It was 1981 and our founder, Mr. Driggs was attending Evergreen Junior High School in Utah, United States. Here Mr. Stelter, a social studies teacher, taught Mr. Driggs about the world and kindled a desire to learn more. Mr. Stelter instilled in his students an interest in current events, history and the world at large. In 1983, Mr. James Felt, a U.S. History teacher at Olympus High School made learning about history compelling and Mr. Driggs learned how the world impacted local events. These experiences, and a fondness for playing the world conquest game Risk over and over as a youth, provided a foundation for interest in global issues and events.
Years later in 1997, when the Internet was in its infancy, our founder published the initial version of the web site on the countries of the world. For many years he would “tinker” with the content, continually adding new features and material. During the first seven years, access was given free of charge. In 2004, in order to improve the site beyond his personal ability and to add even more unique, hard to find information, a small nominal fee was enacted.
The CountryReports you read today is the culmination of new content and features being added year after year. We anticipate further enhancements in our efforts to “pass the torch” ignited in 1981 with our members around the world today.
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire” – William Butler Yeats