What is your favorite travel memory?
On the Blackfeet program in 2014, we spent a long day down by the river learning about traditional customs with our local partners.
We'd spent the afternoon stretching buffalo hides and gathering choke cherry and helping to raise a teepee. It was a beautiful day, but tiring, and as we drove back along the two lane highway to our ranch, we hit some construction work that stopped us by the side of the road for half an hour.
Instead of taking some well earned nap time, our students turned up the radio, piled out of the van, and held an impromptu dance party on the wide Montana plain at sunset.
It's that sort of joy and exuberance so far outside anyone's comfort zone that stays with me after a VISIONS program has ended.
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
I had done a lot of traveling before I ended up working for VISIONS, but never before had I invested so deeply in and worked so closely with a community outside my own.
I learned very quickly about communication, intent, and generosity, and discovered that shared goals can bridge even the most distant-seeming cultural gaps. I have also never looked at my own country the same way again.
The United States is so rolling and diverse, driving the twelve hours from the Blackfeet Reservation to Seattle, Washington can feel like driving between worlds. But the lessons of shared commonalities and interdependent growth have stuck with me long after I return to the West Coast.
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
My favorite thing to hear from return students are the little things that have shattered and expanded their previous view of what is normal. It's a common review, and one that never ceases to validate the work we do at VISIONS.
The small experiences of a VISIONS summer - a swim in a river, prairie dogs in the road, washing dishes outdoors in the cool evening - remain in your consciousness in a way no one ever expects. I love hearing stories about the surprising things students miss when they return home.
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
There's truly something special about the VISIONS programs in Montana. There's a lot of places I'd like to visit - Myanmar, Alaska, Peru - but VISIONS Blackfeet and VISIONS Northern Cheyenne offer a unique setting so distinctly far from a typical travel experience.
The Indian Reservations of the United States are places of unique challenge and beauty, with a depth that cannot be realized by simply driving through.
VISIONS Montana programs offer a profound examination of our own backyard, a lesson just as crucial, if not more so, than that achieved by venturing abroad.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
After studying international aid and development in college, I was very invested in working for a company that forged authentic, long-lasting relationships with their local partners.
I found that in VISIONS, a company founded in 1989 that prides itself on deeply connected programming and thoughtful relationship building. Our two program sites in Montana, on the Blackfeet and Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservations, VISIONS has been working with local partners for over two decades.
This is what sets VISIONS apart, it is a program that integrates students into the community instead of driving them through on a tour. Our projects are community requested and community driven, and this pays off in the experience and shared accomplishment that our students enjoy.
