Meet the Team

Student Horizons is led by Jamie Wansey, an entrepreneur with extensive experience in international student group travel. Over the last twenty years, Jamie has delivered experiential experiences for schools in the UK, New Zealand and Australia and now resides in Queensland, Australia with his wife and three young children.

Experiential learning or learning by doing has been at the core of Student Horizons philosophy from the foundation of the organisation. Over 13,000 students and teachers have travelled all over the globe with Student Horizons over the last 10 years. Through an array of sport, music, and study based educational tours such as STEM and careers experiences, students have learnt by doing and have gained experiences for life.

Jamie’s enthusiasm for organising international trips for school students stems from the benefits that he himself accrued travelling and living all over the world. Jamie has lived in the UK, South Africa, Tanzania, Australia, USA and New Zealand. He has travelled extensively within Europe, Southern Africa, South East Asia and North America. It is Jamie’s positive travel experiences that have fuelled his passion for promoting overseas educational and sporting travel trips as a critical pillar in a young person’s development.

A lifelong learner, Jamie holds a Senior Executive MBA from Melbourne Business School, a BSc (Hons) in Geology from the University of Liverpool, NZQA travel industry qualifications and is currently studying to become a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Originally from the Northern beaches of Sydney, Brooke moved to New Zealand in 2008 with her husband, Jamie. After spending seven amazing years in Auckland, they relocated their family to Brisbane in 2015 to set up the Student Horizons Brisbane office.

After completing her tertiary education with diplomas in Business and Design, Brooke has worked in design agencies around the world including Sydney, London and Auckland, before setting up her own design business in New Zealand.

A passion for travel was evident from a young age, with family trips across the ditch to New Zealand to visit relatives. Brooke’s eyes were well and truly opened to the world outside of what she knew when she embarked on a high school Concert Band Tour of the USA, visiting LA, San Francisco and Chicago. With her saxophone in hand, Brooke had well and truly got the travel bug!

An ‘OE’ to the UK enabled Brooke to fuel her passion for travel with extensive travel into Europe, then subsequently to North America, East Africa and the Pacific Islands. Brooke does admit that travelling nowadays with three young children is not quite the same but enriching on a different level.

Since graduating from university with a degree in accounting and finance, Andrew worked for many years in finance for a leading global manufacturer and Fortune 500 company. The exposure to how industry and business succeed inspired Andrew to broaden his expertise and further his career path in operational management.

Shortly after emigrating to New Zealand from the UK with his wife and two children, Andrew was delighted when the opportunity arose to join Student Horizons. Providing opportunities for young people to ‘Challenge, Discover, Achieve’, is one that Andrew finds most rewarding. Having had the chance to travel to many places himself; Kenya, Morocco, Turkey, Australia, France and the United Arab Emirates to name just a few, Andrew is well aware of the benefits and advantages travel brings. Andrew is proud to be part of a world class team delivering first class experiences and unrivalled service.

Andrew has many happy memories of time spent in Scotland visiting some amazing historical sights, beautiful cities, and of course getting out and about enjoying the great Scottish outdoors.

Born in Estonia to Russian parents, Jane developed a keen interest in different cultures from a very young age. Straight after school she left home for the UK, eager to try her luck in a different country. She graduated from one of the top UK universities few years later. Being fascinated by the constantly changing world we live in, she went on to do her degree in International Relations.

Throughout her university years and after graduating, Jane explored the world, travelling around India, South Africa, USA, Spain, France and Switzerland, to name few countries. Five years ago, one of these trips brought her to New Zealand and it took her two weeks to realise this was where she wanted to settle.

Since graduating, Jane explored a number of different professional fields, including human rights, sales and marketing, hospitality, and education. In the last few years, she worked in a number of language and business schools for international students in New Zealand, and travelled back to the UK to work at a Summer School, organising University Campus trips for high schools students around the world.

Her immense passion for travel and education brought her to Student Horizons.

Elle began her career in the travel and tourism industry in 2009, spending two seasons as a camp counsellor in Michigan, USA.

Subsequently she joined a well-known high street agency, as a travel consultant before managing her own business as a mobile travel agent. Alongside her home-based travel business, Elle applied herself in community roles as event coordinator for the Albury Special Children’s Christmas Party, and boarding supervisor at Scots School Albury.

In 2019 Elle moved ‘across the ditch’ to New Zealand where she worked as activities coordinator and assistant manager at Queen Margaret College in Wellington and then onto Timaru Girls’ High School where she was appointed director of boarding.

Throughout her years of traveling abroad, some of her highlights include buying a van and travelling across Route 66, trekking in Rwanda to spend precious time with Mountain Gorillas, an expedition in Alaska, and eating her way across Mexico!

Elle believes strongly in youth advocacy and participation and finding meaningful experiential opportunities. She’ll always give something a go, whether its learning to snow ski at 33, or eating something interesting in a far off land!

Tathiana was born in the Amazon, Brazil, where her love for nature and the outdoors grew. Her fascination with languages and cultures started early when she began studying English at the age of 8, and she has never stopped since then.

“Ten years later, I found myself in the US as an exchange student, navigating the world by myself for the first time. Little did I know that this life-changing experience would shape my entire life and career”. After returning to Brazil, Tathiana joined the international education sector and helped numerous students study abroad. Her professional career has enabled her to become an ambassador for international education programs. “It’s always gratifying to hear that one of my students has embarked on a successful international career,” she adds.

Tathiana has a bachelor’s degree in Business and a graduate diploma in Teaching in Higher Education. She has worked in the university sector for 10+ years, coordinating multiple projects and programs, as well as marketing and business development. In Australia, she took her career to the next level. Her role at Student Horizons has been a true blessing as it combines her passion for travel and education.

Kaitlin is a born and raised Floridian who made New Zealand her home in early 2012. Born with an adventurous spirit, she jumped at the chance to volunteer at a youth sport camp in Mexico at the age of 14. That trip launched a lifelong commitment to globetrotting—a passion that has brought her around the world as a foreign exchange student to Japan, a backpacker to Europe, a yoga amateur to India, a hiker to the Pacific, and a volunteer to Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Russia.

Every trip has sparked educational interests for Kaitlin, who returned from France with a love of the language, from Russia with a love of the literature, and from England with a love of the art (she went on to study all three at university!). She believes strongly in the benefits of experiential learning and above all, that travel is the best teacher.

With a newly minted Master’s degree in Art History and an ongoing, insatiable interest in travel, Kaitlin is eager to contribute her Yankee enthusiasm to the dynamic global energy of Student Horizons.

Passionate about travel, sport and music, it is safe to say Andrew fits right into the team at Student Horizons.

Andrew was born and raised in Queensland, attending school at St Laurence’s in Brisbane. Andrews has always had a passion for music, with fond memories of playing the oboe, flute, and bass guitar with the school orchestra and concert band.

After majoring in software engineering and drama at The University of Queensland, Andrew set off on his travels to the USA working at a summer camp and independently travelling around the States. He then spent six years in the UK working in IT and DJing on the side! Trips back to the USA from London were frequent, as Andrew attended Gala Choruses in Denver, represented Australia in a global choir, and also played rugby in the Bingham Cup. Of course, Andrew also made the most of living so close to mainland Europe, with plenty of experiences in countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal.

Returning home to Brisbane, Andrew spent 8 years in the Queensland Police in a senior role within their IT department. Andrew’s extensive experience in IT and web development is indeed an asset to Student Horizons, as the business strives to continually innovate and lead from the front.