Last year Isabel Belliard saw an Up With People show in El Paso, Texas, where she lived. So inspired was she to seek a job with the organization, she quit her job at a marketing firm, sold her car and has been on tour with the organization for approximately the past 10 months. “I just started a new life,” Belliard, a promotions representative, said.

She and Abby Hurd are staying in Lakeland as Up With People will be starting its next tour in February from Polk County. Traditionally starting in Denver, Colo., or Tucson, Ariz., it is preparing in Polk County this year because they started a partnership with Florida Southern College. The tour, with 130 students from 20 countries starts in America, then goes to Europe and then Mexico. Hurd and Belliard have been here since Oct. 1; they are seeking host families when the students arrive on Jan. 11.