
Tighe grew up in Colorado, at an early age she traveled throughout Europe with her family and developed a passion for exploring new places. In high school, Tighe spent a year abroad in Ecuador and became fluent in Spanish. As a college student she studied Spanish in Cuba and spent a semester working at an orphanage in Chihuahua, Mexico. In addition to her travels, Tighe worked as a whitewater raft guide. She moved to Denali, Alaska to continue guiding after she graduated from college and ended up spending almost 4 years there. During this time Tighe also worked in public interest law and child advocacy for the State of Alaska. Upon her return to Colorado, she continued to peruse her career in child advocacy and is currently studying to obtain her Master’s in Social Work. Tighe was recently awarded a scholarship from the Butler Institute for Children and Families in recognition of her ongoing dedication to child welfare. Tighe continues to travel and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible.
Vanessa Santiago Schwarz
Barnard College, Columbia University B.A. Psychology. Bank Street College of Education M.S. Bilingual Special Education
Vanessa Santiago Schwarz lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches at Public School 210 in Harlem. She has worked with students who have special needs in bilingual classrooms for five years. Vanessa also teaches a graduate school course for future teachers and a yoga class to beginners. Motivated to travel and work with youth, Vanessa first led a Walking Tree program to Costa Rica in 2007. Since then, she has spent a year teaching in a bilingual school in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and has led Walking Tree programs in Costa Rica, Perú and Mexico. Vanessa has traveled throughout Latin America, Europe, and parts of Asia. She speaks Spanish fluently and is certified in CPR.
Zacarias Barnes
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire B.A. Latin American Studies
Americorps VISTA and Farm to School member for the last two years in Eau Claire, WI with community organizing and anti-poverty work focused on food security, local food systems and transportation. Since graduation Zacarías has assisted in student research linking Veracruz, México and Western Wisconsin and has done interpretation/translation work in rural communities with the Puentes/Bridges program.
Spanish fluency and appreciation of the Cultures of Latin America came young from attending Minneapolis’ Emerson Elementary Spanish Immersion program. Zacarías continued speaking Spanish by traveling to Quito, Ecuador for ten months at the age of 16, a one week adventure to Costa Rica at the age of 18 and for another ten months to Buenos Aires, Argentina at the age of 20. Zacarias now focuses on maintaining and expanding linguistic and cultural connections to Latin America through the enjoyment of indigenous and mestizo food, books and online newspapers, music and film and has worked on various projects with Walking Tree.
