Meet the trip leaders

2009 Ghana leaders: Mark Pommer and Kelsey Burns

KELSEY BURNS: St. Lawrence University, B.A., cum laude, Spanish & Creative Writing. While at St. Lawrence, Kelsey spent her junior year in Madrid, Spain, studying literature, art history, ecology, and theater at Colegio Mayor Isabel de España. Back on campus, Kelsey worked as a peer tutor, a teacher's assistant for the Spanish department, and in the International Office for the Spain Study Abroad program. She was a member of the women's lacrosse team and the Outing Club. Kelsey has traveled extensively in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and West Africa. This will be Kelsey’s eighth summer with Putney Student Travel. She has led a Putney Language Learning program in Spain, worked coordinating Putney’s Global Action programs at Yale University, and led Community Service programs in Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Ghana. Kelsey works full time at the Putney Student Travel office as an Associate Director. She is responsible for organizing Putney’s programs in Spain, Ecuador, and Ghana, and for hiring the Putney leaders. When she isn’t traveling, Kelsey sings in her band, dances West African dance, hikes, bikes, skis, and reads. She is fluent in Spanish.

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 in Europe against European teams. While at Butler, Mark 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. He currently lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he works as a high school psychologist, ski coach, and service learning coordinator, and runs his own private psychology practice. Mark is an avid skier, mountain biker, backpacker, fly-fisherman, and photographer. This will be Mark’s fourth summer with Putney. He has led Community Service programs in Costa Rica and Ecuador and a National Geographic Student Expeditions program in Peru. Mark is fluent in Spanish.