The Center for Educational Adventure has been a provider and operator of Road Scholar programs since 1984. We are committed to being the preeminent provider of high quality, affordable, educational opportunities for older adults. The Center for Educational Adventure is known for its superior educational program content with field trips to support learning adventures. Types of programs provided for Road Scholar include: theater, arts, history, biking, kayaking, hiking, birding, week-long itinerary, culinary, and cruise ship extension programming. The team at Center for Educational Adventure work hard to ensure participants have a great Road Scholar experience. We believe learning is a lifelong process; sharing new ideas, challenges, and experiences is rewarding in every season of life.

Road Scholar is the nation's largest educational travel organization for adults. They offer 5,500 extraordinary educational adventures in 150 countries and 50 states for individuals dedicated to lifelong learning. Road Scholars are immersed in a variety of experiential learning activities, enlisting world-renowned faculty and local experts who offer insider access not available to most individuals.

Office Staff

Bobbie Duncan - President

Bobbie retired as Dean of Continuing Education and Economic Outreach at Georgia Southwestern State University where CEA's Road Scholar programs originated. She has worked with Elderhostel/Road Scholar to provide educational learning programs in the southeast region of the United States for over 28 years.   Center for Educational's Road Scholar programs spotlight area history, ecology and regional cuisine. Programming sites include eight states - Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina,Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and Virginia.

Bobbie Duncan, President -                

Terence Duncan, Vice President -

Shonda Harris, CEA Coordinator - 

Tiffany Ship - Program Coordinator

Group Leaders

  Tom Murray

Tom Murray is a graduate of San Jose State University but is a Southerner by choice, having spent more than 35 years in the South absorbing the culture, customs and history of the region. Tom specializes in coastal history with an emphasis on the sea islans of Georgia. Few people know and love beautiful Cumberland and Amelia Islands better than Tom. He has spent 15 years lecturing and leading Road Scholar groups to sites from the mountains to the sea.

  Carole Cloonan

Carole is a Certified International Tour Manager having traveled extensively in the US, the Caribbean on land and by sea as well as Eastern and Western European travel, living for periods of time in Portugal and Paris. She has experienced by sea those European countries bordering the Mediterranean and she lived on the North Island of New Zealand.
Carole is conversant in Spanish and Portuguese. She has also been a chef for private and corporate yachts worldwide, as well as on private estates and plantations, domestically and internationally.

 Gail Bell

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Gail Bell has been involved in the city’s business, civic and cultural community for many years, and has seen Atlanta grow to its present importance on the international stage. Gail loves connecting with visitors from around the world and has enjoyed her own travels from Egypt to Europe, Australia to China, and almost all 50 states. In addition to her 20 year career as an educational excursion leader, Gail has an interior decorating business and is an author escort.

 Lee Knight

Raised in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, Lee is a folk singer, story teller and outdoor leader, performing at concerts, workshops, festivals and schools. He shares his knowledge of the natural world leading hikes, canoe trips and guiding whitewater rafts. Lee has collected and shares Cherokee legends and plays the Cherokee flute and rattle, as well as the Native American drum. He also plays the five-string banjo, guitars and the Appalachian dulcimer.

Instructors

   Georgia Graves

Georgia Graves has developed and coordinates teacher training workshops on Georgia's sea turtles, shorebirds, marine mammals and coastal ecology for the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, one of 26 such reserves in North America. Georgia leads nature and history programs on Sea Island, St. Simons, Sapelo, Jekyll and Cumberland Islands, and works with Georgia's sea turtle conservation project.

     Ruth Miller

Ruth Miller, a graduate of Duke University, has lived all over America and journeyed throughout the world. As a Charleston historian and excursion leader, she enjoys tying local history into the American story and worldwide events. Ruth is the author and co-author of numerous books, including “Charleston Charlie — A Family Activity Book for Kids of All Ages,” “Touring the Tombstones,” and “The Angel Oak Story.” She is a member of the South Carolina Historical Society and the National Trust.

   Lee Knight

Raised in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, Lee is a folk singer, story teller and outdoor leader, performing at concerts, workshops, festivals and schools. He shares his knowledge of the natural world leading hikes, canoe trips and guiding whitewater rafts. Lee has collected and shares Cherokee legends and plays the Cherokee flute and rattle, as well as the Native American drum. He also plays the five-string banjo, guitars and the Appalachian dulcimer.

  Michele Johnson

Michele Johnson is an artist, librarian and journalist who lives on Sapelo Island, Georgia. She is the volunteer manager of Hog Hammock Public Library on Sapelo, and she also enjoys genealogy, gardening, and antiques. Michele is the author of Sapelo Island's Hog Hammock and Kindred Spirits: Family Legends & Childhood Memories, a collection of her newspaper columns.

  Tricia Buie

Tricia Buie makes history come alive through her work with Civil War reenactments and as a living history presenter throughout the Southeast, specializing in the lives of 19th-century women. She is a Coastal Georgia Historian for the Center for Educational Adventure, and is a volunteer docent for the Coastal Georgia Historic Lighthouse and Hofwyl Plantation. Tricia and her husband have personally researched and restored 6 historic homes, and they presently reside in a 108 year-old farmhouse.

 Ron Kurtz

Ron has been an Amelia Island resident for more than 20 years. After attending Hiram College, he graduated from New York University with a degree in educational theater. Ron served as the director of the Amelia Island Museum of History and wrote a highly regarded history of the island, now in its sixth printing, as well as a series of children's books. Ron has lectured on the history and architecture of the first coast for the Historic Preservation Trust as well as the Smithsonian Institution.

 Kevin McCarthy

Kevin grew up in Gloucester, Mass. and settled in Fernandina Beach in 1968. He spent 41 years sailing the waters of northeast Fla. and southeast Georgia. He holds a 100 ton master’s license and developed his knowledge of the wildlife and history exploring the waters that surround Amelia Island, Cumberland Island and St. Mary's, Ga. Generations of Kevin’s family have been shrimpers, and he shares with participants his knowledge of shrimp farming and the future of the shrimp industry in the U.S.

 Lynn Wadley

Lynn Wadley is a folk performer who makes music come alive. A past Florida mountain dulcimer champion, she presents six types of rare instruments in a program filled with songs and stories. A self-taught musician, Lynn has delighted more than 200 Road Scholar groups over the past ten years. She has taught folk music classes at Jacksonville University, John Campbell Folk School, The Mountain in Highlands, NC and many other workshops.

 Ann Marie Wilson

A resident of St. Simons Island, Georgia, Ann Marie Wilson has been leading Road Scholar groups for the last 10 years. Acquiring degrees in biology, forestry and secondary education while attending Clemson and Coastal Carolina Universities gave Ann Marie the perfect background for her birding and naturalist excursions. She owns and operates Driftwood Education Center, a residential science and environmental education center for youth from all over the Southeast.

 Dr. Daryl Black

Dr. Daryl Black is the executive director for the Chattanooga History Center and is a leading historian in the Chattanooga region. He has taught at numerous colleges — including the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga — and is an interpreter and member of the board of directors at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. A scholar and student of history, Dr. Black received his master’s degree from California State University and his Ph.D. from the University of California.

 Justin Strickland

Justin Strickland has been fascinated by trains his entire life. His first "railroad" job was with the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway at the age of 15, where he eventually became a conductor. Justin has also worked with the Southeastern Railway Museum, Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. He authored the only book dedicated to the Terminal Station in Chattanooga and has been interviewed for the railroad documentary "Tracing the Tracks."

 Dr. Richard Raichelson

An authority of the history of Beale Street and its importance to music, Richard Raichelson is the author of "Beale Street Talks: A Walking Tour Down the Home of the Blues. He is past president of the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors and is a voting member of the Grammy Awards academy of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Richard frequently presents programs and performs with the Last Chance Jug Band of Memphis.