baylor alumni travel

Dear Alumni and Friends, 

The Baylor Alumni Association is pleased to partner with Orbridge to offer our alumni exceptional travel opportunities—a combination of exclusive itineraries, deluxe properties or ships, knowledgeable expedition leaders, and the company of fellow alumni. 

With special features and unparalleled access to distinguished locations, you will discover unforgettable places, people, and cultures, and enjoy experiences that will enrich your understanding of our diverse and wonderful world. Whether close to home or far away, on land or by sea, your next adventure is waiting! 

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Baylor alumna shares stories, lessons from spontaneous travels abroad

Thomas Moran | Arts and Life Editor

One evening in October 2016, an idea crossed the mind of Baylor alumna Julie Copenhaver that would change her life forever. After a successful start to her career with the Baylor Alumni Association and later the Office of Career and Professional Development, Copenhaver found herself at a crossroads. She could either continue on her current path or she could pack up and travel the world with her camera in pursuit of a more fulfilling life.

“I was on my couch in Brazos Park Apartments,” Copenhaver said. “I was sitting there, and I did have an epiphany moment, which was absolutely the coming together of the past, present and future in the thought of ‘What am I doing with this? I know I can do more.’”

With her longtime passion for photography and a desire for adventure, Copenhaver began to consider for the first time the cost and benefits of quitting her job, putting her belongings in storage and traveling the world with her camera.

“The fear has been there, but I was more fearful of basically staying stagnant and not doing something with my life,” Copenhaver said. “I knew I could do more, and so the desire and the will and the curiosity to do something more was bigger than the fear.”

Before making a decision, Copenhaver reached out to many in the Waco photography and design communities for counsel. Among them was Adjunct Professor of Media Photography Rod Aydelotte.

“When Julie first told us the idea of quitting her job, she reached out to a lot of people to see what feedback she’d get,” Aydellote said. “Everybody said just do it because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We thought if she didn’t do it, she’d have too many regrets.”

Having saved up about a year of salary, she quit her day job in July 2017, packed up her belongings, began a blog called Workday Wanderlust and headed out on the first leg of her journey of undefined length. For two weeks, Copenhaver hiked around Scotland with friends before visiting Ireland and England by herself.

At one point in Ireland on the Cliffs of Moher, Copenhaver ran into Baylor students who recognized her Food for Thought shirt.

Soon after the trip, Copenhaver set out on the second leg of her journey, consisting of two road trips. The first involved a 9,000 mile round-trip drive up to Maine to see the Northeast in the fall, a trip on which she learned many lessons.

“What I learned is as you’re driving and traveling, if you see a shot, turn around and go get it,” Copenhaver said. “Because I’ve learned that, if you keep going and think, ‘Oh, I’ll come back and get that later,” no you won’t. You’ll be on some totally different road somewhere else. If it captures your attention right there, stop and get it. It’ll be worth it.”

The second road trip involved a long roundabout trip, from Texas to Colorado and back. After a few more mini trips, Copenhaver began the next international portion of her trip which started in Hawaii and paused in New Zealand and Australia. The primary lesson she learned on that trip was to take more pictures of people, Copenhaver said.

“People don’t want to see that back of people’s heads in a crowd,” Copenhaver said. “Walk to the front and get in front of them and take their photo. Confidence is key. Fake it until you make it. I try to be polite about it and act like you know what you’re doing. Just own it.”

Copenhaver spent New Years in Sydney — something she had heard was quite the celebration.

After returning from her trip, Copenhaver had a quick turn around before heading out again to the Netherlands, France, Germany and Switzerland. With countless stories from the trip, there is one that stands out from the rest — Copenhaver was strangled in Amsterdam.

After making friends with some of the people staying a hostel with her, Copenhaver decided to go out on the town together to see the Red Light District safely. The night started well, but quickly took a turn for the worse when a man in the group started acting oddly.

“All of the sudden he started acting quiet and then became enraged,” Copenhaver said. “The rest of the girls were separated from us … We were walking down this alley. It was like a switch flipped. He snatched my wrist and immediately put me in a choke hold.”

She jabbed him in the wrist with her elbow, stopped on his foot and dug her nails into his arm, Copenhaver said. He finally released and she ran from him and jumped into a crowd, at which point a bouncer from a nearby bar grabbed him and stopped him. Though it was a frightening experience, it made for a great story and blog post, which caught the BBC’s attention last week.

“A friend from Austin contacted me, and said, ‘Hey, they’re doing a call for solo female travelers’ stories, and here’s the email address,’” Copenhaver said. “I sent a little blurb about who I am and where I’ve been. They immediately responded and said, ‘Oh my gosh, this is crazy. We’d love to know more. Are you free for an interview today?’”

By the end of her trip, Copenhaver had taken 67,000 photos, not including the 9,000 she took on her recent trip to Morocco and Kenya.

During her excursion to northern Africa, she visited a few major cities and encountered cultures she had never experienced previously, Copenhaver said. The biggest difference she noticed was the treatment of women who were afforded far less social privilege than men.

“Every time I tried to take a photo, the women and children would tell me no,” Copenhaver said. “There were so many wonderful photos that I either missed or couldn’t get.”

Looking forward, Copenhaver is continuing her journey next week on a trip to the Bahamas. After that, she is hoping to visit Greece.

“Julie is probably one of the most courageous, considerate, positive, people I know,” Aydelotte said. “It takes an extraordinary person to change their life like that.”

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Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport terminal project nears completion

The Palouse’s new air travel hub is nearing completion and set to open to the public later this month.

The Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport’s new 47,000 square foot terminal is opening May 22 after two years of construction . The $92 million project includes a brand new terminal nearly six times larger than the existing structure, as well as an additional 4,500 square foot expansion debuting later this summer.

Airport officials hosted a pre-opening tour of the new facility for Palouse-area media on Tuesday.

The new terminal includes capacity for three ticket counters, two TSA screening lanes and three rental car counters. Private charter security screenings will also be available in August with the completion of the western expansion. Passengers arriving into Pullman will no longer have to brave the weather conditions outside, and will instead pass through a modern security gate inside the terminal building.

In spite of the changes, Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport Board Chair and Pullman Mayor Francis Benjamin said the security experience is still likely to be the fastest passengers have experienced with air travel.

References to the Palouse and its institutions of higher education will be evident throughout the new airport. Artistic depictions of the Palouse punctuate each ticket counter, while Washington State University and University of Idaho iconography will be visible throughout the site. Glenn Johnson, longtime Pullman mayor and voice of the Cougs , welcomes visitors to the terminal and provides pre-boarding instructions.

WSU and UI, both heavy users of the airport, provided a joint $1 million in support for the project in 2021, with the cities of Pullman and Moscow contributing a further $2 million each.

Art Bettge, vice-chair of the airport board, noted during a tour of the facility that between the new terminal and the runway project completed in 2022, the Palouse has seen $250 million in investments for a local cost of about $18 million. The lion’s share of the two project’s funding has come from federal sources.

Unlike most airports, summer represents a slowdown for the airport, giving staff time to adjust to the new facilities before the number of flights is expected to pick up in the fall. The airport currently offers two flights to Seattle daily through Aug. 15, with that number rising to five or six thereafter with the addition of a daily flight to Boise. Additional destinations are also being considered.

The new terminal includes seating for upwards of 160 people, an outdoor seating area, a service animal relief area, and space for concessions both pre- and post-security screening. Approximately 70 people work at the airport, with additional staffing needs likely once the new terminal is fully online.

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