Mariam M. | Mar. 13, 2026
featuring: Cam C.
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Before Cameron ever led a tour with EF, he experienced one as a student himself. That experience stayed with him. Years later, as a teacher in Winnipeg, he knew he wanted his students to have the same opportunity to see the world.
We caught up with him to talk about how he got started and what’s made travelling with his students something he keeps saying yes to.
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Tell us a bit about yourself. What do you teach and where are you based?
Cameron: I’ve been teaching math and physics for 9 years. I’ve been at my current school, the University of Winnipeg Collegiate, for 8 years. I’ve now moved into administration and have my 5th trip planned for 2027 to Italy and Greece.
When did travelling with your students go from just an idea to an actuality?
Cameron: I started travelling coming out of covid, leading my first tour in 2023 but launched it over Zoom in 2021. I travelled with EF to Europe when I was in grade 12 back in 2010. When I decided to become a teacher, I knew I wanted to run international student travel, I just didn’t know the best time to start.
What gave you pause before saying yes?
Cameron: The responsibility. Taking youth internationally as a teacher in the first couple years of my career was extremely intimidating. So many things could go wrong, so many unknowns, and I felt like I didn’t even know where to start with everything that I didn’t know. Especially launching during Covid.
What made EF feel like the right partner for you?
Cameron: From the moment I connected with EF, they put my worries at ease and they walked me through the entire process.
How did EF help make the planning process feel clear and structured?
Cameron: I’m at a private school so I don’t have much input on school board approval process. However, the few questions my administration did have, EF was able to answer. Timelines, important deadlines, meeting topics, documentation, everything was laid out from the beginning, so I knew what was coming and what to expect at each interval all the way from 1 year out to 1 week out. Plus, my tour consultant was always a phone call or email away to answer any of my questions or explain something to me.
When did you feel confident everything was in place?
Cameron: I’m a teacher so I like control, my first trip was hard because I was putting all my trust into EF. I remember saying to my Tour Consultant things like “when does it get hard” or “are you sure there’s not something else I need to do” or “this feels too easy…what’s the catch”. I knew EF had taken care of everything, but it wasn’t until I was actually on tour that I saw their true impact. On day 2 a chaperone slipped in her room and ended up requiring surgery in Costa Rica. EF facilitated everything and made sure that our tour didn’t stop, the chaperone could receive proper medical care, and all of it was handled behind the scenes by their emergency response team along with the Tour Director who was with us. Nothing could have prepared me for that situation, but EF handled everything. That’s when I could truly relax and knew that EF had my back.
When did you feel certain you had made the right decision?
Cameron: I never felt like I made the wrong decision. Everything was easy and EF allowed me to truly focus on the students and their experiences. One incident stands out from my first tour, where many of our students were freezing cold and wet from being out all day in the rain in Costa Rica. We stopped for lunch at a farm-to-table restaurant and the workers took some of our students’ sweaters and dried them in their wood-fired ovens. One student’s sweater got a little too close to the fire and burnt a hole in it. That little interaction between student and worker in broken Spanish showed me more gratitude, kindness, compassion, and growth than I had seen in my previous years of teaching. The world needs more understanding and compassion, and travel helps build that in youth.
What has travelling with your students made possible for you, personally?
Cameron: I’ve learned patience and communication. It’s made me a better teacher, a better administrator, and a better human. Although I travel in my personal life, travelling with students challenges you in different ways and teaches you how to communicate and manage conflict.
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When did you feel confident everything was in place?
Cameron: I’m a teacher so I like control, my first trip was hard because I was putting all my trust into EF. I remember saying to my Tour Consultant things like “when does it get hard” or “are you sure there’s not something else I need to do” or “this feels too easy…what’s the catch”. I knew EF had taken care of everything, but it wasn’t until I was actually on tour that I saw their true impact. On day 2 a chaperone slipped in her room and ended up requiring surgery in Costa Rica. EF facilitated everything and made sure that our tour didn’t stop, the chaperone could receive proper medical care, and all of it was handled behind the scenes by their emergency response team along with the Tour Director who was with us. Nothing could have prepared me for that situation, but EF handled everything. That’s when I could truly relax and knew that EF had my back.
When did you feel certain you had made the right decision?
Cameron: I never felt like I made the wrong decision. Everything was easy and EF allowed me to truly focus on the students and their experiences. One incident stands out from my first tour, where many of our students were freezing cold and wet from being out all day in the rain in Costa Rica. We stopped for lunch at a farm-to-table restaurant and the workers took some of our students’ sweaters and dried them in their wood-fired ovens. One student’s sweater got a little too close to the fire and burnt a hole in it. That little interaction between student and worker in broken Spanish showed me more gratitude, kindness, compassion, and growth than I had seen in my previous years of teaching. The world needs more understanding and compassion, and travel helps build that in youth.
What has traveling with your students made possible for you, personally?
Cameron: I’ve learned patience and communication. It’s made me a better teacher, a better administrator, and a better human. Although I travel in my personal life, travelling with students challenges you in different ways and teaches you how to communicate and manage conflict.
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What’s made you keep saying yes to travelling with EF?
Cameron: Those little moments with students are addicting. Every day on every tour there is some little moment that makes you smile and think “this is why I do this”. That’s what keeps me coming back.
If you could go back and tell yourself one thing before your first tour, what would it be?
Cameron: I’d tell myself to relax, EF has your back. I didn’t need the extreme case of chaperone injury to prove that.
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