How did Walz’s student travel programs operate — funding, partners, and how many trips actually took place?

1. Private business model: Educational Travel Adventures, Inc. created and run by Walz

Reporting states Walz and his wife founded a small private company, Educational Travel Adventures, Inc., in 1994 to coordinate student tours to China, and that Walz led those trips as part of his post–WorldTeach teaching and extracurricular work; contemporary coverage and biographies frame the activity as a private education-travel enterprise rather than a state program ^{[2] [3] [4]}.

2. Funding: at least one trip reportedly funded by Chinese government entities, otherwise mixed or unclear

House Oversight materials allege that Walz organized an Alliance High School trip to the People’s Republic of China where costs were paid by the Chinese government, and that allegation is central to the committee’s probe into his China engagements ^[1]. Other sources describe the company organizing “annual” student trips but do not publish a full accounting of who paid for each tour; publicly available summaries therefore document a definite instance of foreign funding while leaving the broader funding mix — parent fundraising, student fees, scholarships, private grants or corporate sponsors — unconfirmed in the records provided ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

3. Partners and contacts in China: educational institutions and state-linked organizations figure in reporting

Beyond the travel company itself, the public reporting connects Walz to Chinese academic and civic organizations: he served as a fellow at Macau Polytechnic University and spoke at events alongside leaders of groups the U.S. State Department later described as state-linked influence organizations, which raised questions for House investigators about the nature of his Chinese partnerships ^[1]. The oversight release specifically flags Walz’s engagement with the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, an organization the State Department identified as involved in influence efforts — a linkage cited to question whether some program partners had political motives rather than purely educational ones ^[1].

4. Frequency and scale: “annual” trips from 1994 to about 2003, implying a small series rather than mass-program scale

Multiple accounts state Walz coordinated or led annual educational trips to China from the company’s founding in 1994 until roughly 2003, which suggests a series of yearly trips over about a decade; those descriptions point to a modest, recurring program rather than an extensive institutional exchange with dozens of annual cohorts, but the sources do not enumerate a definitive total of student groups or participants ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}. Separately, the oversight summary notes Walz’s personal travel to China extended far beyond those student programs — he is reported to have visited China dozens of times overall — but that figure conflates many kinds of visits and is not a substitute for a trip-by-trip ledger of student voyages ^[1].

5. Competing interpretations and limits of the public record

Supporters portray the activities as teacher-led cultural exchange and part of Walz’s classroom outreach and WorldTeach credentials, framing the trips as legitimate educational programming run through a private small business ^{[2] [4]}. Critics, particularly the House Oversight release, emphasize foreign funding and relationships with organizations later flagged by the State Department as vehicles of influence, arguing that those connections require scrutiny ^[1]. The documents provided do not include financial ledgers, signed MOUs with Chinese entities, or a complete participant list, so definitive accounting of total trips, precise sponsors for each excursion, and contractual partner roles cannot be confirmed from these sources alone ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}.