Yellow Backpack Travel & Global Education Consultants

08/20/2026

What Exactly Is Yellow Backpack?

People sometimes hear “Yellow Backpack” and think:
Travel company. Well…yes. And no. We design educational experiences.

Sometimes that means boarding a plane. Sometimes it means exploring the Civil Rights Movement a few hours from home. Sometimes it means handing a microschool an entire curriculum and letting them take it from there.

Our work lives at the intersection of: Place-Pedagogy-Inquiry-Community-Experience

Because the destination isn't the curriculum. The questions are.

08/12/2026

08/12/2026

YEAR TWO.

A year ago, Yellow Backpack Travel & Global Education Consultants was a big idea with a very simple premise: Travel should be more than movement.

It should make us curious. Challenge what we think we know. Introduce us to people whose stories matter. And send us home asking better questions.

Now we're beginning Year 2 with school partners, new curriculum, continuing global relationships, new ways for homeschool and microschool communities to work with us…and something brand new taking shape.

And through all of it?We are having a GREAT time.

We’re packing differently for Year 2.

08/06/2026

What’s in Your Backpack?

On this day in 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, banning discriminatory practices that denied African Americans the right to vote. The act was born of sacrifice, most notably the bloodshed of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma.

Our Civil Rights Tour culminates in Washington, D.C., where we reflect on how ordinary citizens secured extraordinary change. Standing where the March on Washington was held, participants consider the unfinished work of democracy.

The right to vote is the heartbeat of democracy and the responsibility of every generation.

Join us.

Learn. Reflect. Act.

07/02/2026

What’s in Your Backpack?

On this day in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, outlawing segregation in public places and banning employment discrimination. It was a legislative victory won by the relentless courage of ordinary people.

On our Civil Rights Tour, we connect this landmark legislation to the marches, sit-ins, and sacrifices we witness along the journey, reminding participants that laws are written when people demand justice.

The Civil Rights Act is proof: sustained action can change a nation.

Be part of the story.

07/01/2026

Project Zero didn't change my thinking. It recognized it.

Five days at Harvard confirmed something I've carried throughout my career: equity isn't an initiative—it's pedagogy.

This essay explores why place matters, why global competence belongs to everyone, and why the stories we choose to tell shape the learners our students become.

“The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy.”— bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress I have spent much of my career wondering if I was simply too much. Too …

06/25/2026

06/25/2026

My brain is absolutely on fire.

This week at the Project Zero Thinking Skills Global Conference at Harvard has been nothing short of extraordinary.

To spend time listening to some of the world’s leading thinkers discuss how the brain learns, how trauma shapes our ability to think, and how educators can intentionally create classrooms where curiosity, thinking, and belonging flourish has been both inspiring and deeply affirming.

As I listen, I keep reflecting on my own journey as an educator.

Much of what I hear validates what I have believed for years: the most powerful learning happens when students feel safe enough to wonder, question, connect, and make meaning from the world around them.

It also reinforces why I created Yellow Backpack.

Yellow Backpack was never intended to be simply a travel company. It was designed as a framework for expanding perspective. Every itinerary, every conversation, every community partnership, and every place-based experience is intentionally crafted to help learners think more deeply, ask better questions, and understand that every story has multiple perspectives.

One comment from this week continues to resonate with me: these kinds of thinking routines and learning frameworks have not always reached every community equally. That realization doesn’t discourage me, it strengthens my resolve.

If these tools can transform learning, then they should belong to everyone.

That’s the work.

I’m leaving each session with pages of notes, new ideas, renewed purpose, and an even greater commitment to designing experiences that make world-class thinking accessible beyond the walls of elite institutions.

Sometimes the most valuable professional development doesn’t change your direction.

It confirms that you’ve been walking in it all along.

06/25/2026

My brain is absolutely on fire.

This week at the Project Zero Thinking Skills Global Conference at Harvard has been nothing short of extraordinary.

To spend time listening to some of the world’s leading thinkers discuss how the brain learns, how trauma shapes our ability to think, and how educators can intentionally create classrooms where curiosity, thinking, and belonging flourish has been both inspiring and deeply affirming.

As I listen, I keep reflecting on my own journey as an educator.

Much of what I hear validates what I have believed for years: the most powerful learning happens when students feel safe enough to wonder, question, connect, and make meaning from the world around them.

It also reinforces why I created Yellow Backpack.

Yellow Backpack was never intended to be simply a travel company. It was designed as a framework for expanding perspective. Every itinerary, every conversation, every community partnership, and every place-based experience is intentionally crafted to help learners think more deeply, ask better questions, and understand that every story has multiple perspectives.

One comment from this week continues to resonate with me: these kinds of thinking routines and learning frameworks have not always reached every community equally. That realization doesn’t discourage me, it strengthens my resolve.

If these tools can transform learning, then they should belong to everyone.

That’s the work.

I’m leaving each session with pages of notes, new ideas, renewed purpose, and an even greater commitment to designing experiences that make world-class thinking accessible beyond the walls of elite institutions.

Sometimes the most valuable professional development doesn’t change your direction.

It confirms that you’ve been walking in it all along.

06/22/2026

The Yellow Backpack team is excited to share that our Founder has arrived in historic Boston to participate in the Project Zero Thinking Skills Global Conference.

As lifelong learners, we believe that the most effective educators never stop growing. Professional development is not an event, it is a commitment to refining our craft, challenging our assumptions, and expanding the ways we engage learners in meaningful experiences.

We are especially excited to join a global community of educators who understand the importance of forward-thinking pedagogy, visible thinking routines, and cultivating the intellectual habits students need to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.

At Yellow Backpack, these principles are woven throughout our experiential learning framework. Whether students are exploring the streets of Brussels, engaging with community leaders in Puerto Rico, or examining historical narratives in the American South, we use inquiry-based learning and thinking routines to help travelers move beyond sightseeing and toward deeper understanding.

Our goal has always been to help travelers expand their lens, grow their global perspective, and develop the skills necessary to navigate a complex and changing world.

We’re looking forward to a week of learning, collaboration, and bringing new ideas back to the educators and communities we serve.

ThinkingSkills ProfessionalDevelopment EducationInnovation GlobalCompetence LearnTravelReflect