We believe in dreaming big. It’s how our company was born, and it’s what we hope to give all the students who travel with us: confidence and big ideas for the future, based on what we can learn from our journey today. Take a walk with us and see how we began….

• 1964

  A middle school social studies teacher from Chicago discovers the incredible educational experience of travelling to Washington, D.C., with his students.

• 1967

  He is so encouraged by the powerful effects travel has had on his students, that he leaves teaching to create Lakeland Tours. His vision is to make educational travel easy, fun, and safe for teachers and students.

• 1979

  Trekset Tours was established in Australia and became the trusted educational travel provider for Australian educational and snow tours.

• 1983

  Group Events opened its doors in Sydney, providing travel opportunities across the globe for student and group tours.

• 1996

  Lakeland Tours becomes the first travel study school to be accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools. This paves the way for the company to evolve into the premier educational travel provider in the nation.

• 1998

  From 1998 to 2001, Lakeland Tours joins forces with other leaders in the student travel field—American Student Travel, Bowl Games of America, Educational Field Studies, Heritage Festivals, and Wider Horizons.

  The company also gets a new name to keep pace with its increasing breadth—WorldStrides.

• 2003

  Classic Festivals joins WorldStrides as a member of our Performing Division.

• 2005

  WorldStrides’ educational mission broadens to include “a commitment to environmental stewardship,” and our Science Action and Adventure Series is born.

• 2008

  WorldStrides expands its high school and university offerings by welcoming The Field Studies Center of New York and Accent Travel Group to the WorldStrides family.

• 2009

  WorldStrides welcomes TravelMBA onboard, further strengthening its leadership in the university travel space.

• 2010

  WorldStrides renews its accreditation through the Northwest Accreditation Commission and becomes accredited by multiple regional accrediting agencies, including the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and AdvancED. AdvancED is the parent organization for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement and the Northwest Accreditation Commission.

  New Century Tours joins the WorldStrides family, bringing 20 years experience in historic East Coast destinations.

• 2011

  WorldStrides welcomes Casterbridge Tours into the family—a distinctive provider of art, literature, language, and history programs to Europe, Asia, and Africa. This acquisition enhances the company’s operational expertise and service on the international stage.

• 2012

  NETC joins WorldStrides and, together with Casterbridge Tours, becomes known as WorldStrides International Discovery Programs.

• 2013

  WorldStrides acquires Trekset Tours of Australia. Trekset expands the company’s expertise in international travel and adds richness to the Australian educational and sports portfolio.

• 2014

  Oxbridge Academic Programs joins the WorldStrides lineup. Oxbridge is the global leader in providing academically intensive, university-based programs for 8th to 12th graders, held at some of the world’s top universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Columbia, and L’Academie de Paris, to name a few.

  WorldStrides also acquires Group Events of Australia as a means of further broadening its reach within the Australian market.

• 2015

  WorldStrides acquires Rhapsody Tours of Kent, England, which adds depth to its existing UK-based presence.

  Excel International Sports comes on board as the leading provider of specialised international sports travel for elite club, high school, and university level sports teams.

• 2016

  WorldStrides renews its accreditation as a school from AdvancED, the largest accrediting organisation in the world, and receives high marks for its commitment to educational transformation for students. Additionally, Explorica joins the WorldStrides family.

• 2017

  WorldStrides celebrates 50 years enriching students’ lives. The organisation re-aligns its higher education division to better leverage the teamwork of WorldStrides and ISA to focus on faculty-led and custom programs.

• 2018

  Another year of growth! WorldStrides acquires Envision, a student travel organisation whose career exploration and leadership programs enable students from school through to university. WorldStrides also acquired The Education Abroad Network (TEAN), specialists in study abroad in the Asia Pacific region. TEAN strengthens WorldStrides’ opportunities for university students.

• 2020

  WorldStrides unveiled a new look! Our logo that can be interpreted as a series of open books, building and growing on each other. In addition to books, the symbol suggests a soaring bird (also part of the prior WorldStrides logo), which represents notions of independence and new heights in learning. As we evolve as a company, we pledge to push learning further, to help our students soar higher, and to continue to be a partner in helping their dreams become reality.