STEVE BYRNE

Wittenberg University, B.A., History, B.A., Spanish

While at Wittenberg University, Steve studied abroad for a year in Buenos Aires, where he honed his Spanish language skills, studied economic history, and traveled in Patagonia. Steve then moved to Yosemite Valley where he learned to rock climb and ski as he explored and photographed the technical peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Steve worked for AYUSA Global Youth Exchange for three years, overseeing high school exchange programs for students from Latin America and Europe. Upon leaving AYUSA, Steve embarked on a three-month Andean climbing and photography journey starting near Santiago and ending in southern Patagonia. Steve runs his own photography and print business, specializing in landscape, surf, and adventure photography. He has produced adventure sports and active lifestyle images on land and at sea for web and stock publication with clients including Surfline, The Inertia, Camelbak, National Geographic Travel, the San Francisco Chronicle, Shutterfly, and KQED Media. Though he considers northern California home, Steve has spent the past year on the road doing outreach for Putney Student Travel and designing our Skiing in Patagonia program. He has led National Geographic Student Expeditions programs in Barcelona, San Francisco, Alaska, Ecuador, and Australia. Steve is fluent in Spanish.

MELANIE MANUEL

Villanova University, B.S., International Business; Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, M.S., Bilingual Intercultural Education

As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at la Universidad del Valle in Sololá, Guatemala, Melanie completed her master’s in Bilingual Intercultural Education, learning with Mayan educators how to teach traditional and cultural literacy in Spanish and indigenous languages. She acquired a working knowledge of Mayan Quiche as the only non-Mayan in her program. As a recipient of a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, Melanie spent the spring semester in Chile researching street art as a tool for teaching language and elevating cultural literacy. Melanie currently teaches high school Spanish in Philadelphia. She also teaches World Language Methods courses at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. She has led Putney’s Language Learning in Argentina, Community Service Ecuador and the Galápagos, and Cultural Exploration Cuba programs, and has worked as an instructor on Pre-College Madrid and Pre-College Barcelona. Melanie is fluent in Spanish.