Only the most qualified

Faculty

Traveling School faculty create magic in and out of the classroom! More than just educators, they are mentors, role models and guides along the journey of a Traveling School semester. Our faculty are passion-driven, and go above and beyond to ensure students have the support and resources they need to thrive.

Grace Frideger

Logistics Coordinator & Academic Teacher

Base Camp: Durango, Colorado
Southern Africa Fall 2024

Born and raised in Durango, Colorado, Grace comes from a long line of travelers and teachers. Spending parts of her childhood living abroad in Spain, France, and Mexico, she learned early on the reward of getting out of your comfort zone. As a junior in high school, she went on Rotary Exchange to Chile, where she became fluent in Spanish and experienced the joys and challenges of traveling as a young woman.

She headed east for college, pursuing a degree in Community and International Development at the University of Vermont. Under nearly constant overcast skies but never relinquishing her skirts and dresses, Grace found purpose in her role as Social Justice Director of the Outing Club and proceeded to hone her leadership skills by being selected as Director of the Sunrise Movement, a grassroots organization fighting for climate action in Vermont.

After graduation, she was accepted into the Peace Corps in Zambia. For the last two years, she’s been living in a rural village where she is an English teacher to students aged 10 to 18. Throughout her time in Zambia, she has also facilitated workshops and projects to reduce gender based violence, managed grants to expand literacy within communities, and increased access to healthcare for preventable diseases.

In her daily life, when she is not teaching or fetching water, Grace loves to share meals with good friends, discuss current events or a good book, frolic in the mountains, paint with watercolors, and listen to music of her parents’ generation. Her time spent in southern Africa has been one of intense growth and exposed her to the beauty and struggles of this region. She looks forward to diving into this space and the questions it asks of us with a group of curious learners.

Caitlin Aitchison

Program Coordinator & Academic Teacher

Base Camp: Reno, Nevada
Southern Africa Fall 2024

A native Michigander, Caitlin grew up in a small town where her family ran a bed-and-breakfast. Hosting guests from around the world and all walks of life nurtured her wanderlust, as did the magic of books, exploring the woods, and encouragement from her family, each of whom has their own adventurous streak. In the decade since her inaugural trip abroad, she has returned transformed by many journeys and strives to infuse life at home with the sense of wonder, immediacy, and spontaneity that life on the road inspires.

In her lifelong quest to see the world and make it a better place, Caitlin was called to teach. Her pursuit was most inspired and influenced by her mom, a feisty early childhood educator whose stories and insights helped Caitlin center her practice on fostering meaningful relationships with students, which enables her to guide students to think not just critically, but compassionately, and spring to action. Her ever-evolving philosophy has been continuously shaped by the wisdom of other mentors throughout her own schooling and career.

Caitlin studied Comparative Cultures & Politics at Michigan State University where she completed the teacher preparation program as a member of the Global Educators Cohort. She cut her teeth teaching social studies and ESL at a high school in metro Detroit, then joined the Peace Corps to teach high school English in Comoros. Most recently, she managed the education program for an environmental nonprofit, designing and implementing place-based lessons about sustainability. She harbors a deep passion for learning about the world and self-reflecting through these lenses.

Along with her chosen family of friends, Caitlin makes her home base in Reno, Nevada where she’s a regular at the bouldering gym and thrift store. She enjoys camping, biking, reading, yoga, and admiring the sunset from the patio with her housemates. Caitlin is elated to join The Traveling School in empowering students on their own journeys of self-discovery throughout southern Africa in the fall of 2024.

Ellē Olzstyn

Academic Teacher

Base Camp: Idaho & Montana
Southern Africa Fall 2024

With deep roots from Montana’s Rocky Mountains, Ellē comes to TTS with a naturalist’s passion for curating collaborative experiences that nurture living-cultures and wild ecosystems. While pursuing an honors and fine arts degree in Graphic Design and Sustainability at Montana State University, they balanced trip-leading for the university’s outdoor education program with summers spent commercially guiding whitewater in Glacier National Park.

After completing her studies abroad at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, emblazoned by the perspective-altering power of cultural exchange experiences, Ellē leaned into mobility and multicultural learning. Recently, she engaged semester high school students at Alzar School in the development of expedition, adventure leadership, and life skills. During the summer months, Ellē mimics the wild salmon, migrating to Idaho’s river corridors to work as a multi-day river guide. At The Traveling School, she is giddy to interweave her travel practices of curious critical engagement and creative articulation with her insights working as a artist, volunteer, guide, and educator throughout southern Africa, the Rocky Mountains, and Chile.

Aside from teaching, Ellē’s enlivened by story-telling, kayaking, wildflower-watching, Tiny Desk concerts, and printmaking. Her artistic work braids ecological themes into investigations on systems of power through multi-media interventions of creative writing, illustration, and photography.

Sophie Love-Webb

Apprentice Teacher

Base Camp: Maine
Southern Africa Fall 2024

Born and raised amid the woods and waters of coastal Maine, Sophie’s childhood was filled with puddle stomping, pond paddling, and snow angel making. Her parents nurtured her love of travel and exploration, taking annual trips that emphasized experiential education. From national parks to Indian Reservations, these journeys instilled curiosity and critical observation.

In high school, Sophie discovered The Traveling School and eagerly joined TTS31 in 2018, traveling through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. This life-changing experience inspired her dream to return as a staff member.

After graduating high school in 2019, Sophie spent a gap year as a sea kayak guide apprentice, earning her Wilderness EMT certification, and joining a NOLS Patagonia mountaineering expedition.

In 2020, Sophie began studying Latin American Studies at Bates College, minoring in History with a concentration in education. She was active in Bates Emergency Medical Services, eventually becoming Chief, and connected with the Lewiston, Maine community through ambulance work and volunteering in schools. She studied abroad in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

Since graduating in December 2023, Sophie has worked as a wildfire EMT eastern Oregon and earned her Advanced EMT certification.

When not traveling, camping, or riding in the back of an ambulance, Sophie enjoys cooking meals for friends and family, sewing, and watercolor painting. She also loves picking wildflowers on the rocky Maine shores, listening to a good audiobook, and poking about in thrift shops. She is thrilled to participate in the Southern Africa TTS semester and looks forward to new adventures with staff and students.

You should know that The Traveling School did a masterful job of finding superlative instructors – ones so good that they will, without question, rank among the best of the best of [our daughter’s] entire K-12 (and probably beyond) educational experience.

John, 2018 Alumnae Parent