<p>I know this is the perfect forum to answer my question since there are so many parents of high-achieving students here. We received a letter from People to People World Leadership Forum today. I’m almost positive it’s a scam, but it had my son’s 5th grade teacher’s name, and she has nominated him for other things in the past. I just want to advise her that someone is scamming her, if in fact that’s the case. Anyone have any info. on this group? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>People to People is a legitimate program. Many parents on this forum have had kids who participated. It is expensive. The success of any given trip is largely dependent on each trip’s chaperones. My daughter went between 7th and 8th grade for three weeks, and I think it had a huge impact on her desire to travel abroad later on.</p>
<p>I remember People to People. I went to information session. It technically isn’t a scam, but the trips and stuff cost a boatload and they aren’t very exclusive, so there isn’t any prestige in them. Basically they simply send out a ton of fliers to people and hope they can get enough money.</p>
<p>Agreed… it’s not a scam but it’s not prestigious either (if you can fork out the $$$ then you’ll be ‘selected’ ). There are lots of these “give us a bunch of money and we’ll send your kid on a ‘prestigious’ trip to Europe” type programs out there. Some have reported good experiences with these trips, but overall I think it can be hit and miss. </p>
<p>We had a program run by our high school where the foreign language classes would take trips abroad with the logistics largely handled by a third party organization but the primary chaperone and leader being the teacher so we were more comfortable with that and it went well.</p>
<p>You should probably do a search , for a variety of opinions.</p>
<p>Here’s a few older threads</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/389887-people-people-ambassador-program-question.html?highlight=People+To+People#post4724342[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/389887-people-people-ambassador-program-question.html?highlight=People+To+People#post4724342</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/419834-people-people.html?highlight=People+To+People#post4931880[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/419834-people-people.html?highlight=People+To+People#post4931880</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/397847-people-people-student-ambassador-programs.html?highlight=People+To+People#post4725650[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/397847-people-people-student-ambassador-programs.html?highlight=People+To+People#post4725650</a></p>
<p>Thank you to all who answered. I did research and found mixed reviews. Also, a number of newspaper articles from different “smaller” markets, all containing suspiciously similar language.</p>
<p>Is this the program that recently had someone die on them in Japan because they wouldn’t take the child for medical treatment after vomiting blood? Just about all my kids’ friends have gotten “nominated” for this. Trust me, some I wouldn’t let out of the country!! If you want to spend a lot of money sending your child around the world by themselves, that is fine, but don’t think they are “specially nominated”. For the price they charge, you could probably take the family on your own…</p>
<p>Our son traveled to Brazil to play soccer through People to People and had a good learning experience. The level of soccer skills for the participants was mixed, ranging from good to poor. It is important for the child to understand that the trip is neither exclusive nor prestigious. The attempt to market People to People as such is a ploy I think they should drop. It is simply a youth travel option and as people have mentioned there are a lot of different programs out there. On the People to People trip, I thought it was good for him to let go of some of the cut throat competition emphasized by his club team. The coaches in Brazil were reportedly excellent and he fell in love with Rio (has become his favorite city in the world; is headed back to Brazil this summer for a language immerision program and plans to do a semester abroad in Rio fall of his senior year). He has traveled through a lot of different programs–high school, family, club soccer team, university, AmeriSpan. Each trip offers different experiences and I would hesitate to label any one as being better or worse than another. As an aside, the trip he took with his high school to Italy was the least favorite trip he has done. On the other hand, his brother’s trip to Russia last year with the high school was a huge hit with him. I think every trip is hit or miss in one way or another. That’s part of the fun of travel.</p>
<p>I concur with the other posters who say that the People to People program is legitimate. I do get the feeling that diversity, at least not socio-economic diversity, is a hallmark of this program. I’d be interested in hearing from parents whose kids have participated in people to People and similar programs if the participants are primarily upper middle class (the truly wealthy have other ways of keeping junior gainfully occupied) or do the programs make a sincere effort to include disadvantaged students?</p>
<p>I traveled with People To People to China. I really enjoyed the program and would go again, given the opportunity. Our group was pretty diverse and included many different races, interests, and backgrounds. I would say there was a range as far as a economic status is concerned, but probably not a broad range. I thought it was cool because we were able to do things that you would not ordinarily do as a tourist like visit local schools, live with a family, or talk with local government officials. Having said that, visiting China is a little different than visiting Europe as far as what you are allowed to see. We flew to several different places within China: Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Xi’an, and some smaller villages. I really learned a lot about the culture and it was definitely an eye-opening experience to see how some of the people still live. We had a tourguide from China who stayed with us the whole time, which was very helpful and the program took care of everything: getting visas, planning meals, transportation, etc. I’m not sure I would want to travel around China on my own. I would definitely recommend the program. I do wish it was a little more selective because a couple of the students probably should not have been there, but the teachers were great and took good care of us.</p>
<p>After speaking with my parents, I think I may have been a little off in my assessment of the students’ economic status. While a lot of the kids were definitely from middle class families, there were a couple of people from working class families. In fact, the town where we had our pre-travel meetings and where some of the chaperones and students came from was a working-class town.</p>
<p>TheAnalyst , our son went to Sweden on soccer and experience was completely opposite. They had minimal training with any coach. The team was set up as the patsies in a tournament with teams from around Europe with much higher skills. The coach that went with them dumped them after they lost the first round and they were on their own for the rest of the trip. They never told us how much all the extra trips to see other areas would cost. The trips were optional and if you know teenage boys, without supervision none signed up for trips, they spent the money in less academically approved ways. We would never recommend People to People unless you are very sure of the chaperons on your trip.</p>
<p>I travel frequently between the US and Europe and once on a summer flight from London to Chicago I had the unfortunate experience of being sat right in the middle of one of these people-to-people tour groups. They got off on a lot of peoples wrong foot by instantly wanting everyone to switch seats so that so and so could sit with so and so (the counselors were actually asking passengers to move around… much to everyone’s annoyance). I just calmly said that I had selected my seat during booking and would like to keep it. If it was an elderly couple that had been sat apart from each other accidentally I would have happily moved but really I couldn’t be bothered if was just a case of Sussie didn’t want to sit near Sally. </p>
<p>Anyway, I ended up sitting next to one of the counselors who, when I asked what this was all about, gave me this bit about how it was highly prestigious thing that students are selected for. However, over the next 7 hours of the flight the counselor spent most of the time yapping with another counselor as they filled out various ‘disciplinary reports’ for incidents that occurred during the trip including a report for sending at least one student home early after an alcohol laced party. Needless to say, by the end of the trip I didn’t really buy the whole ‘this is a highly selective and prestigious program’ bit any longer. I also recently read the news articles about the kid who died on one of their recent trips after, allegedly, having some serious medical issues essentially ignored by the staff until the situation had deteriorated to the point that the kid eventually died.</p>
<p>Singermom: I’m actually surprised by your son’s experience. We didn’t have to pay for any extra programs or anything like that. They were all covered in the program fee. I know the sports program is separate from the general program, but I know several people from my town who traveled with the sports program and none of them had that sort of experience at all. It should have all been covered:</p>
<p>rocketman: I guess that was sort of what I was alluding to about wishing they were a little more selective. There were one or two kids who had behavioral issues, but the teachers did handle it well. In my experience, parties and similar problems are issues no matter how selective (or not, in this case) the program is. I don’t understand why teenagers feel they can’t go two weeks without partying. I would never pretend the program is selective, but it can be very informative and fun.</p>
<p>Check it out before you do anything:</p>
<p>[Parents</a> File Federal Complaint over Son’s Death on People to People Tour](<a href=“http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/02/p2p_hill_ftc.html]Parents”>Compare 30 People to People International Student Travel Programs Reviews & Experiences (2024))</p>
<p>Our now high school sophomore daughter went with P2P this past summer to 6 countries in Europe and had the time of her life. It was a wonderful experience for her…great group of kids and wonderful chaperones.</p>