Friday, March 6, 2009

Saturday Star Spotlight

Our students are doing a lot of exciting things and we're looking forward to featuring their impresssive accomplishments every Saturday in our Star Spotlight.


We are proud to shine our Saturday Star Spotlight on Liz Dahl, our Travel Center faculty advisor.

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In January of 2008, Liz Dahl co-founded Boomeropia, a travel website for Boomers out of a frustration of not being targeted to appeal to her “fun” side.

“When I turned 50, AARP came knocking on my door in the way of a membership card. Not possible! I'm not retired or even thinking about retiring. Not long after that, my mailbox was full of ads for hearing aids, pharmaceuticals and burial plots. That did it - all these things will come to pass, but not now! So, I took the bull by the horns and decided I still wanted to have fun. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that all my friends and peers were feeling the same way.”

So Liz decided to do something about it. Having owned her own travel agency and PR firm, she went back to her passion and has now combined her knowledge and love of travel with her professional PR skills. Liz said, “It’s important for Boomers and Seniors to know they have choices…in travel, as well as in everything they do in life.”

When Liz was approached by Bill and Mimi Witcher to join the faculty of Computer School for Seniors and head up the Travel Department, she took one look at the quality of the virtual campus, read the mission statement and said, “Let’s do it. Let’s work together to empower and encourage Boomers and Seniors. I know I can expose them to ‘new worlds to explore’ both in the Campus Travel Center and at Boomeropia.”

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Liz started her first company, a travel agency, when she was in her early thirties. She was then approached by Phyllis George, a former Miss America and future First Lady of Kentucky to become her Chief of Staff and Press Secretary. She was also named head of the Kentucky Film Foundation. After the administration ended, Liz went on to form her own PR firm, Liz Dahl Enterprises and has been involved in this industry ever since.

Liz's track to the United States was a difficult one. Her father was in a concentration camp and she was born in a Displaced Person's Camp in Germany. The family came to America on a cargo ship from Europe and Liz keeps the photo of that journey on her desk as a regular reminder of her past and the opportunities that have been made available to her in this country. In fact, she is currently working on a movie of her parent's love story.

“If you are planning a trip,” said Liz, “make sure you visit http://www.boomeropia.com/ so I can provide you with great travel tips and show you some beautiful and fun places to visit. There's not a better education than travel, so let's take a trip!"

Liz is also the Faculty Advisor for the Travel Center on the Computer School for Seniors campus. (http://www.cs4seniors.com/)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just keeps getting better and better! Love the music with this subject.