Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Maddie has been involved with international education for nearly four years as a participant and professional. Maddie grew up traveling internationally with her family, and spent her first extended amount of time abroad studying at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Following this, Maddie worked in her alma mater's Study Abroad Office as a Student Peer Advisor.
After graduating from Western Michigan University with a B.S. in Psychology, Maddie served as an English Literacy Facilitator for the Peace Corps in the Kingdom of Tonga. When Maddie returned back to the United States, she worked in higher education administration in the Admissions and Study Abroad offices at Western Michigan University.
Maddie has had the privilege of getting to visit 20 countries and hopes to continue to increase this number and gain more experiences over her lifetime. Maddie believes that immersive travel is beneficial for many reasons, but most importantly because it helps everyone become better global citizens in the highly connected world that we all live in today.
A Fun Fact About Maddie:
I have gone swimming with sharks in the wild three times (on purpose!)
Maddie’s Favorite Travel Memory:
A huge pod of wild dolphins happened to swim right by us when my family and I were snorkeling in Hawaii - it was incredible!
