Helen Rortvedt

M.A., Sustainable Development, SIT Graduate Institute, Brattleboro, VT.
B.A., Spanish and Hispanic Studies, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN.

Helen has instructed numerous Dragons courses in Bolivia and Peru since 2009, including the Andes and Amazon Semester and the Bolivia summer program. Helen discovered her passion for international education as a student at St. Olaf College, in search of refuge from the Minnesota winters. She studied abroad in Cuba (yes, legally), Mexico, Spain and Bangladesh.

In her post-collegiate years before working with Dragons, Helen was an AmeriCorps volunteer at a public charter high school in Chicago, taught English in Nicaragua, worked at an outdoor education center in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia. The unanticipated and untimely suspension of the Peace Corps program in Bolivia left her searching for alternate ways to return to her newfound home-away-from-home. She was immediately struck by the magical spirit of Bolivia, and is thrilled to return for another season with Dragons in this superlative country!

Helen has recently made a home for herself in the Green Mountains of Vermont, where, when she is not instructing for Dragons, she works with a small non-profit organization committed to improving access to healthy, local food, particularly in public schools.