Our Aiducatius Intern

Normally, Isabelle is the one preparing Australian and New Zealand teenagers to depart. This year she’ll be the one boarding the plane … destination Kartong, The Gambia.

Isabelle is our Outbound Manager at Student Exchange Australia New Zealand, and her commitment to this work comes from a deeply personal place. As a teenager, she spent a year on exchange in Spain. She describes that experience as the moment her world opened up. It shaped her confidence, her independence, and her belief that young people grow in extraordinary ways when they step into something unfamiliar.

That experience set the course for her life. For the past fourteen years, she has worked in international education, helping students navigate the same journey she once took herself.

Today, Isabelle leads the Student Exchange Australia New Zealand Outbound team. She supports the coordinators who guide students and families through every stage of the exchange process. She helps her team build strong relationships with families, understand each student’s needs, and create a calm and confident pathway to departure. Alongside this leadership role, she continues to work directly with students, which keeps her closely connected to the real questions, hopes, and emotions that shape an exchange program.

Isabelle will be doing the kind of work that supports a whole community. She will inspire students in creative activities, help children draw their dreams on the wall, dance in a dusty courtyard, and contribute to practical community projects.

Outside work, Isabelle loves travelling, cooking, and spending time with her family. These are the same things that grounded her through years of living across continents. Her diverse background fuels her belief that exchange is not just a trip. It is a way of seeing the world, and yourself, differently.

“The eyes of a student when they come back from exchange, the determination and the way they see the world, that is what keeps me going,” Isabelle says. “I think I am about to feel that from the inside.”

If you are a teen who is wondering what is possible with an exchange, watch Isabelle’s stories from Africa this June. She will be standing exactly where our students stand. She will be in a new place, with a full heart, seeing how far education can take you.