WORLDSTRIDES ACQUIRES Accent Travel Group
 
  
Charlottesville, VA, May, 2008 – WorldStrides, an accredited supplemental education school offering educational student travel programs in history, science, and the arts to middle- and high-school groups, has acquired Accent Travel Group, the United States’ leading provider of international study programs for graduate and undergraduate business students.  The partnership, effective immediately, will give both companies the opportunity to expand their existing travel programs and continue to foster their reputations as the leaders in their respective fields.  Leveraging their longstanding business relationships and esteemed reputations, the two companies look forward to a shared future of delivering consistently well-executed educational travel programs.  Accent will continue to conduct business with its current Philadelphia-based management team and staff and through its long-established industry relationships to deliver best-in-class travel programs geared towards the adult student market.  “Both WorldStrides and Accent share a common mission to enrich students’ lives through experiential travel.  I am proud of our shared values and am excited for the opportunities that this merger will bring to our organizations and our customers,” said Jim Hall, President and CEO of WorldStrides. Adds Earl Grossman, President of The Accent Travel Group, “Accent’s customers will benefit tremendously from the depth of investment WorldStrides has made in perfecting its technology, safety, and program management systems.  Such support will enable Accent team members to focus on continuing to deliver customized programs tailored to the goals of each university program.” 

About WorldStrides
WorldStrides, founded by a middle-school teacher in 1967, is the oldest and most trusted student travel organization in the country and is committed to providing inclusive, rewarding, fun, easy, and educational travel experiences for students and teachers.  The Charlottesville-based company employs over 400 full-time employees in 15 offices around the United States and offers educational programs focused on history, science, and the arts to destinations across the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Europe, and Asia.  Due to its exceptional accredited status given by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS), WorldStrides is the first organization of its kind to be a supplemental education school.  In total, about 200,000 students from across the nation travel with WorldStrides each year.  Accent Travel Group is the second acquisition WorldStrides has completed in 2008.
 
About Accent Travel Group
For 32 years, Accent has specialized in coordinating travel programs for college business students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Since its inception in 1977, Accent has been the forerunner in providing international study programs for graduate and undergraduate business students and has grown to be the largest company in the industry. This year, Accent will coordinate over 100 travel programs from some of the most prestigious MBA programs in the world. Over 3,500 business students will travel with Accent this year to destinations around the globe. Accent is a division of WorldStrides, WorldStrides, the oldest and most trusted student travel organization in the country.

For further information about WorldStrides and employment opportunities, please visit www.worldstrides.org.