Send me (Wesley) to Costa Rica!
Donation protected
(For those who aren't placing the name, you may know me as jay linnell's son, Dawn Linnell's stepson, or Ryan Smith-Burns's son!)
I have a BIG opportunity, and I hope you can help me make it real!
This summer, I want to go to Costa Rica through People to People. This is a chance to see the world, and to learn in ways I never have before. I'll learn about rainforest preservation, I'll work a little while at an orphanage, and I'll go on several hikes. I look forward to learning more about the people and the land in a place far away from home.
This is an opportunity I never thought I'd have. I hope this will help me form my own opinions on environmental matters and about the people with whom I share the world, and experience more of it than the neighborhoods I've grown up in. Plus, it will look good on a college application! ;)
The trip will be through People to People, an organization which arranges programmed learning trips/adventures for middle- and high-school students. Check out their website for an out line of the Costa Rica trip!
Now, the Costa Rica trip might fill up - but I have other options! I'm also looking at trips including Mediterranean Traditions, Tsunami relief in Japan, and a couple others. I'm just looking for a chance to break out of the shell of home and do something fun and worthwhile! Why do I write to you?
BECAUSE YOU WANT ME TO LEARN! Because you want me to have fun. Because you don't want me to spend my summer sitting on my couch, lonely and crying, dreaming about the Costa Rica that never was!
Here's how my dad put it: "As a young man preparing to enter the world relatively on his own, this is a chance to see horizons greater than the neighborhoods he's grown up in; To build connections in his life to a larger world; To bring his social studies to life, and to have some fun without his dad over his shoulder."
I'm writing those who care about me, to ask for your help, and to be part of this adventure. I'll send donors a postcard and give folks updates on my experience. And, in the tradition of kickstarters, I've got rewards to offer as well. I'm also doing fundraisers around cooking, which has been an important learning area for me in the last year or so. I'll happily share some homemade jam with folks who cared enough to invest in this trip for me. For the big spenders I can even come make a meal for your family (plus two - dad and me), to share some of the other learning I've been working on lately.
The fundraising goal is set at $5,000, which will in the end include a portion of my parents' contribution. The trips I'm looking at cost between $3,300 and $4,000 (including airfare and all food and lodging); There will be other expenses, like immunizations, passports, clothing, and various things that will probably be another $1000 or so all together. If more is raised, I'll use it to pay for college applications and similar costs in the year after I come back.
Have any questions? Feel free to email me, Dawn, or jay (that's my parents, whom most of you know).
I have a BIG opportunity, and I hope you can help me make it real!
This summer, I want to go to Costa Rica through People to People. This is a chance to see the world, and to learn in ways I never have before. I'll learn about rainforest preservation, I'll work a little while at an orphanage, and I'll go on several hikes. I look forward to learning more about the people and the land in a place far away from home.
This is an opportunity I never thought I'd have. I hope this will help me form my own opinions on environmental matters and about the people with whom I share the world, and experience more of it than the neighborhoods I've grown up in. Plus, it will look good on a college application! ;)
The trip will be through People to People, an organization which arranges programmed learning trips/adventures for middle- and high-school students. Check out their website for an out line of the Costa Rica trip!
Now, the Costa Rica trip might fill up - but I have other options! I'm also looking at trips including Mediterranean Traditions, Tsunami relief in Japan, and a couple others. I'm just looking for a chance to break out of the shell of home and do something fun and worthwhile! Why do I write to you?
BECAUSE YOU WANT ME TO LEARN! Because you want me to have fun. Because you don't want me to spend my summer sitting on my couch, lonely and crying, dreaming about the Costa Rica that never was!
Here's how my dad put it: "As a young man preparing to enter the world relatively on his own, this is a chance to see horizons greater than the neighborhoods he's grown up in; To build connections in his life to a larger world; To bring his social studies to life, and to have some fun without his dad over his shoulder."
I'm writing those who care about me, to ask for your help, and to be part of this adventure. I'll send donors a postcard and give folks updates on my experience. And, in the tradition of kickstarters, I've got rewards to offer as well. I'm also doing fundraisers around cooking, which has been an important learning area for me in the last year or so. I'll happily share some homemade jam with folks who cared enough to invest in this trip for me. For the big spenders I can even come make a meal for your family (plus two - dad and me), to share some of the other learning I've been working on lately.
The fundraising goal is set at $5,000, which will in the end include a portion of my parents' contribution. The trips I'm looking at cost between $3,300 and $4,000 (including airfare and all food and lodging); There will be other expenses, like immunizations, passports, clothing, and various things that will probably be another $1000 or so all together. If more is raised, I'll use it to pay for college applications and similar costs in the year after I come back.
Have any questions? Feel free to email me, Dawn, or jay (that's my parents, whom most of you know).
Organizer
Wesley Smith
Organizer
