Stacy Lynn Gery
Two words that best describe Stacy Lynn Gery are adventure and education. Her initial contact with the University of Arizona was through a program to study Spanish in Guadalajara during the summer of 1994. She earned a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University in 1996 and then her master's degree in Latin American Studies and International Economics from the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in 1997. She longed to live in a Spanish-speaking country and so embarked on what would be the first of many adventures when she moved to Bolivia fresh out of graduate school. There she worked for 2 years with the people of the Andean Region through a non-profit organization (NGO) called Ashoka. Her return to the United States left her searching for a way to share her experiences of the amazing people culture and language of South America with all who would listen. She became a high school Spanish teacher in 2000 and almost immediately fell in love with her students. Stacy believes learning another language can open a whole new world for her students. For her Spanish is a vehicle to empower students in and out of the classroom hopefully instilling in them the characteristics needed to succeed as well as a desire to embark upon their own paths of lifelong learning. When an opportunity to travel and hike presented itself Stacy's own personal quest for adventure and lifelong learning caused her to say good-bye to the students she loved. It was time to go after a long-time dream of traveling in Southeast Asia for 5 months and then hiking the Appalachian Trail. Stacy completed her thru-hike from Georgia to Maine in 2007. For the next year she combined her love of education and adventure by instructing experiential education programs in Baltimore and Philadelphia with Outward Bound and in Guatemala with Where There Be Dragons. Stacy is once again back in the classroom sharing her passion for anything Latin American and outdoor pursuits with the students for whom she cares so deeply. Not only because of her great students teaching is an ideal profession for Stacy for other reasons as well. She has the summers off to plan more of her own adventures which recently included a thru-hike of the Colorado Trail and her entree into endurance mountain bike racing.