January 30, 2025
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What is a Go Ahead Tours Ambassador?
EF is lucky to have over 90 Go Ahead Tours Ambassadors, who help spread the message of the transformational power of our experiences. In addition, Go Ahead Tours ambassadors are responsible for mentoring new Group Coordinators, teaching them all there is to know about running a successful travel program.
Diane Cortazzo is on a mission: To spread her love of travel and learning to everyone she meets. Over nearly 30 years, Diane has opened the world to hundreds of high school students through EF Educational Tours, and hundreds more people through EF Go Ahead Tours. But it wasn’t always like this. Although Diane has grown to be one of the biggest advocates for EF’s mission, it all started with a simple promise to her father.
Lebenswende in German translates to “life turn”; a moment when your life’s journey turns down a completely different path. We all have several such moments in our lives, but Diane Cortazzo made a Lebenswende that changed her and her family’s life forever.
As a child, Diane’s upbringing was much like that of many young Americans growing up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. “My parents were parents of the Depression”, Diane explained. “We didn’t have a lot of disposable income, and they were quite frugal, so I would say we basically didn’t travel as kids.”
Growing up in Pennsylvania, vacations for Diane and her family often involved heading to the Poconos, a small, wooded mountain range north of Philadelphia. Aside from a trip to Canada and Mexico, by the time Diane was in her early 40s she had never left the United States.
But the world beyond her doorstep was not completely foreign to her. Diane’s mother emigrated from Austria when she was 12, having grown up in the small east Austrian town of Stegersbach. It was her mother’s influence that meant Diane would go on to become a German teacher, despite her homebound upbringing.
In 1996, however, that all changed. “I was with my father during his final days”, Diane said. “And he said to me: ‘Diane, I have done a lot of things right, but my biggest regret is not taking your mother back to her hometown.’
“He told me that – if I ever have the opportunity to travel – I should take it.”
Two years later, Diane’s school lifted the ban on teachers traveling abroad. This was her chance to fulfil her father’s dying wish. She marched into the principal’s office and declared: “I want to take my students to Austria and Germany.”
Diane soon came across EF Educational Tours and created a tour for her upper-level German students to visit Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich. Over 70 kids attended that first tour in 1998, and the impact it had on them was profound.
“For the kids, it was wonderful. I encouraged them to speak German at every opportunity, and they were just so excited to have the chance to speak to native German speakers. It totally changed their perspectives.”
In the classroom, Diane’s now-frequent trips to Europe revolutionized her teaching. Gone were the days of showing slides with pictures taken from books; now, she could convey the awe of history, culture, architecture, and more from her direct experiences.
Finally, the words she had learned to speak were becoming a living, tangible language that she could share with her students.
Diane has traveled to dozens of countries on both student tours and Go Ahead Tours, opening the world to children and adults alike.
“It snowballed from there”, Diane reflected. As the years went by, she led more Educational Tours to Europe, becoming so experienced she was soon asked by her fellow teachers to accompany them on their own student tours. The impact became exponential, and she has now taken over 500 students to Europe and many more as a chaperone.
Diane has not only changed her students’ lives through travel, but also her family’s. Her children, Jamie and Kurt, were both on that first Educational Tour in 1998.
In addition to traveling with her mother, Jamie also supported a tour as a chaperone, following in her mother’s footsteps in opening the world to the next generation.
“I keep in touch with some of the kids I met on those trips”, Jamie said. “I love seeing the long-term impact it has had on their lives, because they are still traveling now as adults. It also changed how I expose my own kids to other cultures, hoping that it becomes important in their own lives.
“It is so valuable to have the opportunity to learn about other cultures, races, nationalities, and perspectives from across the world. I would not be the same person I am today if I had not had the incredible travel experiences I’ve had! For my mom, it has been great to witness just how happy travel has made her and changed her life along the way.”
Now 70-years-old, Diane looks back on almost three decades of travel and can reflect on the words her father spoke to her all those years ago. It has completely changed her life, and she shared one of the lessons she learned:
“You just cannot imagine what is out there for you, and it’s so important, now more than ever, to see there is good everywhere in the world. I cannot imagine my life without travel.”
In 2001, Diane started going on EF Go Ahead Tours as a Group Coordinator, eventually becoming a Go Ahead Tours Ambassador. She has now been on around 35 Go Ahead Tours, with many more planned for 2025, 2026, and even 2027.
She has now visited nearly every country in Europe, as well as visiting Egypt, Jordan, and China, to name just a few.
The level of dedication and passion for the EF brand is not unique to Diane, but her enthusiasm and willingness to spread the benefits of travel to her students, colleagues and friends is almost unmatched. Emily Mantell, Vice President of Customer Experience at Go Ahead Tours said:
“I think one of the things that makes Diane stand out is the incredible reach she’s had. Not only has she clearly been impacted by her own travel experiences, but she has chosen to spread her love for travel to so many. Starting with students, and now with fellow adults, she has shown so many people how transformational travel can be. That’s a lot of lives changed.”
540
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students Diane has impacted through EF Educational Tours
35
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EF Go Ahead Tours Diane has attended
480
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Go Ahead Tours travelers impacted by Diane
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