For over 40 years, WorldStrides has set itself apart as the premier student travel organization in the nation. Our primary goal is to provide a safe and secure travel experience. Without a focus on safety, our programs could not exist. Next, we strive to enrich lives by taking students beyond classroom walls. WorldStrides inspires each student traveler by providing a unique and experiential educational program. Finally, our passionate and professional team of travel experts will treat you as a member of the family as we craft the perfect travel program for you and your students. The combination of these three unique features, safe and secure travel, passionate and professional team, and enriching and experiential opportunities, creates what we call the WorldStrides Difference.
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students’ lives:
Thousands of teachers from all 50 states and several foreign countries have traveled with WorldStrides. Last year, more than 200,000 elementary, middle, and high school students participated on a WorldStrides program. The students, their parents, and their teachers were supported by nearly 400 travel professionals working from 13 locations throughout the United States. As the nation’s oldest and largest provider of educational student travel programs, WorldStrides has continually demonstrated a commitment to the safety and security of all travelers.
WorldStrides’ first priority is always the safety of our program participants. As teachers, mothers, and fathers, we understand that your students’ safety is your primary concern, and that’s why we treat your students as if they were our own. Through over 40 years of experience, we have developed a comprehensive security network that ensures each student, chaperone, and teacher will be safe every step of the way.
- Tour Central – Our 24-hour offices in the Washington, D.C. area, Williamsburg, VA, and New York City are staffed with WorldStrides employees who are trained to handle any emergency that may arise while you are traveling in the United States. Our partners in Europe and Costa Rica are also available 24 hours in case of emergency.
- Identification Badges – All students are given a WorldStrides Identification Badge to wear while they travel. The back of this badge contains the Tour Central phone number, giving every student quick access to a WorldStrides employee in the unlikely event that he or she is separated from the group.
- Behavior Contracts – Before your students leave home, they (and their parents) must sign a Behavior Contract indicating their agreement to the rules and conditions of the program. This measure allows you to set expectations and prevents problems from arising during your program.
- Night Chaperones – On educational programs to New York, NY, Washington, D.C., Tampa, FL, Orlando, FL, and Williamsburg, VA, Night Chaperones monitor every floor your students occupy, from late evening to early morning hours. Program Leaders and chaperones can rest peacefully through the night.
WorldStrides takes a number of steps to ensure that the financial investments of students, parents, and your community are completely secure. You can have peace of mind that your WorldStrides program will be a success.
- Non-school-sponsored Status –WorldStrides offers peace of mind to help your administration feel comfortable with your decision to lead a program. WorldStrides programs are non-school-sponsored and typically travel during school breaks or immediately following the conclusion of the school year. This non-school-sponsored status means that schools don’t have to worry about planning or paying for the trip, and you won’t spend time and energy on paperwork usually associated with school field trip approval processes.
- USTOA Travelers Assistance Program – By traveling with WorldStrides, you and your students are protected through the $1 million USTOA Travelers Assistance Program. As a member of USTOA, WorldStrides is required to post $1 million to be used to reimburse, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the USTOA Travelers Assistance Program, the advance payments of WorldStrides customers in the unlikely event of WorldStrides’ bankruptcy, insolvency, or cessation of business. Further, you should understand that the $1 million posted by WorldStrides may be sufficient to provide only a partial recovery of the advance payments received by WorldStrides. Complete details may be obtained by writing to USTOA at 275 Madison Avenue, Suite 2014, New York, New York 10016, by email to information@ustoa.com, or on the web at www.ustoa.com.
- Extensive Insurance Coverage – WorldStrides sets itself apart from the rest of the student travel field by offering travelers comprehensive insurance coverage. As a Program Leader, you are automatically named as an insured person on our comprehensive liability insurance. WorldStrides also maintains extensive accident, medical, and dental insurance for all participants. Only an organization with our exceptional safety record has the ability to offer you this peace of mind.
- Full Refund Program – Through our optional Full Refund Program, parents can cancel their enrollment and recover all payments (minus non-refundable fees) up until the day your program departs; no questions asked. Through this program, WorldStrides has returned millions of dollars to thousands of families who were forced to cancel for countless unexpected situations, including illness, academic problems, weddings, job transfers, scheduling conflicts, and more.
Every day, you do your best to improve the lives of your students. WorldStrides shares this mission and has nearly 400 employees who are personally committed to providing safe, life-enriching experiences for your students. Starting the moment you decide to lead a group of students on a WorldStrides program, you will have a personal team of WorldStrides representatives supporting you.
- Your first contact at WorldStrides will be with your Educational Travel Specialist (ETS), who will help you select the best program and scheduling for your group.
- Once your program gets off the ground, you will work with your personal Account Manager (AM), who will plan your group’s individualized itinerary, answer your program or destination questions, and work with you to make sure that your program is successful.
- Your AM is also assisted by an Account Support Representative (ASR), who assists in making logistical arrangements for your group and can answer your questions if your AM is unavailable.
- A Financial Services Representative (FSR) handles all of the money collection and accounting functions for your group and answers all billing questions.
The support does not stop with your personal team. Behind the scenes are our in-house air, meal, hotel, and motorcoach experts, who skillfully arrange the logistics of your program with your AM and ASR. WorldStrides Customer Service will also be available to answer any questions that your students or parents may have regarding their accounts.
The WorldStrides family is also at your destination with you to ensure a safe, well-organized travel program. We have employees and partners on-site who share our passion for providing exceptional educational programs. On your program, you will have a caring and charismatic Course Leader who will lead your group and introduce interactive activities and thought-provoking questions for your students. You will also have 24-hour access to our extensively trained Tour Central representatives. Night Chaperones (if applicable) will keep your students secure in the hotel at night, and chaperones of your choice will help direct students while you travel. Finally, WorldStrides maintains strong relationships with each of our site vendors to ensure that your group is treated with the care and respect you deserve.
As the largest and most trusted student travel organization in the country, WorldStrides has established long-standing relationships with the best hotels, restaurants, and transportation companies at each destination. WorldStrides uses these relationships to ensure the highest level of service, provide comprehensive packages, and fulfill participants’ special requests.
In the student travel field, the WorldStrides name is synonymous with quality; the hotels, restaurants, airlines, and motorcoach companies that WorldStrides partners with are expected to match that same level of service. WorldStrides maintains a direct working relationship with many companies and rarely subcontracts through a third party. As a result, these companies share WorldStrides’ commitment to top-notch services with the safety and enjoyment of student travelers in mind.
All overnight accommodations are carefully selected for student travelers. Students stay in hotel rooms with indoor corridors (except in Costa Rica and Florida). WorldStrides works closely with hotel operators on the details of each program, including the responsibilities of the hotel staff and the roles of WorldStrides representatives. WorldStrides’ Motorcoach Drivers attend training sessions and receive driver manuals updated annually with important information about WorldStrides’ expectations and general policies, as well as U.S. Department of Transportation regulations (except in Costa Rica).
Additionally, drivers have an on-tour support contact available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to handle any issues that may arise during an educational travel program. All service providers are evaluated by you, the Program Leader, at the completion of every program. Representatives from WorldStrides review your survey results and work with the companies to review feedback and implement a continuous improvement process.
The travel professionals at WorldStrides understand that no matter how much training and planning goes into a trip, unexpected events may occur. In these instances, WorldStrides asks its service providers to go the extra mile. Sometimes these requests are relatively simple. Other times, the circumstances can be more serious, such as when a hotel staff member drove through a snow storm to pick up a prescription from a local pharmacy for a student. This level of service comes from years of building relationships with great service providers.
WorldStrides was founded by a middle school teacher who believed in the unique educational impact of student travel. Over 40 years later, experiential learning remains at the core of each of our travel programs. We believe that experiential travel enhances the process of self‑discovery, leading your students to learn as much about themselves as the places they visit. Every itinerary is built around a thematic curriculum which connects with all kinds of learners, so everyone will become excited about your travel program.
Time and time again, our alumni and their families write us letters of thanks for the life-changing moments they experienced during our programs. We’ve received hundreds of stories about students who were inspired to take certain career paths during their travel programs, as well as students who matured and made lasting friendships during our programs. At WorldStrides, we believe that lifelong learners are created when we focus on building itineraries that include opportunities for social, personal, and intellectual growth. We stimulate students to learn and develop in a way that cannot be duplicated through a textbook. Our goal is to engage students and build critical thinking skills that will make them successful in college and throughout their lives.
In addition, WorldStrides programs comply with all states’ requirements for teacher professional development. With your advisor’s approval, WorldStrides will help you identify opportunities to earn professional development points/credits in your state, assist you in the development of your portfolio, and issue a transcript for up to 35 points/hours. Educators can also earn graduate credit through our professional development program. We have a number of courses available depending on your travel program, and credits are granted by various universities in the United States. Only an accredited organization can help you grow professionally.
Your decision to become a WorldStrides Program Leader will create incredible opportunities for your students, including the chance to earn free high school credit for traveling on your program. WorldStrides is the first organization of its kind to be named an accredited school by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, and we adhere to strict guidelines of integrity, educational excellence, and academic standards to maintain this status. Because WorldStrides undergoes the same accreditation process as other schools in the country, schools in the United States offer reciprocity of credits that students can earn with their WorldStrides Discovery for Credit program.
WorldStrides is also affiliated with and endorsed by various types of educational institutions. These affiliations and endorsements prepare WorldStrides to teach all different types of learners on our educational programs. See the back panel of this booklet for a complete list of our affiliations and endorsements.
WorldStrides is an organization comprised of many former educators who understand that administrators and school boards are committed to protecting students. The common vision of safety as the paramount priority has helped administrators across the country come to trust this continuing pledge: WorldStrides will not operate a program, or any part of one, if the organization feels that the safety of any traveler will be compromised. In addition to the organization’s exceptional safety record, administrators enjoy the full-service approach that only WorldStrides offers. Teachers and administrators have their hands full educating students; WorldStrides will not add to those responsibilities or allow a program to become a burden for a school.
- Unlike a school field trip, a WorldStrides educational travel program is not sponsored by the school and does not require the school or school district to allocate funds.
- Like a summer job, camp, or youth sport/activity in which a student chooses to participate, a WorldStrides program does not result in lost class time for teachers or students.
- Most WorldStrides programs are not paid for by the school and do not occur during school time, so neither the school nor the students are obligated to participate. Similar to summer camp, the program is available to all students, but only some will decide to enroll.
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