Team Meeting

Team Meeting

Decorating for the Relay

Setting up for the Relay

Relay for Life Information

On May 31st, please plan on arriving at Bethpage High School by 5:3o and remember to bring a signed parent consent form.  You must have it in order to participate. 

Don't forget to bring:

Sleeping bag or blankets

Lawn Chair

Extra clothes, especially warm clothes

Umbrella and/or rain jacket (The event is held rain or shine)

Snacks and drinks

Bug Spray

Flashlight

Sun Screen

Cards, games, or other things to pass the time 

Money for snacks and games

Decorations for the tent

Please leave comments about your ideas for decorations and anything you are planning on bringing to the Relay.  If you have any questions, please contact one of the leaders.

Cell Phone Rental Information

Beginning this week, People to People will be teaming up with the cell phone distribution company CellHire to provide the rental of international cell phones to ambassadors during travel this summer.  Information about this can be found on the OnBoard site or the CellHire website.

Relay for Life

On May 31st, our delegation will participating in Relay for Life at Bethpage High School.  This event will be the delegation's community service project for this spring.  Relay for Life is designed to bring together people who have been touched by cancer, and relays are held overnight to represent the fact that cancer never sleeps.  This is a great opportunity to get to know your fellow ambassadors and leaders, and to raise money and awareness for a great organization.  

If you have not signed up yet, please visit Relay for Life Bethpage  to register.  Click on the Join a Team link and follow the instructions on the page.  You can pay online with a credit card or with cash at the event.  Remember that if you are not 18 yet, your parents need to complete the waiver form in order for you to participate.   Since there has to always be at least one member of our team on the track at all times, the more participants we have, the better.  If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact any of the leaders.

Feel free to leave any comments with ideas that we can use to help keep our team motivated throughout the event.  

Online Assignments

Listed below are all of the online quizzes that are to be completed before travel.  Remember that you need to score a 100% on each quiz in order to receive credit.  If you began a quiz but did not finish, your score will be listed a 0%, so be sure to log on again to complete it.  Please let any of the leaders know if you are having difficulties.  

1. Student Ambassador Certification Quiz 1
   
2. Student Ambassador Certification Quiz 2
   
3. Student Ambassador Certification Quiz 3
   
4. England Geography
   
5. England History and Government
   
6. England Religion and Art
   
7. England Daily Life
   
8. England Food and Customs
   
9. Ireland Geography
   
10. Ireland History and Government
    
11. Ireland Religion and Art
    
12. Ireland Daily Life
    
13. Ireland Food and Customs
    

Journal Assignment #3, Comparative Writing, and Letter to Yourself

In the first two assignments, you were asked to use Descriptive Writing and Reflective Writing to describe your feelings and experiences.  For the final Pre-travel assignment you will use Descriptive and Reflective writing along with Comparative Writing.  Comparative writing is probably what you most commonly use in school assignments when you are required to compare and contrast different topics.    

 For your final Pre-travel journal assignment, you will be writing a letter to yourself.  In this letter you will be asked to discuss your thoughts and feelings about your upcoming journey as a student ambassador.  Listed below are some questions that you may want to answer in your entry, but feel free to discuss other topics as well.

• What are you most excited about?
  
• What are you scared about?
  
• What do you think will be your favorite activity or part of the program?
  
• In what ways do you think you will change?
  
• What do you think will be the hardest thing for you to deal with while traveling?

Journal Assignment #2 and Descriptive Writing

In your first Journal Assignment, you used reflective writing to discuss feelings and thoughts about your journey.  In this assignment you will be focusing on the Descriptive writing style.  Descriptive writing requires you to use all of your senses to paint a vivid picture for your reader.  When using descriptive writing, you will discuss what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch.  Some of these things are easy to include, but some will require you to use a little creativity.  Good luck and please let me know if you have any questions.

Journal Assignment #2

 Please select one of the following topics for your entry, and remember to use all five of your senses.  Your entry should be 3-4 pages in length, and should be written in the Pre-Travel section of your journal.

 

• Describe in detail life in your hometown.  You may also describe your hometown form the perspective of someone who is visiting for the first time.
• Describe in detail a scene from your school.  (i.e. the cafeteria, gym, study hall)
• Describe in detail a room in your home.
  

Journal Assignment #1

Before the next meeting, you will need to make your first entry in the Pre-Travel section of your Travel Journal.  This section begins on page 9.  For this entry, please include answers to the following questions:

• How do you feel about being a Student Ambassador?
  
• What does it mean to act "Ambassadorially?"
  
• What are your goals for being a Student Ambassador?

Your entry should be about 3 journal pages in length.  This is the first of three pre-travel entries, so leave room for the other assignments.  Please review the information about reflective writing, and let Rebecca know if you have any questions.

If you have not yet received the blue travel journal, please complete the assignment on a separate sheet of paper.  

Academic Journal and Reflective Writing

The Academic Travel journal is more than just a book that you are required to write in as you travel.  It's a living record of your journey and your experience.  It is a forum to chart your growth as a Student Ambassador and as a citizen of the world.  Furthermore, you will be able to look back at this journal and be glad you have a written record to supplement your memories of the experience.  It will help you recall not only the things you did and the places you saw, but how you once thought about the world, and how you have grown.

Your journal should be written using "reflective writing."  When writing in the reflective style, you are writing about your perceptions and feelings of what you experience.  You will write about your expectations and how your experience compares to that.  

Reflective writing should be personal, but this does not mean that the topics should be personal.  Reflective writing is personal in that you share your own insights about travel and the activities you will be doing.  You should not write about personal topics like romantic relationships, clothing choices, or other irrelevant subjects.  Remember, you will be sharing this information with other members of the delegation.  Personal topics like those are more appropriate for your personal journal.

Here are some questions to think about when reflective writing in the academic journal:

• How do you feel about this topic or activity?
  
• What does it make you think?
  
• How are you affected?
• What are some alternative viewpoints that you now have as a result of this?
  
• How has your thinking or feeling changed as a result?
  
• What are some questions you still have regarding this topic?
  

Thank you for a great first meeting!

Thanks to everyone for making our first meeting so productive and successful.  If you have any questions or problems, please do not hesitate to contact any of the leaders. 

Email addresses-   If you visit the Community section of the Onboard site, you will find the leaders' contact information  and a list of email addresses for all the ambassadors in the delegation.   

Online Learning Center- If you are having problems with signing on to Onboard or accessing the online material, be sure to let one of the leaders know as soon as possible.  Before the March meeting you will need to watch the videos and complete the quizzes for England.  You will also need to complete the first Ambassador Certification Quiz.  This information will be necessary for our next meeting.  Once you have completed the quizzes, remember to print a copy of the results summary page.

Departure date

The departure date for our delegation is July 12th.  

Only 156 days until we leave!

Welcome to the Delegation!

Congratulations on being selected as a Student Ambassador!  This summer our delegation will be participating in the British and Irish Heritage program.  Over the next several months as we prepare for our journey, this site will be the homepage for our delegation.  It will contain updates, links, and information that will help prepare us for our journey to England, Ireland, and Scotland.

Welcome to the delegation, and all the leaders look forward to seeing you at the meeting on February 9th.