Meet the Team

Student Horizons is led by Jamie Wansey, an entrepreneur with extensive experience in international student group travel. Over the last nineteen 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 9 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 has recently completed a Senior Executive MBA at Melbourne Business School. Jamie’s undergraduate degree was a BSc (Hons) in Geology from the University of Liverpool, and he also holds a raft of travel industry qualifications.

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.

18 years ago, British-born Steve made New Zealand his home. He now lives in Auckland with his wife and two daughters, but his loyalties will always be with the Liverpool football team! His favourite place to visit is the far north of New Zealand. He is a keen traveller who is passionate about creating transformational experiences for young people.

Steve’s love for travel was ignited during his time at university. He took a month long adventure across Europe and spent a memorable summer coaching tennis at a summer camp in the US, before embarking on a road trip from New York to Los Angeles, via New Orleans.

After university, Steve and his wife, Ali, quit their corporate jobs and set off on a 10 month journey around the world. On a shoestring budget, they had amazing experiences in many different countries, but personal highlights were Nepal and New Zealand. It was on this trip that Steve fell in love with New Zealand, and all it has to offer.

Following a 17-year career at Fuji Xerox, Steve is now looking to follow his passion and make a positive impact. He is delighted to join Jamie Wansey and the awesome team at Student Horizons, in a role that will allow him to influence the lives of young New Zealanders.

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.

Emma is a Queenslander through and through and calls Brisbane home.

Her love of travelling started at a young age after a three month adventure around the world with her Mum when she was just 10! The experience was life changing in all of the right ways and Emma credits this experience as the most educational and influential of her life.

She has travelled to numerous destinations and has set herself the goal of travelling to every continent in the world and with only two left she is well on her way! Her travels have taken her around Australia and to Asia, Africa, North America and Europe with her favourite destinations including Thailand, Egypt, Paris, the UK and Iceland. Emma is always looking forward to her next adventure and cannot wait to explore more of the world.

Her love of travel and organisation led her to earning her Bachelor or Business with a double major in Events Management and International Tourism and Hotel Management from Griffith University. After graduation Emma went on to work for a professional conference organiser for a number of years before finding her way to the Student Horizons team and looks forward to providing educational travel experiences to others.

I was born in Tasmania, but moved around constantly with my military family until we relocated to Darwin when I was 15. Travel wasn’t something we had the opportunity to do while I was growing up, but we did sightsee extensively throughout Tasmania and Victoria. One of the best memories I had during my school years was a tour with my concert band, in which I played the flute. We travelled throughout Victoria for a week and recorded at the same time. I still have the tape, even though I have nothing to play it on!

After meeting my husband Dan and starting a family, we travelled up and down the east coast of Australia when the kids were little; snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, following the Rugby World Cup in 2003, driving through the outback from Canberra to Darwin and across to Adelaide, and a few short holidays to Cairns, Wollongong and Merimbula to visit family. We lived in Canberra, Adelaide and Darwin (again) before finally settling in Brisbane in 2009.

It has only been later in life that international travel opportunities started to present themselves. My first international holiday was a short notice booking for a trip to Bali, and since then I have also holidayed through Europe, spent my birthday in Prague, had a 4-week family holiday in the USA and Canada, where we enjoyed a -25 degree sleigh-ride on Christmas Day in Lake Louise, and took an amazing trip to Japan, visiting temples and snow monkeys.

In my spare time I’m a typical parent of 2 kids, which means I’m basically just a chauffeur. I also enjoy yoga and making soap from scratch. I have dream holidays planned for each season in various destinations, and hope to work through them all. My biggest travel dream is to spend 12 months in New York, to experience everything and every season it has to offer.

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.