Sabine Mohr – Director ISR Canada

Sabine Mohr is the Director of ISR Canada. When asked if she has small children she usually answers with a chuckle that she skipped that stage and went directly to having teenagers by the dozen as family. Always eager to speak of them with love & enthusiasm.

Born & raised in the medieval town of Erbach in the Odenwald valley of Germany she traveled extensively with her parents in her formative years. This and attending an English language exchange program in Malta instilled the importance of experiencing learning and immersion in another culture to a well rounded education. It was her job at STA TRAVEL (largest student Travel Company in the world) that would bring her to Nova Scotia, Canada in 1994 on a study tour & it was love at first sight.

She was enthralled by the complex beauty of this small seaside Province in the world’s second largest country. She learned it was here the first Europeans settled and where Canada would have its beginnings. Only 900km long & 250km wide it however had a coastline of 7,400 km. Surrounded by three distinct bodies of water, the bold North Atlantic, The Northumberland Strait (warmest waters north of South Carolina) and the wonder of the world, the Bay of Fundy with the highest tides in the world up to 17 metres was a hint of the diversity of this land.

Every 50 km she traveled she’d see this diversity come to life in the form of different topography of land, language, culture, arts & crafts. The names of the people and towns would reflect the mosaic of the original settlers and the people who presently still celebrate each others history as founders of their Province & Country. Here she would meet one of her best friends and be adopted into their Mic Mac family headed by a Canadian Aboriginal Elder who’s family were the first settlers of this land some 10,000 years ago.

Her single overwhelming impression however was the importance of education that was instilled in the young people from an early age. Easy with 11 universities, 25 post secondary colleges, and 511 public & private high schools to service a population of only 980,000 people. She also learned that they welcomed international students and actively were interested in recruiting them. They had made it a priority in their quantitative factor for a well rounded education for students and considered these students an asset to their educational environment.

With her head full of information and her arms full of literature on tourism and education and a new purpose in life she would return to Germany and set up an agency to recruit students. As the number of students increased, she realized that the missing factor in the equation to properly service her students and their parents was to hand over her sales to partner agencies in Europe and move to Canada to effectively service the students on a more hands on basis on the ground in Nova Scotia.

In 2000 she became a permanent resident of Canada and in 2005 a Canadian citizen fulfilling a dream she learned her grandfather had but not realized in his life time of immigrating to Canada.

And hands on she is! Sabine meets with the student coordinators for each school board before they arrive ensuring that not only the school but the host family is a match for the student. Sabine loves meeting each student as they arrive, keeping in touch with them by phone, personal visits and e-mail. The students soon learn they have a friend and confidence in Sabine in this new home away from home.

It is this hands on approach, the beauty & diversity of Nova Scotia, the safe environment, the small and intimate communities where one gets to experience both the endless outdoor adventure and teachers who really get to know their students both in and out.