W&L offers lifelong learning through education group travel

LEXINGTON, Va. – At Washington and Lee University, learning doesn’t stop when you graduate. The private liberal arts college is dedicated to ensuring its alumni embrace learning as a lifelong journey through a robust education group travel program that has been taking alumni, parents and friends around the world for more than four decades.

With this unique program, alumni have the opportunity to create lasting memories, immerse themselves in new cultures and stay connected beyond traditional tailgating and reunions. Washington and Lee is one of the few schools in the Commonwealth offering such a program, along with Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia—just to name a few

This year, W&L is offering a wide variety of trips for alumni hungry for adventure. From uncovering hidden treasures in Greece to experiencing the idyllic beauty of South Africa and learning more about its vast history to sailing around Iceland and enjoying picturesque views, there is an abundance of knowledge waiting to be explored.

Rob Fure, Washington and Lee’s former Director of the Office of Lifelong Learning, shared that the idea for the educational group travel program came to fruition more than 40 years ago when alumni participants were participating in an on-campus program focusing on Elizabethan England. They proposed going to the country they were studying and getting the chance to fully immerse themselves in the culture and learn about its rich history firsthand. After all, there is no better way to learn than through experience.

In 1984, Fure paved the way for an untraditional style of learning, where alumni and their parents, who were adventurers at heart, had the chance to learn more deeply about the places they were studying and develop a deeper love for the world around them. They got to do so all while being led by a university faculty leader. Fure says the first program was a hit, with roughly 40 travelers taking part in the adventure.

It has only been uphill since then. Now, the university offers about 16 trips in an 18-month cycle. During his history of travel through W&L, Fure was able to travel to all seven continents and more than 100 countries. Talk about a life well lived!

“There’s something magical about a group of alumni who have the bond of the university bringing them together, who are prepared to enjoy each other’s company and are prepared to learn about the destination,” Fure said. “When you bring them together in a comfortable circumstance with a professor who is excited to be in a global classroom, magic occurs.”

Establishing a program requires thorough planning and collaboration. W & L, its education travel partner, Orbridge, and a professional organization designed to assist travel program planners come together to identify a wide array of destinations. Their top priority is ensuring that it aligns with the university’s core values and culture, provides a range of challenges and fosters camaraderie among alumni.

“It plays with the affinity people have with their university and those formative years where they made some of their lifelong friends, and they said, ‘How do I get back to that?’” said Orbridge founder, Jim Staples.

Staples said Washington and Lee has shown significant success with continuing to evolve its group travel program and gather a following for it.

“[Orbridge] works with 140 different universities, and Washington and Lee was early in the genesis of really producing highly educational, highly well thought out destinations that are off the beaten path,” Staples said. “It’s remarkable to me how many people will say, ‘I went to Washington and Lee University and graduate school here and my wife went to this undergrad here,’ but they all will go with Washington and Lee because of the focus they have on education, the thoughtfulness of the itinerary, the guest services prior and the friend building that they do. They do a great job of that, so that’s been very fun to see.”

Fure also hopes that the program allows alumni to “travel without the burden of responsibility.”

“A lot of alumni are type A individuals,” said Fure. “They want the pride of organizing their own tour. But you know what? That’s hard work, and it’s a lot of responsibility once you’re underway because you’re always thinking about the next town you’re going to go to. You’re not enjoying where you are because you’re always thinking ahead. We tell the alumni, ‘Let us take care of that for you so that you can actually enjoy the trip rather than labor under the responsibility of keeping your family happy.’”

With a deep fervor for travel and inspiring others, Fure told 10 News that his time as an educator and travel program manager has been a remarkable journey of learning for him as well.

If there ever was a single instance, that said, ‘I’m on the right track,’ it was at the end of a trip once when a 40-something alum came up to me. There were tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘Thank you.’ And then I thought to myself, Henry David Thoreau was right: ‘The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.’ They want a mountain-top experience. They want to be pulled out of their neighborhoods, their work-a-day worlds, their routines and to be young again with a group of travelers exploring the world together without hazard but with joy in each other’s company and with inspiring information available, seeing history come to life. That happened over and over again, and it was worth much more than my salary to have that experience as an educator and as a travel program manager.

Rob Fure, former Director of the Office of Lifelong Learning at W&L

Click here to learn more about travel programs at Washington and Lee and here to learn more about Orbridge travel program options.