Chet grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and graduated from Hampden-Sydney College with a BA in History in 1990. He graduated with a MA in Geography from Appalachian State University in 1992, where he discovered a passion for teaching geography and history. In 1998, Chet was hired by Educational Field Studies to lead historical tours from Virginia to Pennsylvania, and later began leading trips northeast as far as Boston. He worked for Worldstrides until October of 2004, and then joined Academic Expeditions soon after that. He is now the Director of Educational Programming for all east coast trips, and still loves leading as many trips as possible. Four years ago, Chet met his wife Brigid, who he coerced into using her former experience as a travel agent to benefit Academic Expeditions.