Thank you, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Introducing an organization dedicated to enriching the lives of students by giving them the opportunity to explore the world: it is called People to People International, a program that essentially hand-picks students from all over the nation to help with international relations. The main focus, though, is education. And that’s education at its best, for sure.
Founded on September 11, 1956, by the famous President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the organization was charged with the nonprofit mission of peace between nations. For decades, trips to everywhere from South America all the way to China have been sponsored with student delegations ranging from the east coast to the west coast. One trip in particular featured a delegation to Australia in 1995, with one Michigan student, one Texan student, a dozen or so students from Ohio, and another dozen from Illinois.
Given the number of students all over the States, you can automatically imagine that these individuals aren’t chosen haphazardly. The best of the best are enlisted for this honor, typically chosen from a Dean’s List at any school. For instance: the 1995 Australia trip featured three students from the same high school right in Illinois.
Typically, trips come with a tour bus, guide, itinerary, and a home stay family or two. Usually student delegates also spend a day in a school in the country they’ve visited, typically during their home stay. For many delegations, four adult chaperons are generally required to help keep the group in line. People to People shirts are also provided with personal names grafted in for each delegate.
The experience can hardly be described with casual words. When a student sees and feels another country, that is sometimes the best way to learn–culture, politics, land, history are all noted points. That’s People to People to a tee.
If you’re a parent with a child that has ended up on the Dean’s List or some other request, consider this experience for your teen. It may change your child’s life for the better.