10,000 Students, One Mission: Building Empathy Through Travel

At a time when empathy can be in short supply, Global Glimpse is creating life-changing opportunities for young people to travel with purpose and return home with a stronger sense of self, a broader worldview, and the skills to lead in a rapidly changing world.

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

It starts with a bus pulling into a rural village in the mountains of the Dominican Republic. Dozens of families are already gathered, waiting eagerly to meet the visiting high school students they’ve been paired with. For one day, students live as locals — fetching water, cooking meals, playing with children — forming bonds that transcend language and culture. It’s these deeply human moments, crafted through trust and long-term community relationships, that define the Global Glimpse experience.

Since 2008, the non-profit has empowered high school students from diverse backgrounds to explore new cultures, challenge their assumptions, and build lasting connections that transcend borders. Over time, the impact has been clear. Ninety-six percent of alumni say they can better empathize with people from different cultural backgrounds after participating in the program.

Now, as Global Glimpse prepares to welcome its 10,000th student, SkiftX sat down with founding CEO Eliza Pesuit to explore the organization’s origins, its community-driven approach, and what’s next, including a bold vision for expanding into custom, purpose-driven trips for adults and professionals.

SkiftX: Why do you believe travel is such a powerful form of education?

Eliza Pesuit:

It’s deeply personal for me. I didn’t travel growing up, but thanks to my Serbian dad and Russian mom, I had an international upbringing. After my freshman year in college, I got a job cleaning tents in Yosemite National Park and met people from all over the world. That summer changed everything. I ended up buying a one-way ticket to Peru and spent six months traveling solo through South America.

What struck me most was how aware I became of global inequality and privilege. I remember watching a young girl with a baby on her back and thinking, “What am I going to do with all the opportunity I’ve been given?” I was also keenly aware of how few Americans I met abroad. We have this outsized global influence, and yet so many of our leaders grow up without a real understanding of the world. That experience showed me that travel is the most powerful form of education. I can’t tell you what I learned in any year of high school, but I remember every moment of that journey.

How did Global Glimpse come to be?After I graduated from college, I returned to Nicaragua, where I had studied abroad. I was planning on going to nursing school, but life had other plans when I came across a job posting at a café seeking a bilingual leader to bridge U.S. and Latin American cultures and work with young people. I took the leap.

At 23, I stepped into a role that allowed me to help build and lead international programs from the ground up, with support from early mentors who believed in the vision. We launched Global Glimpse in partnership with 10 low-income high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and sent nearly 100 students to Nicaragua in the first year. In those early years, Global Glimpse was a small and scrappy operation, and I did everything, including recruiting schools and leading delegations. In 2012, I began to professionalize the organization and grow our footprint. That’s when we really started to scale our model and expand our impact.

What does reaching the 10,000th student milestone mean to you?It’s surreal. I think when you build something from nothing, you see every step of the journey. There’s been struggle, there’s been growth, but at the center of it all are the young people. They’re out in the world doing amazing things because of this experience. The ripple effect is massive — not just for them, but for their families, schools, and communities. It gives me hope.

What makes the Global Glimpse model unique?We provide so much more than travel. We have a grassroots network of champions across 100 public high schools and youth development organizations that help ensure access for students who wouldn’t otherwise have this opportunity. And we wrap our trips with a robust pre- and post-travel curriculum. A lot of teen travel programs are one-off experiences. What we do is create a longitudinal impact.

Our students develop soft skills like empathy, agency, adaptability, and collaboration. They unplug for two weeks, are present with each other, and build friendships with people they might never meet otherwise. In New York, for instance, we have students from the South Bronx traveling alongside students from Greenwich, Connecticut. That kind of diversity is rare and powerful.

What are some of the experiences that stay with students the most?One of the most transformative is our “Living Like a Local” day. Students spend time with a family in a rural community doing what they do — sweeping the patio, feeding animals, and connecting over a meal. Even without speaking the same language, the human connection is profound. These families have often welcomed hundreds of students over the years. The love and trust that exists in those moments is incredible.

It’s not just eye-opening — it’s grounding. Students come away humbled, inspired, and changed.

You’ve started exploring custom trips for adults. What’s driving that expansion?Adults need this just as much as young people do. They’re burnt out, overstimulated, and craving connection and purpose. We ran our first custom Global Glimpse Journey for Somos, United Airlines’ business resource group for Latino employees, and the feedback was incredible. One hundred percent of participants gave it a top score. People said it was the most powerful travel experience they’d had in years.

I’ve seen this work firsthand during leadership trips we run for donors and partners. Even in just two days, the impact is real. There’s a real opportunity to rethink how we approach professional retreats and team offsites. We want to bring that magic to more companies and adults.

What do corporate partners get out of supporting your mission?They get a lot. It’s direct impact, but also deep employee engagement. Our programs inspire people across the org chart — from airport staff to C-suite executives. We offer tangible ways to get involved, from reviewing student applications to career mentoring. For companies in travel and hospitality, our work aligns perfectly with their brand purpose.

And there’s the storytelling piece. Supporting our work isn’t just writing a check — it’s an authentic, strategic investment in the future of travel.

How can others get involved or help close the empathy gap?There are so many ways. Fund a student’s first flight. Volunteer to mentor. Sponsor a trip. We also recently launched a Board of Champions made up of cross-sector leaders who want to open doors, offer insights, or simply help amplify our message. It doesn’t take much time to make a big impact. We’re building a movement, and we welcome people to be part of it.

What excites you most about the road ahead?I’m excited about innovating. Challenging moments force you to think differently. I want to bring the Global Glimpse experience to broader audiences and show the world how powerful empathy-driven travel can be. I’m also inspired by our alumni. We now have nearly 10,000 young people who have been through our program. How do we help them lead, give back, and shape the future of travel and society? That’s the next chapter I’m excited to write.