RYAN CRAWFORD
Whittier College, B.A., Business Administration, minor in Spanish

While at Whittier, Ryan focused on Spanish, playing baseball, and coaching youth baseball. After graduating, Ryan spent seven months in northeastern Thailand, teaching English to Thai high school students, traveling, and immersing himself in Thai language and culture. While in Thailand, Ryan traveled to the surrounding countries of Laos and Cambodia, and spent time with secluded hill tribes. Ryan spent two years exploring the wilderness of California’s Sierra Nevada and spends his spare time backpacking and hiking the wild places of California’s north coast, gaining an appreciation and understanding of human and natural communities living cohesively. He also volunteers at Humboldt County’s food bank and participates in various natural restoration projects, such as a weeklong project restoring the rugged Mattole River Watershed for the recovery of salmonid species. In May, Ryan received his certificate of study in environmental and natural resources planning from Humboldt State University. In the last year he visited 25 U.S. states across the Midwest, South, and East Coast as a Road Warrior doing outreach for Putney, and spent a short time getting immersed in the cultures, peoples, and foods of Oaxaca, Mexico. Ryan is proficient in Thai and Spanish, and has twice led Putney’s Cultural Exploration Thailand program, as well as Community Service Thailand last year.

ALYSSA BOLT
Taylor University, B.A., Philosophy and History; Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ed.M., Learning and Teaching

While at Taylor, Alyssa studied philosophy and spent a semester abroad at Oxford. After graduating, she interned at the Indiana State Senate, worked in the Colorado Rockies, and later moved to Thailand to teach English at a local kindergarten. She fell in love with teaching, and one year abroad turned into six. She taught preschool and trained local teachers in Myanmar; taught English in a middle and high school in Spain; and finally returned to Thailand to teach adult English language learners in Bangkok. Alyssa is now studying for a master’s degree in education at Harvard, where she also teaches high school students at Harvard Art Museums. This fall, Alyssa plans to continue working in the field of international education, either teaching abroad or working for an international development agency or NGO.