Houston Chronicle Awards STA

School Tours a Top Workplace

by Lacy Saye

School Tours of America has earned the Top Workplaces 2022 Award from the Houston Chronicle

I have exciting news to share – School Tours of America has been named a Top Workplace by the Houston Chronicle! This award is based solely on employee feedback, and the fact that this is awarded at this point in juncture – makes it even sweeter. Keep reading to understand why, and what makes School Tours of America a great place to work.

FAMILY VALUES

STA is known to be a family owned and operated company headed by father and son duo, Frank and Lance Harvey. I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone as loyal as the Harvey’s. They truly care for their employees and the educators that travel with School Tours of America on their class trips. And that loyalty is reciprocated in kind. Family means you can be comfortable being yourself and speaking your mind, and that’s the culture STA brings.

Pictured family photo of Lance, Barby and Frank Harvey
Lance, Gracie dog, Barby and Frank Harvey

FLEXIBILITY

“Family always comes first.” Life brings challenges, and when in need, School Tours allows its team members time away to attend to those needs – no questions asked. You’ll also find constant messages of support from leadership and co-workers during difficult times.

TEAMWORK

Honestly speaking, working in the student travel industry the last two years wasn’t the greatest. Speaking for everyone at School Tours, COVID brought challenges we’ve never faced before, but it only made us stronger. When the pandemic first hit and things shut down, we had to run on faith and operate one day at a time, knowing these challenging times shall pass. With each challenge faced, we could only overcome the hand that was dealt together. Our Operations team became our customer service support, some team members were willingly furloughed (and now returned!), and our Houston Office’s sole mission became issuing client refunds. Teamwork does more than make dreams work, it helped us survive!

STA's Houston team gathers in unison with COVID masks on and Let's Go tshirts.
Houston office circa October 2020

COMMUNITY

We’ve celebrated many milestones together, personally and professionally: weddings, baby showers, birthdays. The most recent milestone - celebrating STA’s 20th anniversary! There’s encouragement to support healthy habits through company step and wellness challenges, plus a friendly football pool (I never win!). Days off to celebrate the Astro’s winning the World Series, doesn’t hurt either!

This is STA’s first award of this kind, but unlikely to be the last. We share a set of core values of ideas and beliefs that embodies our mission:

 
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