Illinois Elementary School Teacher Wins ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours’ 2013 Send a Teacher Traveling Award

ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours, which in 1972 became the first North American tour company to offer pedal tours in Europe, announces that Kelly Barofsky, a 1st grade teacher from Prospect Elementary School in Clarendon Hills, IL, is the company’s 2013 Send A Teacher Traveling Award winner. This award recognizes outstandingU.S. public school teachers and rewards them with a complimentary bike tour of their choosing.

Barofsky plans this summer to join an Experience Plus! Bicycle Tours adventure in Italy where her father’s family is from. She chose the ever-popular Venice to Florence tour that includes pedaling the Po River to the Renaissance city of Ferrara, a visit to a local agriturismo farm cooperative to enjoy a lunch of homegrown vegetables, homemade ricotta, and other local specialties, an exploration of Ravenna, the last capital of the Western Roman Empire, olive tasting, art and ceramics and an opportunity to visit the famed Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the works of Michelangelo and Botticelli among others. See More Here.

When she told her students she was the winner, “They were all jumping up and down and yelling and hugging me,” said Barofsky, a dedicated cyclist who incorporates bike ride experiences into her writing lessons.

“I have showed them it’s so much easier to write about something we are passionate and excited about because I demonstrate that during our Writing Workshop almost every day,” she added. “Being on my bike gives me time to be alone and quiet and reflect on my life and my teaching and my relationships. You see things differently when you’re on a bike instead of in a car. You hear things, you smell things and sometimes you even meet new people along the way. I’ve lost 10 pounds, my students think it’s super cool to wear a helmet now, my son and daughter see their mom being active and setting and reaching goals, and I have even inspired my friends to ride too. But best of all, I have so many wonderful stories to write about and share with my class.”

The teacher recognition program began in 1996 and has given away over 20 free bicycle tours across Europe andLatin Americato outstanding teachers nationwide.

Barofsky was selected from among more than two dozen applicants. All of last year’s teachers were invited to re-apply.