THS students to visit Europe
THS students to visit Europe
By: Joy Gray Mazzola
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments Three Tehachapi High School students representing their school, their community and their country are bound for Europe this summer as ambassadors in the People to People program.
The trio of students, including 16-year-olds, Stephanie Hirsch and Jeff Waldram, as well as 15-year-old Blaine Hartsock, recently completed the tenth grade. They will leave Tehachapi on June 24 for a three-week stay with host families in Italy, Greece and France.
“Stephanie’s father (Dr. Neil Hirsch) and I are excited, pleased and proud that she was selected for the program,” said Stephanie’s mother, Constance Williams-Hirsch. “This is a wonderful opportunity for these students to expand their horizons beyond their own community. Young people need to see the world, other cultures and other ways of living.”
Blaine’s parents, Mark and Imelda Hartsock, are also excited about their daughter’s impending trip and unique opportunity.
“I think everyone should travel to get a better appreciation of the world and of our own country,” Mark said. “Blaine has been meeting with the other students once a month in Bakersfield so that they can get to know each other before they leave.
He said the students also receive homework assignments, which include researching the countries they’ll be staying in.
Mark said the program includes methods for students to raise money for the trip.
“It’s pretty expensive. A friend of mine told me to expect to need approximately $1,000 a week to cover expenses,” he said. “Some of the students get jobs to pay their ways. Our whole family has pitched in; grandparents, aunts, cousins.”
Stephanie and Craig Waldram are doing their part to help their son raise money for the trip, as well.
“Jeff is very active in sports, so by the time he finishes with that, there’s little time left for full-time work, but he’s doing odd jobs to raise as much money as he can,” Stephanie said. “There is so much to be gained from traveling. We realize how small our world is and that people everywhere all have the same wants and needs.”
President Dwight D. Eisenhower began the People to People program in 1956 to allow American students the opportunity of forming bonds of friendship with families around the world, which, he believed, would foster a lasting foundation for world peace.
“Travel broadens the perspective in terms of understanding world issues. It broadens the understanding when we see the other sides of those issues and it makes for more educated people,” said Tehachapi Unified School District Superintendent Marian Stephens. “What they bring back will be invaluable.”
The three THS students, who will join 40 other students selected for the program from the Kern County area, will spend one week in each country, living with a local family, going where they go and doing what they do. The students were selected to participate in People to People after receiving teachers’ references, passing an interview before a panel of administrators and maintaining high academic records. In addition to the trip, each student will receive either high school or college credits.
For more information on the People to People program, visit: http://www.ambassadorprogra...
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