How to Work Hard and Play Hard: The Travel Edition

She’s taking a writing workshop and exploring the art of printmaking, and she just started a job leading teacher development for Baltimore City Public Schools. She says:

“The things I do outside the scope of my day job are the fuel for my day job... I really love my work, and I really love these other things, and they seep into each other and impact each other in awesome ways.”

“Who has time to bike across the country? People with summer breaks.”

“When you’re doing Something you love, you build unbelievable relationships. That’s the crux of it for me.”

Jared Morgan (Greater Tulsa ’13) teaches eighth grade science, French, and gifted and talented classes at Sand Springs School near Tulsa, Oklahoma; leads the school science department; and plays cello in Tulsa’s community orchestra. He’s hiked or camped in 30 of 34 Oklahoma state parks so far. He says:

“When you’re taking time for you, school talk is over. Just enjoy you and where you are. My eyes have been opened to a different kind of beauty.”

“I had that sad, no-me-time life before. Don’t do it. Don’t be hard on yourself. You don’t have to take the whole weight of the world on your shoulders.”

Erin Stanley (Metro Atlanta ’10) manages services for homeless students, teaches sex-abuse prevention, and creates behavior plans as a social worker at DC Prep public charter school. Her passport carries almost a dozen country stamps. She says:

“The travel bug is real. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. There’s no bucket list, and it’s not about finding great deals. Just pick a place and go.”

“There’s a beauty in going to a new place and seeing how people live and operate in different ways. Engaging with people that way builds the empathy and the compassion that I think we really need now, more than ever.”