2008 Peru Expedition Leaders, left to right: Joseph Lambert, Sarah Bryan, Mark Pommer, Brenna CaseyArchaeology & Ancient Culture
Sarah Bryan. Bates College, B.A.; School for International Training, M.A. candidate. Sarah graduated cum laude in Spanish from Bates, where she took extensive coursework in Archaeology and Education and received her Maine Teaching Certification. She was a teaching assistant on an archaeological dig in Brunswick, Maine, and spent a summer as a research assistant for the Maine State Archaeology Lab, where she was part of a team investigating the possibility of an Earthwatch project on the Maine coast. Sarah lived with a host family while completing an advanced Spanish program at the Academia Latinoaericana de Español in Cusco, and later returned to lead a group of high school students on an educational and community service program to Peru. She has traveled widely in Latin America and served as a volunteer for the Escuela de Enseñanza Especial in Ciudad Quesada, Costa Rica. She sang with the Winneba Youth Choir in Ghana, West Africa, received a scuba certification in Fiji, and participated in an Independent School Alpine Climbing Society expedition to Argentina’s Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the world outside the Himalayas. Sarah teaches Spanish and directs the Outdoor Education and International Student Programs at Hebron Academy in Maine. She is fluent in Spanish.
Writing
Brenna Casey. Boston College, B.A.; University of Notre Dame, M.F.A. Brenna is a nonfiction writer currently based in Indiana. She recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame's M.F.A. program in Creative Writing, where she received the Sparks Fellowship. While there, Brenna served as Managing Editor for the Notre Dame Review, taught several Academic Writing Seminars, received the university's Distinguished Graduate Student Award, and facilitated a writing group for adults at the Center for the Homeless in South Bend, Indiana. Brenna's love for travel and travel writing flourished during college when studied at the Universidad de San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador. While living in Quito, Brenna also volunteered at the Center for Working Boys, teaching classes for working children and their parents. She has traveled extensively throughout Latin America, including a trek along the Inca Trail. This year, Brenna received an Honorable Mention for the prestigious Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Intro Journals Contest in Creative Nonfiction and was also nominated for the AWP George Garrett Prize for Community Service. She is currently at work on a cartographically-themed book of nonfiction. Brenna led Putney Student Travel's Ecuador community service program in the summer of 2007. She is fluent in Spanish.
Photography
Joseph Lambert. Montserrat College of Art, B.F.A. Joseph majored in Photography and Graphic Design at Montserrat and received the Annual Talent Award for achievement in photography. He was a contributing photographer for the History Channel production, History’s Mysteries--America's Stonehenge, and is the photographer and co-owner of Sunrise Publications, publisher of America's Stonehenge: An Interpretive Guide. In 2006 Joseph moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he worked as a freelance photographer and web designer. He has traveled and photographed in many countries around the world. He led Putney Student Travel programs to Australia/New Zealand/Fiji and Alaska, was a resident advisor and photography assistant in the Excel at Bennington program, and taught Travel Photography in the Excel Oxford/Tuscany program. Apart from photography Joseph’s interests include music, cooking, film, drumming, and cultural studies. During the year he designs Putney Student Travel’s print and web publications and coordinates Putney’s programs in Australia, Oxford/Tuscany, and Argentina. He is fluent in Spanish.
At Large/Special Projects
Mark Pommer. Butler University, B.A; Columbia University, Ed.M. Mark's love for travel began in high school when he spent a summer playing soccer throughout Europe against local teams. During his years at Butler, he tutored Latino students in inner city schools and served as leader of an after-school youth program, leading week-long backpacking trips through the Appalachian Mountains. He spent a semester studying literature in London and a summer studying Spanish in Mexico. At Columbia, Mark studied Child & Educational Psychology and provided psycho-educational consultation at a high school in Spanish Harlem as well as in Costa Rica. He has traveled extensively in Western Europe, New Zealand, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Mark led Putney Student Travel community service programs to Costa Rica and Ecuador. He currently lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he works as a high school psychologist, ski coach, and service learning coordinator. Mark is an avid skier, snowboarder, backpacker, fly-fisherman, and photographer. He is fluent in Spanish.
