Gretchen Bade - Island Passage Program Director
Born and raised in the midwest, Gretchen truly began her life adventures in Colorado where she studied Psychology, Secondary Education and LIFE at the University of Colorado in Boulder. After graduation she spent two years in San Diego as a mentor for kids on probation and families involved with Health and Human Services through the San Diego CHOICE program. Trading coasts, Gretchen moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she taught middle school for six years. She is a passionate traveler, having spent extensive time in East and Southeast Asia, and exploring Europe, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Her desire to see and experience the world, to better serve others, has most recently led her to Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, where she currently lives and teaches 6th and 7th grade at the International School.
Gretchen's involvement in service started before high school with the Appalachia Service Project. In college she volunteered in Prague with the mentally handicapped through Partnership for Service Learning. She completed a year of service as a member of Americorps and arrived at VISIONS doorstep in 2000. After staffing and then directing VISIONS programs in the British Virgin Islands for eight seasons, Gretchen took the helm VISIONS Vietnam for its first season in 2008. Last January Gretchen worked collaboratively with two past VISIONS program directors to offer a Passage-type program to her 8th grade students in Chapel Hill in Dominica's Carib Territory.
Gretchen is an aspiring explorer, an artist, and an avid, old-fashioned letter writer. She strives to encourage hope, curiosity and confidence in all who she encounters.