<p>Every year we have posters asking questions about the Student to Student Ambassador Program. Some students have attended and enjoyed the experience and others claim it is a scam. From recent information, it is clear that the program is a money-making venture using deceptive information to lure in unsuspecting students with more concern for appearances and making money than the safety of their charges.</p>
<p>They are being sued over the death of a student while on their program – and if you read the article (there are multiple articles about this) I don’t see how they have any defense. They ignored his repeated requests for medical attention, even after he had been vomiting blood for hours and had been sick for days. They didn’t even notify the parents he was ill until he was brain-dead. Talk about neglect! They did take the time, however, to call his parents from Japan to let them know he broke the rules by holding hands with his girlfriend.</p>
<p>As a parent whose kids do many different summer programs, it reinforces my belief that you not only need to check out the programs (and that doesn’t always work – they are good at hiding the bad stuff) but make sure you child has a method of contacting you (cell phone, free 800# to home, calling card) and knows that no matter what other adults tell them, it is always ok to call home.</p>
<p>Another link regarding some issues with the People to People Ambassador Program:</p>
<p>It definitely is not selective; my son got an invitation on stationery with all the president’s names on it asking him to come play soccer in Austria. Since he has never expressed interest in soccer or Austria, I have no idea what kind of mailing list they bought his name from. But I put the letter on my refrigerator!!! I do know kids who went on their trips and had a great experience, though.</p>
<p>I am so sorry to hear of a child’s death, but I must post my positive experiences with the program. My daughter has gone on 5 trips and loved every moment. Of course you should check out the teachers who go with each delegation because each group is different. On one trip a few kids got a stomach flu and a doctor was brought to the hotel that evening. And I received a phone call to tell me my daughter did indeed become sick but was fine. My daughter brought her cell phone and was able to text me almost every day. I think it is up to the parent to decide if a child is healthy enough to go on this type of trip. I can’t believe every quote in the article because a lawsuit is involved and I would have to read more. I just needed to get this positive message out before everyone takes this at face value.</p>
<p>I think it is well established that the program is not selective, that many students attend and enjoy the experience and that it can be expensive, depending on what the family can afford.</p>
<p>However – I do question the claim of this company of having an excellent safety record and the instructions that they provide the adult leaders. Clearly something went wrong. </p>
<p>Even if you can’t believe every quote in the article, even one or two quotes is enough to convince me that something went terrible wrong and as the group in charge, People to People is responsible.</p>
<p>I hope my mom doesn’t read that- she is giving me grief because D is going to Africa-Her program is well chaperoned and has made 5 trips to Ghana, has been operating for 10 years , although I can’t speak for the medical facilities, because those are pretty much “rugged”.</p>
<p>I don’t blame the parents for holding the program liable though for their employees negligence</p>
<p>I was on a flight from London to Chicago a few summers back and got stuck in the middle of a mob of these people-to-people folks flying back to the US. They were seriously annoying. I sat next to one of the councellors who seemed to spend most of the flight filling out ‘discipline reports’ about events that had happened on the trip. I wasn’t terribly impressed, although of course all I saw was the plane trip.</p>
<p>Most of these programs will ‘accept’ the application of anyone who can foot out the $$$.</p>
<p>I am horrified–even if only 1/10 of what the family says reflects fact it is horrifying. There is absolutely no excuse. Why weren’t the parents called when he first became ill, days beforehand? They should have been called when his blood sugar was low and when he got food poisoning. They should have been called later when he fainted and started vomiting blood. They should have been called when the boy said he had altitude sickness and was told to return to his hotel room, without medical attention, where he proceeded to vomit blood for hours, declining until he lost consciousness. According to the article, it was only after he was found unconscious in his room that his parents were called and he was taken to the hospital.</p>
<p>My daughter was in a swim club in the 8th grade. Each following year we’ve received the invitation to join this group, with a lot of glowing praise as to my daughter’s highly competitive swimming ability and prospects for Junior Olympics. She has never swum in any sort of competition back then nor in the last 4 1/2 years.
I knew from that wording that this was a money making venture.
I can appreciate that some derive a great deal of enjoyment and experience from these groups, but with this tragic news I’m appalled and would think twice about sending a kid for any reason. It’s absolutely horrifying.</p>
<p>Really tacky of them to be recruiting babies who died twelve years ago and pretending it was on the recommendation of a teacher…those marketing techniques raise red flags about everything else.</p>
<p>People to People is a pretty established and well-known program, although in no way prestigious. Be concerned about your wallet and your child’s safety with these profiteering programs</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this. My Ds also received a solicitation from the group and other similar ones.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine any organization or individual acting like that purported in the article. It also illustrates why one needs to figure out how to take care of themselves and not rely too much on others - in this case dialing the Japan equivalent of 911 or finding a hospital himself. </p>
<p>That is incredibly tragic and I feel so bad for his family. And good for them in seeking justice- I hope they kick their butts. </p>
<p>And how about a more objective and less sensationalist version? One wonders why or how he or his girlfriend or other friends on the trip did not call an ambulance. Why no attempt for comments by P to P. Why the graphically sad details. Why they insist another sham is the Eisenhower link when in a related article they mention his granddaughter leading it. And so on. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what prestige or selectivity has to do with it. You can have poor safety and other problems in all kinds of environments that are not well managed.</p>
I would assume that since once the boy was very seriously ill (after he said he had altitude sickness and requested medical attention), he was sent to his hotel room, that his friends and girlfriend likely had no idea what his status was. If girls and boys aren’t allowed to hold hands, I highly doubt she would be allowed to visit him in his hotel room. Other students were likely kept out as well, since he was sick. I don’t find that unusual. The friends probably didn’t know how serious the situation was until it was too late. </p>
<p>Most high school students don’t have cell phones that work internationally, and they probably don’t know even how they would go about calling an ambulance (no phone, no phone number, likely can’t read or speak the language). I doubt they knew how sick the boy was, though.</p>
<p>The article said that People to People is saying that Tyler died because he neglected to take his insulin (which brings up the question, shouldn’t he still have been given medical care?). I’m not surprised People to People isn’t responding to the request for comments. Isn’t it normally advised to keep silent while in legal proceedings?</p>
<p>I’m sure that the parents are extraordinarily angry. They are angry at People to People, so they want the organization to come off as badly as possible in every way, including the fact that students are mis-led into thinking the programs are selective when they are not.</p>
<p>I do doubt that everything said in the article happened the way it was portrayed, but there are logical reasons why other campers didn’t call an ambulance and why the article included “graphically sad details.”</p>
<p>Sounds like no one on this trip had a clue as to the seriousness of these sorts of symptoms for someone with type 1 diabetes. I’d have no clue myself, unless I worked with diabetes. Makes me want to see their health forms.</p>
<p>In regard to what corranged wrote-cross posted-in Japan American cell phones usually don’t work. They’re stuck with an earlier cell technology, as they were one of the first countries to have cell phones. My phone, which worked in Thailand and Europe, would not connect in Japan. </p>
<p>In regards to him not taking his insulin-blood sugars can rise dramatically at times of stress, normal insulin dosing or not, or in absence of food, bottom out. Combine that with electrolyte problems, and hospitalization is a necessity.</p>
<p>DS was on PtP. Mexico City suburbs, in the clouds. ‘Coldest summer he ever had’, he said. We thought the screenings were over done, but perhaps good enough for inexperienced travelers.</p>
<p>Contact to Japan or anywhere should be relatively easy with any phone. All you had to do is get a phone number. I think we had a phone number of the residence where S stayed. And he had enough knowledge to contact us by multiple ways. He had only a couple of visits by the local PtP representative while incountry,</p>
<p>If nothing else is learned from this, kids should learn how to take care of themselves…ie if they have a medical condition how to call an ambulance, how to INSIST and take yourself via cab to an emergency room, and if you have a precondition, be sure you take a phone or get a phone, no matter the extra cost</p>
<p>This is tragic, but if we don’t learn from it, then it can happen again…its like the 2nd grader at my Ds school- allergic to bees, everyone knew it, and was vigilant about keeping watch if bees were around</p>
<p>And if they didn’t let the kids check on their friend, if he was that sick he couldn’t have company, that in itself was enough reason to go the hospital then</p>
<p>Most groups err on the side of caution, getting medical attention sooner than later</p>