The GRAB Insights
Perspective
GRAB began on the Gettysburg College campus in the mid-1990s, where it grew from a student wilderness program into the Office of Experiential Education. The mission was simple but ambitious: use meaningful experiences to foster personal and professional growth across the campus and beyond.
Wilderness experiences—including sea kayaking, climbing, backpacking, and mountaineering—were at the heart of that work. What began as a localized college program grew into an international operation, providing experiential education and personal and professional development opportunities for students, organizations, businesses, government agencies, and educational institutions. Along the way, GRAB developed a reputation for creating experiences that challenged people, expanded their perspectives, and connected learning to the real world.
Today, GRAB Insights carries that legacy forward in a new chapter. Our team includes former GRAB students and facilitators whose paths have taken them into law, medicine, accounting, education, business, and entrepreneurship. Though our professional lives have taken many different directions, we share a lasting passion for travel, adventure, and the power of experience to generate new insights.
With thousands of hours of collective wilderness experience and training behind us, we bring that expertise, curiosity, and commitment to thoughtful experiences to everything we create. For us, travel isn't simply about where you go. It's about how you engage with a place, what you discover about yourself and others, and what you carry forward when the journey ends.
Our mission is to connect people to self, place, and community through active journeys that spark curiosity, deepen engagement, and generate insights for the next chapter.
GRAB has always been about the people you meet along the way. What began as a wilderness program at Gettysburg College has grown into a community connected by decades of shared experiences, adventures, and learning.
Everyone has something to contribute. Everyone has something to learn.
The People Along the Way
John & Kathleen Regentin
John Regentin founded GRAB and the Office of Experiential Education at Gettysburg College, where he spent more than 25 years creating personal and professional development opportunities through wilderness and adventure experiences. Originally from the Washington, DC area, John and Kathleen now live in historic Gettysburg with their two children. John’s background in Adventure Based Counseling led him to develop wilderness experiences for a wide range of populations. One of his hallmark adventures was sea kayaking across the Baltic Sea from Stockholm to Helsinki. Today, he serves as Vice President for Experiential Leadership at FCCS Consulting.
John and Kathleen’s own travels have continued well beyond the wilderness. As a family, they have explored Ireland, England, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Malta, Peru, Greece, Italy, Belgium, and France—experiences that have deepened their appreciation for the ways travel connects people to place, culture, and one another.
Erin Howe & Marc Schuricht
Erin Howe ’00 first discovered GRAB as a Gettysburg College student, working alongside John to facilitate wilderness trips and leadership programs. She went on to build a career in education, first as a high school teacher and later as a program developer. She currently serves as a project manager for a research practice partnership.
Erin and her husband, Marc, live in Golden, Colorado, with their daughter. Their family embraces adventure close to home, spending time skiing, camping, backpacking, and biking throughout Colorado and the Mountain West, while also exploring destinations including Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, and Northern Ireland.
Our paths are different, but our roots are shared. We are parents, educators, professionals, travelers, and lifelong learners who believe that the experiences we have along the way can shape what comes next.
Along with the many other facilitators and friends who make up the GRAB family, we bring that experience to GRAB Insights. We don't simply plan journeys—we draw on the places we've been, the people we've met, and the lessons we've learned to help create experiences that are meaningful to you.
Wherever your next journey leads, we're here to help you find the trail.
