You Call This a Shower?: Part 1

I must have been crazy.

At least that’s what everyone told me when they found out I wanted to lead a group of students on an educational tour of England, Ireland, and Wales. But I never felt that way until we actually got there, and I realized the awesome responsibility that had been handed to me by virtue of my decision. I mean, I knew it was a huge deal, and I had to do so much preparation it was ridiculous, but being singularly responsible for the well-being of 12 teenagers a world away from their parents, yes, an awesome responsibility. And it was some of the most fun I’ve had in my entire life. It all started with an English teacher’s conference, if you can believe it.

For the first time since I became a high school English teacher I decided I wanted to go to the national conference. It helped that in 2005 it was in Pittsburgh, which wasn’t so far a cry from upstate New York where I lived and taught, so I petitioned my school and they said it would be worthwhile, paying for my travel, my expenses, and the conference itself. Of course it was all under the condition that I give an in-session presentation for other teachers when I returned. Woo hoo! Vacation! And I really mean that because I love love love conferences, getting to meet so many different people and participate in discussions, watch lectures, and just get my “nerd on.”

But there was one thing I hadn’t anticipated, it being my first English teacher’s national conference, something I learned the very first day from some other new teacher friends of mine: THE BOOTHS. Wow, I had absolutely no clue that there were going to be booths where book companies, other educational companies, vendors, and salesfolk gathered and they herded us teachers through like cattle. Every single one of the companies were hawking their wares like used car salesmen, and it was a whirlwind of sights and sounds. Oh, and free books. I picked up a huge bag from one of the major book companies, and all I had to do for it was listen to a spiel and promise I would let my school know the good deal they could get if they went with that company. Then I filled up my huge bag with tons of free books that vendors were just giving out.

Um, but I’m getting off topic. The national conference was fun, and I went to two others after it, but that’s not my story right now (don’t worry, I’ll fill you in with another blog post on the subject). Really, the relevant part of the conference story was the travel booth, a place that intrigued me when I first passed by on my way to the Nicholas Sparks book signing (yes, yes, Nicholas Sparks was there). There were two young ladies there who seemed more laid back than other books, then I saw why. They had a sign-up sheet where if you just put down your information you could win a trip for two to many exotic places. Of course the sign-up sheet was a mailing list that meant they could bother you anytime about leading a tour for them. I felt it was a good trade-off so I signed up, but that was the trick. They were talking to me the whole time and had pretty much sold me on the idea of leading an educational tour by the time I was done signing their sheet. Man, they were good with the ol’ bait and switch!

So, I went back to my school, sold them on the idea of letting me do it, and I was off and running. Recruiting was first, finding 12 kids who I knew wouldn’t be an issue so far away from home (okay, okay, I was hoping, but hope springs eternal). I found the perfect 12. The major problem from that point on was raising funds, because the kids who went to my school weren’t made of money and the trip cost over $2000 dollars apiece for eight days, eight nights, breakfasts and dinners, a tour guide, and bus and boat trips throughout the countries. I had settled on a tour through England, Ireland, and Wales because of the writers who were represented by it, like William Shakespeare and James Joyce, but it was more expensive than if I had chosen just one country. I also knew it would be more educational and more exciting for the students, though.

However, fund raising was hellacious. I had decided on a 2008 trip, so it left us two years from the time the kids signed up until we had to go. That only left us a year and a half, though, to raise the money because it needed to be in six months before the trip, by January of 2008. It took a lot of meetings between me and the parents in various locales to figure out a plan, and then to work together with them and the students to make it a reality. One piece of advice I’ll give you if you’re planning on a trip of this magnitude and your students are not independently wealthy: FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP. Oh, wait, that was three pieces of advice rolled into one. Seriously, follow up. It’s one thing to tell them they need to get a certain amount of money, to give them a load of suggestions to help them fund raise individually, and then to come back three months later and close to nothing has been raised. But I’m not blaming them. I wasn’t organized enough to do the follow ups, and I admitted as much three months later when they told me that fund raising had come to naught.

So, we went another route, and decided to do a series of group fundraisers. Whichever group members showed up to help were the ones who benefited from the funds raised. That worked a lot better, as we got donations from local businesses and were able to put together a raffle basket. We sold tons of tickets, including a four-day stint at the local Irish Festival where we manned a booth 24/7 (that sure was exciting!) and at the end we had raised over $4000 for the trip that way. We did car washes, and catalogs. We even went the old school route and asked for donations from church groups and family members. But we were still short as time was winding down and we made a final push to get the rest of the money, finally making it with a few short days to spare, securing a trip that would create memories to last a lifetime.

And yeah, those odd showers. But I’ll get to that in Part 2. Stay tuned…

Sam

You Call This a Shower?: Part 2

You Call This a Shower? Archive