TEPA is the group travel arm of Terra Education, the parent organization behind a global network of youth development programs. Terra’s legacy began in Cape Town, South Africa, when Andrew Motiwalla, a former Peace Corps volunteer, and Fred Swaniker, a young social entrepreneur, launched a leadership-focused summer program that grew into a worldwide family of organizations dedicated to global education.

That first summer program became Global Leadership Adventures, the first chapter in Terra Education’s legacy. GLA has sent over 30,000 students from all 50 US states and 80+ countries on transformational travel experiences over the last two-plus decades to locations across six continents.

From there, Terra Education expanded to launch Summer Springboard, one of the leading pre-college summer programs in the United States and United Kingdom. SSB gives teens the unique opportunity to explore a major, discover a career path and experience college life on a top tier university campus.

Terra Education also grew to include Beyond Sports, which send student-athletes in high school and college overseas to build bridges across cultures through sports.

Beyond our teen-focused programs, which are at the heart of what Terra Education delivers, we also have Discover Corps, which offers immersive travel experiences for families and adults; CEPA, a leader in university study abroad experiences in Europe; and The Good Life Abroad, which offers active older adults the chance to live abroad like a local in their city of choice for a short time without fully relocating.

Check out our history timeline at the bottom of this page to learn more about how Terra Education came to deliver the diverse portfolio of programs we offer today.