June Meeting Update

We’re getting close to our June meeting, so I wanted to send everyone this update. There is a lot of information here so please read this carefully, and let me know right away if you have any questions.

The meeting is Sunday, June 8th, from 2:00 to 5:00 P.M. at Goodman Middle School, located at 3701 38th Ave NW, Gig Harbor, WA, 98335. For those of you familiar with the building, we’ll meet upstairs in room 201-202. For those of you unfamiliar with the building, we’ll have volunteers available at the front door to assist you.

What you need to do to be ready for the meeting:

1. We’ll have our project presentations at the meeting, so you need to be ready to present. If you need any technology I’ll have a computer with a projector, plus a document camera we can use. Please arrive early (1:30) if you need to set up for your presentation. Some of you have not yet told me what your topic will be; please let me know right away.

2. We’ll hand out everyone’s bio sheet, but we can only hand out yours if you bring copies for everyone. I already have copies from the Wisconsin delegation, and I’ll send them ours once you turn yours in.

3. I’ve received everyone’s polo shirt, name badge, lanyard, and luggage tags, so we’ll be passing out those items at the meeting. Kelly and Andy, we’ll need to make other arrangements to get yours to you.

4. If there have been any changes to the information on the health form since you turned yours in (new medications, etc.) please bring a revised copy to the meeting. I’ve already received one by email, which is another way to get it to me.

5. At the meeting, parents will be asked to fill out an emergency contact form. It’ll ask for information such as contact numbers for your delegate’s doctor, and alternate emergency phone numbers in case of emergency (a close friend or relative), so please bring that information to the meeting.

6. We need two copies of your passport, just the page with your photo. We need these for two reasons. You’ll have one to use on the program for identification, and the second one will be used in case we need to have an emergency replacement. For that purpose, we also ask you to bring a second set of passport photos. They do NOT need to be identical to the one in your passport.

7. Please read, consider, and sign the “Success Contract” in the protocol handbook, and bring it to the meeting. We’ll have a little ceremony at the end of the meeting, where you’ll be asked to pledge to follow the contract, and receive your People to People pin.

8. For our service project, we’ll be collecting items at the meeting, so please bring them. Just leave them in your car, and after the meeting we’ll transfer them in the parking lot.

This meeting is very important. Your attendance (except for Andy) is, therefore, also very important. If you cannot make it for any reason please let me know right away. Your leadership team will be at a training meeting that morning, so please don’t email me or try to call me at home after 8:00 A.M. Sunday; I’ll not get the message until after the meeting if you do.

A Fun Contest!

Delegates, here is a challenge for you. We are a combined delegation, with students from Washington and Wisconsin. Here’s the deal: Make contact with a delegate from the other state. The object is to get someone from the other state to email a leader from your state's delegation, mentioning your name and an interesting fact about you.

For example: Sally from Washington contacts Suzie from Wisconsin, and asks Suzie to contact Charles Hall (delegation leader from Washington) to tell him she has heard from Sally, and mentioning an interesting fact about Sally. The more Wisconsin delegates Sally gets to contact Charles, and tell him Sally asked them to contact him, the more points Sally gets. Plus, Suzie gets points for participating.

Delegation leaders will keep track of everyone’s participation. You get two points for having someone from the other state contacting us on your behalf. You get one point for sending in an email entry for a delegate from the other state.

The five delegates with the most points will get a certificate which can be used for special privileges on the program, such as special seating on the bus, head of the line at dinner, or special requests for roommates at hotels. The purpose of this contest is to have delegates from Wisconsin and Washington getting to know each other before we leave, so contact as many delegates as possible!

Contest ends June 14 (one month before our departure) so get involved NOW by contacting people with interesting facts about yourself.

Questions about the contest? Email charleshall@yahoo.com right away. Your chances of winning depend upon your efforts at winning! No purchase is necessary. Decision of the judges is final. As your leaders we wish each of you the best of luck, but luck has far less to do with it than getting involved right now!

On-line Quizzes

How to find the on-line quizzes:

1. Log on to the On-Board web site
2. Along the top of the home page, click on the “Learning Center” tab
3. Find the “Certification” box on the left hand side of the new page you’ve opened, and click on the red “Certification” box
4. Follow the instructions

Updated information

1. Our flight information is posted on the People to People web site, and our calendar of activities should be posted there soon as well. Keep checking in for the latest information. By the way, the airline is Lufthansa, a German airline.

2. Only a very few of you have sent me your biographical information. Please send it in for approval as soon as you can. I also want to add that I’ve been very impressed with the ones I’ve seen so far!

3. Some of you still haven’t told us what you want to research for your project, and the presentations are coming up at our next meeting. Please, if you haven’t already, let me know what you want to research.

Update

People to People

1. Our next meeting will be Sunday, June 8, from 2:00P.M. until 5:00 P.M., at Goodman Middle School, 3701 38th St NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98335. For those familiar with the school, it will be held upstairs in my classroom. For those unfamiliar, there will be guides posted at the main entry.

2. Our flight information is posted on the Student Ambassador website. As you can see, we will be visiting the cities on our program in reverse order, starting in Athens and ending in Paris.

3. Also on the website is a “certification” page. There are three short quizzes you need to pass in order to be certified to travel. If you have any questions, please email me.

4. Ambassadors who will be traveling as 9th graders (current 8th graders) may also log on and take an on-line credit course. Details are on the website.

5. Projects will be presented at the June meeting. Some of you still haven’t let me know what you are researching. The time to let me know is NOW.

6. Please prepare a bio-sheet telling us about you. Please email it to me for approval, then please make a copy for each member of our combined delegation; we have 43 delegates and 4 leaders. Color pictures tell us a lot more! I would like to have these available to hand out at the June meeting, so please don’t put this off. I already have copies from the members of our delegation from Wisconsin, which we’ll also hand out at the June meeting.

Our May Meeting!

Our next meeting is next Sunday, May 4rd! Remember, this meeting is our “field trip” where we will practice our ambassadorial skills.

We’ll meet at Pierce Transit’s Tacoma Dome Station (http://www.piercetransit.org/tds2.htm) on the south side of the free parking garage, near the light rail (http://www.soundtransit.org/x4621.xml ) station. From there, we’ll take the free light rail train to the Union Station stop, and then walk to the Museum of Glass (http://www.museumofglass.org/ ). Our tour of the museum costs $4.00; please bring cash.

The museum can only accommodate our delegation, so parents, friends, and siblings please don’t try to come along. Besides, one major purpose of our field trip is to make sure we can move through an urban environment as a delegation.

We need to get on the train at 2:00 P.M. One of the ambassadorial skills we’ll be field testing is our ability to show up on time, which for People to People means 5 minutes early. So, please be sure to be there by 1:55. We don’t want to leave you behind! Our schedule has us returning to the Tacoma Dome Station/parking lot by 5:00 P.M.

If you have questions please email me at charleshall@yahoo.com or call me at 253-265-1208. If you cannot attend this important meeting, please let me know in advance so we can bring you up to date!

Our June Meeting

Typically, we like to set the date of our fourth, and last, meeting after we know our scheduled departure date. We do this because we usually receive delegates' polo shirts, lanyards, name badges, and luggage tags about 2-3 weeks prior to our departure date. That way, we can hand those out at the last meeting.

Well, now we know our departure date is July 14. Having a meeting any weekend in June or July runs the risk of conflicting with family obligations; graduations, weddings, Father's Day, etc. So what I would like from everyone is a list of Saturdays and Sundays which would NOT work for you during those months. Please email those dates to charleshall@yahoo.com as soon as you can, but please no later than March 23, so that we can get the last meeting scheduled. That way, you can start planning your summer!

Thanks for your help.