My parents are being so un-supportive. ?

Question

I got a letter in the mail from "People to People Student Ambassador Programs" inviting me to tavel and study in Italy, France, Switzerland, and Austria in the summer of 2009. This is a one time only oppurtunity. And while studying and traveling to those 4 countries, i would be earning highschool credit. Next year i will be going into highschool so this would be good. But when i told my mom about this letter i got, she laughed her head off and i was actually upset because she said that we (my family including me and my dad and my mom) werent going to have enough money for this trip. But it is 70% for education and 20% for fun and 10% for a wonderful experience that i would never forget. How can we make enough money so i can go? Any ideas, like fundraisers? I need Specifics. And how can i make my parents agree to this? Please, this would be so much fun, and its for education and study. Please help. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

omg u hav 2 do it tell ur rents that it helps u get colege scholarships!!!!!

Answer 2

First of all yes it would be a great experience for you. The way you get money for this is you find sponsors that will help you pay for this. Do you do any community service programs in your neighborhood. That is one way to get a sponsor, your church, independent buisness of people that know you. Some of which you could volunter your services too free one or two hours a day. This shows that you are mature and responsible. My best friends daughter went 3 times and had the best experience ever. But you need to get in touch with the "People to People" and talk with them. They have standards.  

Answer 3

My advice is that you earn some money.   Advertise your babysitting services.   See if there may be opportunities to tutor younger children in your school.   Find out if there are other kids who want to go and need to earn money, and organize weekend fundraisers.  You can organize a car wash or a bake sale.  Many local grocery stores will allow a fundraising group to have a table out front.   And local gas stations and grocery stores will allow a car wash in their parking lot.  You have until summer 2009, so you could earn quite a bit of money between now and then, and the experience will be educational.

Meantime, you should examine this letter carefully.  Show it to some other trusted adults and find out whether this is affiliated with your school where you have been recognized for your academic achievements, or whether this is really just a random hard-core sales pitch, one of many aimed at kids your age and their families.  Travelling to four foreign countries is very educational and is also very expensive, and that is why very few kids ever do it.   You may not have the experience to recognize a sales pitch, and these companies will target a young person for this very reason.  

I wish you luck.  Where there is a will, there is a way.  

Update: I just looked it up.  It sounds very expensive.  Many students are going to get these letters, and very few students are going to actually be able to afford to do it.  It is not your parents' fault.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_to_P...

Answer 4

Ignore magnet's answer don't join the military to see the world trust me LOL!

Answer 5

since you are a young adult, be one instead of a child.  Get a job and show your parents that you can make the money yourself that will increase your chances or your parents allowing you to go.

But definitely get it checked out by a high school counselor to make sure it's legit.

Answer 6

Summer of 2009? So you have an year to save up enough money to go to this program. If you're really serious, start saving money from fricken everything. Get a job and save all that money for the program. When you're parents see this commitment, they'll probably help you out too. Ask around, look for any job available. Take multiple jobs if necessary, however, do not make it conflict with school. Ask the program overseer if there is they have financial aid. I hope one of these things work and I hope you get to go, it seems like a lot of fun and educational too!!!  

Answer 7

ohmygoodness. i got the same exact letter. i cant work yet, so working somewhere is way out of my league. just save,save,save,

Answer 8

every one gets those its a rip-off... if you want to see the world join the military when you grad.

Answer 9

She shouldn't have laughed at you,but don't be ungrateful,your parents don't have the money,it's not their fault.

Answer 10

Sounds to me that your parents are more poor than unsupportive.

You might want to have a look at what this "People to People Student Ambassador Programs" is if you did not actually apply for it. Might be a good idea to make sure that the money is not wasted before getting into a hairbrain scheme which will leave you penniless, angry and be 90% horrible time and 10% anguish.

As for fundraiser, I don't know. Seems like charity in order for you to go to Europe. If you are a generally poor girl black girl having raised yourself from the slums that might be OK, but for ordinary people I think just taking a job working to get money (might make your parents more supportive if they see you really want it) and calling around to grandmas and grandpas might be the way to go. I wouldn't pay a dime to send my neighbors kids off to another continent for education or parties or whatever (unless I knew the plane would crash).

Good luck!

Answer 11

That organization seems to be legitimate, but their aggressive avoidance of the costs involved seem to mean that it would be very expensive, and depends on where you would want to go.  The European route that seems to interest you would probably cost several thousands of dollars.  Where would you think that money could come from?  In terms of convincing your parents, if you think you (not THEY) could come up with the money, then you could show them the website, since it has lots of information.