Curiosity has taken Mike and Mary Kielkopf all over the globe.

The couple, who met while studying at The University of Iowa, has traveled to five continents, 41 countries, and taught students from nearly 100 nations in multiple overseas posts.

Both were teaching at Iowa schools after graduation when they decided it was time for an adventure.

“We loved our jobs and everything else in Iowa, but we wanted to do something different for a couple years, to live in another culture, and do some traveling,” said Mary Kielkopf (BA ’75, MA ’81). “We enjoyed it so much that we have taught overseas for 11 years and are returning again this fall.”

The journey began in 1975, when Mike (BA ‘72, MA ’77), a UI baseball player, was selected to join a team of U.S. athletes to play against provincial all-star teams and the national team in South Africa. He played baseball on weekends and taught high school English in Johannesburg during the week for a year.

Mary led a class of 28 first graders, many of whom had recently fled civil war in Mozambique, and was asked to coach the South African school’s netball team.

“I had never heard of the game and was reading the rule book on the way to the game,” Mary remembered. “I guess I quickly learned that in education you have to jump in and be flexible and give it 100 percent.”

Life outside of teaching and sports was complicated as well.

“The year in South Africa was difficult, but educational beyond words,” Mike said, explaining that he and Mary observed South Africa’s Apartheid first-hand, witnessing separate and unequal facilities in post offices, restaurants, schools, public beaches, water fountains, and phone booths.

“We felt like we were living through the 50s and 60s in the States,” he said.

But learning about different experiences and challenging themselves to understand a different culture appealed to the Kielkopfs.

“You go outside your comfort zone and you learn a lot along the way,” Mary said.

The Kielkopfs returned to the United States in 1977 and spent several years attending graduate school, teaching, coaching, and starting a family.

“In 1992, Mary and I felt in a rut, so we applied for Iowa’s teaching exchange program with Australia,” Mike said.

They were unable to locate matches in Australia, so the Kielkopfs began investigating other international teaching opportunities on their own. In 1994, they attended an international teaching fair at the University of Northern Iowa, where they spoke with representatives from The American Community School of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

“Going to the fair, we had done exhaustive research and decided we’d go almost anywhere except the Middle East,” Mike said. “And the Middle East is exactly where we went, and stayed for nine great years.”

Mary said that despite the couple’s initial reservations about living in the Middle East, they learned an important lesson there.

“People everywhere are basically the same,” she said. “They want to live in safety and love and care for their families.”

Mary, who earned her master’s degree in special education, founded and directed The American Community School’s Optimal Learning Program.

The idea of Optimal Learning is to match students’ diverse needs with the proper teaching to best meet those needs,” Mary said. “One component was English as a Second Language, one was a remedial reading service, one was for mild learning disabilities and other mild disabilities, and one was to meet the needs of the gifted.”

Mike taught high school English and journalism.

Danielle Khoury, who was in Mike’s classroom as a junior and senior in high school in 2000 through 2002, remembers “Mr. K.” as, “definitely the best teacher I ever had.”

“He really cared about and helped his students, while allowing them to think for themselves,” she said. “He gave us the room to grow and express ourselves, which was really nice.”

After their son, Matt, graduated from high school in 2003, the Kielkopfs decided it was time to leave the United Arab Emirates. They spent the next year at the Kiev International School in Ukraine. Mike again taught high school English and journalism while Mary taught fourth grade.

Ann Marie Bicknell taught third-grade students in Ukraine and worked directly with Mary through the school’s reading program. She said two words describe Mary’s work: flexible and caring.

“On a daily basis, Mary showed the true spirit of teaching,” Bicknell said. “Mary was there for the students and that is all that mattered.”

When the Kielkopfs returned home in 2004, Mike accepted a one-year contract as a visiting professor at Jacksonville University in Florida. Last year, the couple moved to Casa Grande, Arizona, where Mary served as a special education teacher for kindergarten through second graders. Mike spent the year working on a book, KINNICK—the novel, which explores the life UI football legend Nile Kinnick might have lived had he survived World War II.

But the international journey continues for the Kielkopfs. This fall they began their twelfth year of overseas teaching when they ventured to Valencia, Venezuela, where Mike is chair of the English Department at Colegio Internacional de Carabobo and Mary teaches at an elementary school.

“The opportunity to see so much of the world and to meet such a collection of interesting people has been an amazing experience,” Mike said.