Who We Are
Built by educators. Rooted in Chile.
Southern Classroom was co-founded by two educators who have spent decades designing experiences that connect international students with the depth and complexity of Latin America.
Together, we bring more than four decades of experience in international higher education. Throughout our careers, we've grown in the shared conviction that the most meaningful learning happens when academic rigor and genuine cultural immersion work together.
Before co-founding Southern Classroom, Karol led international relations offices at two of Chile's leading universities, the Universidad Santa María and the Universidad Catolica del Norte. In these roles, she built partnerships across four continents and designed programs rooted in curriculum integration, institutional innovation, and South–South cooperation.
Pilar spent over 20 years directing programs in Chile for Harvard University and the Consortium for Advanced Studies Abroad (CASA), creating experiences that wove together intellectual depth, field-based learning, and personal transformation.
Our roles at Southern Classroom reflect our complementary strengths: Karol collaborates closely with partners in the planning process. We start with our partners program objectives and build out our itinerary from there. Pilar leads the human experience, cultivating the conversations, encounters, and moments of genuine connection with Chile that participants carry long after they leave.
What unites us is a belief that international education, done well, should be disorienting in the best sense. It pushes participants to think differently, sit with discomfort, and come back changed. Southern Classroom is the program we each spent two decades preparing to build.