Greg Lemoine, an Abbot Pennings graduate of 1988, is a certified globe-trotter and  international teacher who is currently cruising somewhere off the coast of Western Africa.

To summarize Lemoine’s life is no easy task; he’s traveled to 60 countries, graffitied the Berlin Wall, played softball in Egypt and now co-hosts the International Teacher podcast with Matthew Judd.

After graduating from high school, Lemoine attended Appleton’s Lawrence University, where he majored in science and minored in German language.

After that, Lemoine earned his teaching degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, majoring in Elementary Education, minoring in ESL and ELL.

So far, Lemoine has taught at seven schools. In seven different countries. 

“How’s that?” he asked.

Currently, Lemoine is teaching at the Saudi Aramco Expatriate School.

Located in Dhahran, an administrative artery of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, the school looks to provide an English-language education to the children of Saudi Aramco’s employees.

In addition to English, Lemoine speaks Arabic, German, Russian and Spanish. He says he lives by Anthony Bordaine’s cultural adage: “Don’t be a tourist. Be a traveler.”

On his international experiences, Lemoine believes that visiting other countries broadens not only one’s love of the world but of one’s own country.

“The most significant change in me is in the love for our country,” he explained. “I am an ambassador, of sorts, everywhere I go.”

Reflecting on his time at Abbot Pennings, Lemoine shared that he was “always in the music scene,” recalling one particularly memorable experience.

“The Academy had some kind of pre-summer festival,” he said. “Our band, Melodia, played a short gig on stage, in front of the entire academy! Payment was one cooler full of Mountain Dew.”

“Pennings changed my life for the better,” Lemoine summarized.