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Kurt Lykins/Amy Gordon

Longtime resident and professor finds lifelong learning through international travels

Lessons Abroad

by

Westerville

Some people travel to relax or visit resorts, but longtime Westerville resident and Otterbein University accounting professor Kurt Lykins travels for the learning experience.

This summer, he reached his 50th country after visiting El Salvador, Honduras and Japan. While he set a goal in 2020 to travel to one country for each year of his age, he has enjoyed traveling long before that, having taken it up as a hobby in 1999.

Lykins has worn many hats throughout his career, including being the chief technology officer for Corporate One Federal Credit Union for 15 years, with his teaching career beginning in 2015.

Now, as a full-time professor since 2025, Lykins looks forward to more adventures while encouraging others to engage in both travel and lifelong learning.

A world of perspective

Lykins’ earliest travels began with a trip to France in 1984 during his sophomore year at Westerville South High School. One of his most pivotal experiences came almost 20 years later during a trip to Uganda in 2003.

“I went there with the feeling still that however we do it in America is the ‘right way’ of doing it. And what I found is everything is very relative and contextual,” Lykins says.

At the time, he was on a Federal Reserve committee discussing how mobile phones might be used to transfer money. He says the committee kept proposing reasons it couldn’t be done.

“I went to Uganda and in the middle of the Serengeti, we were watching people with flip phones transferring money back and forth, paying their bills,” Lykins says. “I came back to the United States and I said, ‘How is it that a developing country can figure this out, and we just find all the reasons not to?’”

Lykins says such experiences were humbling and eye-opening. He says learning about differences fueled his desire to keep traveling.

“When I was younger, I thought I was more the teacher, and I’ve changed that mindset to, ‘I’m always a learner,’” Lykins says. “I enjoy now sitting back and saying, ‘My way is one way. But there are millions of ways.’ And depending on where you are and when you are, there might be other, better ways.”

Beyond the brochure

One of the ways Lykins has deepened his learning experiences while traveling is through embracing week-long immersion programs.

In the summer of 2025, he did his first Spanish immersion program in Colombia, followed by Guatemala a few months later. This summer, he completed his third program in El Salvador.

Through private schools, he studied Spanish in a classroom setting and one-on-one sessions, learning vocabulary and discussing topics such as family and current events.

While he found his first program in Colombia challenging, he says the subsequent programs became easier.

“It’s amazing how some of it will come back to you,” Lykins says. “I think lifelong learning is all about, once you learn something, the next time you learn it, you learn it faster.”

During some trips, Lykins was able to stay with a host family, experiencing daily life while studying.

He hopes to do another immersion program in Central or South America in the future.

“It puts you in the deep end of figuring things out, but I like those experiences. It really gives you a sense of what the real day-to-day life, food and culture is like,” Lykins says.

International adventures

While Lykins’ trips are more regimented and destination-focused when he’s traveling with his wife, Amy Gordon, he often takes a spontaneous, experience-driven approach if he’s alone or with friends.

Though he’s been to countries such as Costa Rica on multiple occasions, he most enjoys exploring new places.

“My favorite places to travel are places that I’ve never been because those are new experiences,” he says. “There’s nothing wrong about going to some place you love, but how do you know that you won’t love (another) place more than where you’re going unless you’ve gone and experienced it?”

He believes some people avoid traveling out of fear that something will go wrong, so he enjoys sharing candid stories where he overcame challenges to help lessen that fear and pique others’ interest.

“The best stories are always the ones that didn’t go exactly as planned,” Lykins says.

For instance, he recalls trying to order lunch in a Shanghai fish market where nobody spoke English or searching for a hostel in Thailand at 2 a.m. with all the roads closed.

Overall, he says that trying something different always presents challenges but emphasizes being adaptable.

“Things are not going to be perfect, and the only things you can actually affect are your effort and your attitude. If you can keep those in check, everything else can be dealt with,” Lykins says.

A learning journey

While Lykins enjoys international travel, Westerville is home. He enjoys attending community events such as Uptown Westerville Inc’s Fourth Fridays and sharing travel stories with students.

“I always love coming back here,” he says. “While I like the excitement (of traveling), I always enjoy coming back home and finding my center again.”

In the classroom, Lykins incorporates lifelong learning into his curriculum, focusing on teaching students to become effective learners.

“If you can appreciate the process, that will help you more than remembering that the debits are on the left and the credits are on the right,” Lykins says.

He emphasizes adopting a growth mindset and recognizing failure as an opportunity for reflection rather than a personal shortcoming.

“As long as you’re open to it, you can learn from anything,” Lykins says.

Amanda Stevens is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at astevens@cityscenemediagroup.com.