About Us

Based in Northern California, Time Out was started by David Denman in 1985.

David saw a growing need for young people to pause in the headlong rush to college and their initial career to:
• take time out to step back and reflect
• gain perspective on personal values and goals
• search out learning experiences to complement traditional education.

Since 1985 David Denman has guided hundreds of students to set their own goals and develop their own plans to:
• travel widely across the USA and overseas
• intern and apprentice in various fields of work
• study and teach at home and abroad

DAVID DENMAN, Director In his 50 year career, David has taught at every level. Formerly Consultant on Education for the national organization of Quaker Schools and Colleges, David is an acknowledged advocate of young people. His lifelong commitment has been to nurture in them autonomy, responsibility, and self-esteem. His own four children distinctively exemplify those attributes. An independent educational counselor, David is acutely aware of the academic and developmental hurdles that young people must clear en route to success in college – and life. He serves families and their children all over the country and abroad, including those with special needs, "remembering always," as he says, "that every child has special needs." David is the co-author of a widely praised book about the developmental needs of young people and believes that more of them should take "time out" from what he calls "the frantic race to the college degree." Siena Sojourn embodies David’s deep convictions as well as his affection for Italy, the Italians and Italian culture. Widely read, a devotee of music and the arts, David is an avid runner, skier, bicyclist and hiker. His diverse interests, empathic sensibility and considerable humor enable him to relate easily with a broad spectrum of people. David has traveled extensively, especially in Europe, and each year leads extraordinary ski trips and "rite of passage" treks high in the Alps. David has a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and studied at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
CARLA FABIAN, Resident Director "Traveling intentionally gives one a deepened sense of one’s place in the world," says Carla, who seems to have been born to travel. During her years at Duke University, Carla spent a memorable summer in Florence, Italy, which kindled a passion for the land of her Fabiani ancestors. After graduating from Duke, Carla taught World Literature at Miami Country Day School in Florida and led student trips to the UK, the USSR, the Galapagos Islands, and to the Yucatan Penninsula. She then traveled for a year and a half in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, becoming fluent in Spanish. Later, Carla lived with indigenous families and coordinated community service programs and teaching internships for students in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kenya and Zimbabwe. She also traveled extensively in Africa and in central and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In all, Carla has spent time in nearly 40 countries. Hiking in the Andes, trekking in the Himalayas, walking the 450-mile Camino de Campostella across the top of Spain, and climbing to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro have taught Carla the joys of a life of action, and the importance of savoring life’s simple pleasures. Carla is ebullient, idealistic and deeply principled. She loves the people, beauty, art and la dolce vita of Italy. Competent also in Italian, she is an ideal mentor and an admirable role model for the young people in Siena Sojourn.