My favorite travel memory is swimming with sea turtles in the Galapagos. I have always loved swimming, and seeing majestic and ancient sea turtles emerge out of the darkness underwater was one of the most magical experiences of my life.
Staff Spotlight: Kenny Kruse
Title:
Program DirectorWhat is your favorite travel memory?
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
Visions changed the way that I communicate and interact with people, both in my home cultures and when I am living as a guest in different communities.
I have become more open, more willing to be vulnerable, and more curious about people, cultures, and spaces since starting to work with Visions, largely because of their frameworks both in training staff and in facilitating experiences for youth.
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
One of our participants on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana returned home to Philadelphia completely changed. She wrote me a letter a couple years after the program citing her experiences with the community in Browning as foundational moments in her life that altered her trajectory.
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
This is so difficult! I currently live in Myanmar and I will be directing the Myanmar and Cambodia programs again this summer, and I love both of them.
If I had to pick another program, I would go back to our Blackfeet program in Montana, because I have such a huge space in my heart for my friends there and for their culture and the landscape, and I think sharing that culture and history with young people is especially crucial at this moment in US history.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
I love the fact that Visions commits to working in the same communities, with the same partners, for decades. I love that we have stayed small, that we have never stretched too big.
Many of my favorite people I have ever met in the world I met through Visions, as office staff, program staff, participants, families, and community members.
I feel so lucky to be part of that.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
There are so many factors that lead to successful programs, and Visions is versatile and experienced and excels in all of those areas. The central focus, however, should always be on safety. Safety comes before all else, and an attention to safety shapes every decision I and every staff member make on a program.