Pete McBride: Our Shared World

A native Coloradan and global storyteller, Pete McBride was a natural fit as a plenary speaker at the NAFSA 2022 Annual Conference and Expo in Denver, Colorado. McBride is a self-taught photographer, filmmaker, writer, and public speaker, and he’s spent the last two decades traveling to more than 85 countries telling stories of people and places, from Mount Everest to the Colorado River in his home state.

International Educator spoke with McBride before his plenary talk in Denver about the lessons he’s learned in his extensive travels, his most recent project about the world’s silent places, and the complexities of our shared world.

Editor's note: This interview has been edited and condensed.

In college you were an exchange student in Mexico. How did that come about, and what was your experience like?

I went to Dartmouth College, and they have a very well-known language program. You either test out of it or you have to do a year of foreign language. They encourage you to do an abroad program. I did Spanish and applied to [programs in] Mexico and Spain, and I ended up getting into the Mexico one. Not my first choice. I thought it was this little industrial city north of Mexico City, but it was totally magical. And that’s where I ended up. By weird hand of fate, I’m allegedly related to a woman [from there who was] a famous revolutionary. I’ve written articles about it since in National Geographic. I couldn’t prove it without