Transformative Travel: How Faculty Leaders Can Help Guide Students Toward Global Citizenship
“To be a global citizen is to celebrate the richness of our world's diverse cultures and to find beauty in our differences.” - Damon Dominique
Students often return home from a travel experience feeling a little different. They might not be able to explain their exact feelings at first, but over time, it starts to make more sense. They begin to notice things they didn’t pick up on before; different types of questions keep popping up; their priorities have shifted; and they feel restless—even a bit unsettled—in the first few weeks or months, depending on the length of their program.
Once the reverse culture shock settles, it becomes clear: their travel experience changed the way they see everything.
As EdOdyssey Founder and CEO Peter McGovern said in a recent Q&A on our student blog, “More than anything, I want students to come home with new questions—about who they are, what they believe in, and how they want to show up in the world. They won’t return the same—and that’s exactly the point.”
When students travel on a custom program, what they might not always say out loud is: That shift in mindset started with you. Their faculty leader. Their mentor.
Because it’s not just about the course content or the learning objectives or even the daily itinerary. Students thrive on custom travel programs because they have someone they trust—someone they already learn from every day—helping them make sense of a world where nothing is as they’re used to.
Your presence with them transcends teaching, and you become more of a mentor, guiding students through this long, reflective journey of discovering and embracing their place in the world as a global citizen.
Your role starts long before they step into the airport and stays with them long after they’ve unpacked.
This is how it might unfold before, during, and after an EdOdyssey program:
PRE-DEPARTURE: FOSTERING CURIOSITY
From the moment your custom program agreement is signed—way before check-in reminders from your airline start popping up in your notifications—there’s a beautiful window during which you have an opportunity to invite, or entice, students into a world of curiosity. It’s the perfect time to stir up questions in their minds and have them consider their personal goals for their trip. It's also a chance to ask them to reflect on their pre-travel selves and their assumptions about the world they’re about to step into.
Every day, you share content with your students, but this time, it’s about sharing context. This is where the mentorship of our future global citizens begins.
Practical tips:
Think About Framing. When you talk about your upcoming trip, instead of framing it as the endpoint, portray it more as a lens or a lab. The students will become investigators, scientists, and observers, connecting the dots between classroom learning and the real-world case study they’re about to immerse themselves in. Open a discussion about the questions they want to explore that they wouldn’t find the answer to in a textbook. Consider with them: What perspectives can only be gained with physical presence, conversations with locals about lived experiences, and immersion in a different way of life?
Invite Empathy and Openness. Ask students to think proactively about the mindset they will carry into their travel experience. Encourage them to consider themselves as respectful and empathetic guests, asking questions, listening more than they speak, and leaning into genuine curiosity and open-mindedness.
Set Expectations. Give students a sense of place in advance—not just of the physicality and the famous landmarks they might see along the way, but some insight into the intricacies of daily life. Talk about the local angle on topics that align with your program focus, what activism looks like or societal attitudes to certain key topics that might not align with their hometown views, values or beliefs that are widespread in this location, about communicating in another language and non-verbal cues if relevant, and anything else that you think will get the wheels of curiosity spinning in their minds.
DURING TRAVEL: BE A MIRROR
On the ground, you’ll have an EdOdyssey program or excursion leader taking the reins on logistics and ensuring everyone sticks to the schedule. That means you can focus your energy on depth, discussion, and the unexpected yet important moments in between.
And though it might come as a surprise, it’s those in-between moments when your presence often matters the most. Even if you don’t have all the answers to questions students come up with when something surprises them or unnerves them, or intrigues them, it’s within your realm of power to listen, be a sounding board, give them space to consider and reflect, and ask follow-up questions. Depending on what it is, you might even help them explore the topic further in a more practical way the following day.
Practical tips:
Pause. One of the best things you can do in order to guide students through a small moment or an experience is to call for a pause. Did someone have an interesting interaction with a street vendor? Was there a moment of cultural misunderstanding? Did they witness something that would be considered unusual in US culture? Did a student experience a gesture of unexpected kindness? Pop into the nearest cafe and stop for a little break while it’s fresh on their minds. There are moments during travel that are triggers for bigger conversations that delve into the nuances of communication, cultural differences, and privilege, among other topics. Whether it’s practically in the moment or later over dinner, exploring these small teachable moments together can really help students process their experiences with your lead.
Let Lived Experience Lead. EdOdyssey programs focus on community and immersion, so your students will have opportunities to interact with locals, whether that is an artisan in the Andes of Peru, a cranberry bog farmer in Massachusetts, or a volcanologist in Sicily. These voices add richness and depth to learning. They make differences more accessible. They encourage empathy. As an educator and mentor, this focus on local voices becomes an opportunity for you to invite students to engage with other perspectives. Your job is to guide them in listening with intention, encourage them to ask questions that challenge their assumptions, and empower them to connect in a way that is authentic, meaningful, and impactful.
Value the Quiet Moments. Bus rides. Walks to restaurants. Downtime in a hotel lobby. These seemingly mundane moments can be truly valuable. These times in an unstructured environment are when students often feel comfortable opening up with some of the observations or questions that have come up for them on your trip. In these quieter moments, their minds are processing everything they’ve seen and learned. You can use your own experience to help them articulate their thoughts and observations, and gently push them to dig even deeper or think critically about some of the takeaways from your trip. Also, don’t underestimate the power of simply being present during these conversations, as students informally debrief amongst themselves in their own way.
THE RETURN: CEMENTING THE LESSONS
In those first few weeks of settling back into reality at home, students don’t always know what to do with the changes they are feeling. Help them carry forward what they’ve learned, unpack the thoughts they need to process, and keep the momentum alive.
The journey toward global citizenship involves reframing the ways in which we relate to each other and the wider world. Not many other adults in their lives will be able to fully understand and relate to the experiences they’ve just had. But you can. And they know that you are the one who understands. You have an important role to play here.
Practical tips:
Build in time to process. Back in the classroom, host a de-brief and take time to encourage students to really consider those moments that surprised or unsettled them and why that might be. Ask them guiding questions. Give them prompts. You might come up with a creative assignment that will guide their thinking—perhaps a writing project or an artistic brief that allows them to engage with the photos or video content they brought home and look at them in a reflective light.
Offer Direction. When students have had their first taste of travel, they often crave connection with people from other cultures. They want to learn more, be exposed to perspectives that are so readily available in their daily lives, and connect with people who understand what it means to leave the borders of their hometown or even their country. You can point them toward international student groups, related internship opportunities, or resources like films or books that could help them expand on their learning. You can encourage them to sign up for one of EdOdyssey’s direct-enroll semester abroad opportunities in Italy, Japan, and Peru.
Stay Connected. Whether it’s encouraging students to drop in on office hours and share photos or stories from the trip, putting together a digital scrapbook as a group, or recommending courses for their next semester that could help them keep the momentum alive, be there as a touchpoint. You’re always going to be that friendly face that shared what was possibly a life-changing experience, as the one who understands them, and as their mentor along their journey to, as Damon Dominique writes, “celebrate the richness of our world's diverse cultures and to find beauty in our differences.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
As a faculty leader on a custom travel program, you’ll walk alongside your students as they move from observing to understanding, from curiosity to comprehension. You’ll help them gently stretch their boundaries of familiarity and embrace the complexities, the spontaneity, and the awe that comes with travel. You’ll spark questions, inspire conversations, and play a role in rewiring the way they think, relate, and connect with the world around them with more of a global mindset. You’ll notice small shifts in perspective and softened reactions to something once unfamiliar. These are quiet but impactful moments. Your presence on their trip and your guidance and mentorship along the way will be woven into the layers of growth they experience. You’re showing them that it’s okay not to have all the answers, but that it’s important to keep asking the right questions.
If you’re ready to take on the sort of role that will have a lasting impact on your students, we’d love to help make it happen.
Reach out to start a conversation and learn how EdOdyssey custom programs can support your goals as an educator and as a mentor for the next generation of global citizens.
