David and Jordan Smith Share Remarkable Journey With TASIS Students

27 Feb 2025

TASIS The American School in Switzerland was honored to welcome Mr. and Mrs. David and Jordan Smith, the founders of Climate Advocates Voces Unidas (CAVU), to campus on February 24–26 for the third installment of the 2024–2025 TASIS Speaker Series.

For the past two decades, Mr. and Mrs. Smith have used video and photography to raise awareness of critical local and global issues related to climate change. Their work began in 2004 in Central America, where they used aerial cinematography and personal narratives to create advocacy films highlighting environmental degradation and mobilizing communities toward change. Their innovative approach to visual storytelling has won them an Emmy and earned them a place in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum for their pioneering use of aviation and film in conservation efforts.

Through CAVU’s Climate Innovation Challenge, the Smiths now teach students across the Americas and Africa—particularly in Indigenous and economically vulnerable communities—how to use storytelling to develop locally driven, culturally responsive solutions to climate challenges. Their work merges science, creativity, and advocacy, empowering young people to see themselves as agents of change.

In their fascinating address to the senior class in the Palmer Cultural Center on the evening of February 24, which can be watched in full above, Mr. and Mrs. Smith traced their journeys and explained how they arrived at the nexus of climate advocacy, storytelling, and education. 

Mr. Smith shared details of his extraordinary childhood and recounted his journey of rejecting law school and several high-powered career opportunities in order to pursue photography in Europe and Africa, where he witnessed significant historical events like the Angolan Civil War and Rwandan genocide. He learned to fly after moving to Nairobi, and his subsequent adventures included flying medical supplies to Central America after Hurricane Mitch and documenting endangered species trafficking. 

Mrs. Smith discussed her background in finance and law and experiences in Paris and Istanbul and noted that after meeting Mr. Smith, she encouraged him to combine his passion for flying with his desire to make a difference through film. They decided to marry and move to Costa Rica, where they established their organization, blending aviation and film to support conservation and humanitarian efforts.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith shared harrowing stories of flying near active volcanoes and encountering guerrillas in Panama. They highlighted their work in Central America, including mapping the Belize Barrier Reef and supporting community-led conservation, and also discussed their shift to short-form climate advocacy films, such as one that focused on methane emissions in New Mexico. Their valiant efforts have led to rule changes and recognition, including the aforementioned Emmy and spot in the Smithsonian, the latter of which Mr. Smith described as the greatest honor of his life. 

The guest speakers closed their address by reflecting on the importance of grit, hard work, and resilience in their careers and urging students to follow their passions and not fear failure. They then moved to the Casa Fleming living room to continue the conversation with a smaller group of students in a more relaxed environment.

Over the course of their three-day visit, Mr. and Mrs. Smith connected with students more deeply in Mr. Frank Long’s Photography and AP 2-D Art & Design classes and Mr. Thomas Jenner’s IB Environmental Systems & Societies class while also enjoying a dinner at a local grotto with the students and faculty members who serve on the TASIS Speaker Series Committee.

It was clear throughout the visit that the Smiths, whose two children have attended TASIS since their family moved to Switzerland last year, made quite an impression on all the students they came across.

“In harnessing the power of photography to pursue humanitarian aims across the globe, David and Jordan perfectly embodied the TASIS ideals of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness while inspiring students to see art as a force for change,” said High School English Department Chair Dr. Chris Love, who has guided the TASIS Speaker Series Committee since 2019. “They urged our students to embrace bold, risky, and meaningful lives, advocating for the courage to ‘fail better’. A number of seniors and student TSS Committee Members told me today that they didn’t even know a life like the Smiths’ was even possible. Two students told me they were inspired to pursue careers in which they’d take bold action to address environmental concerns. That David and Jordan are also parents of TASIS students made their visit all the more special: their message resonated as a global call to action rooted in a meaningful understanding of our TASIS community.”
 

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The TASIS Speaker Series draws from five fundamental elements of the TASIS identity—truth, goodness, beauty, international understanding, and humanitarian action—to provide students with a signature educational experience. Chaired by High School English Department Chair Dr. Chris Love, the TASIS Speaker Series Committee selects four speakers each year who embody the pillars of the program. The Committee strives for a variety of voices, backgrounds, and professions represented in each year’s group but ultimately selects speakers on the basis of their ability to enhance the intellectual and moral experience of the outgoing seniors and the community as a whole. The 2024–2025 TASIS Speaker Series opened on September 16–17 with a visit from award-winning architect Mino Caggiula. Zagato Atelier leaders Andrea Zagato and Marella Rivolta Zagato were on campus January 20–21, and OurLand Nature Reserve and Education Center co-founder Vijo Varghese will close down this year’s series on March 17–18.Although the TASIS Speaker Series focuses on students near the end of their TASIS careers, the program aspires to serve as an educative instrument for the entire division, creating opportunities for all High School students to interact with people and ideas of significance that are concerned with the world beyond the TASIS campus. Students enhance their intellectual experience through discussions, lectures, class visits, and film screenings centered on some combination of truth, goodness, beauty, international understanding, and humanitarian action. Above all else, the program conveys a clear message to students about what the School hopes for and expects from them after they leave TASIS.The influential program was initially made possible by a CHF 100,000 donation from TASIS parents Michael and Jane Grindfors to The M. Crist Fleming Endowment for International Understanding and Leadership in 2008. It remains an integral part of a TASIS education thanks to ongoing support from the TASIS Board of Directors and the excellent behind-the-scenes work done by a dedicated group of students and faculty members