For those of you who may not know, I am a high school teacher and run several clubs at the Finneytown Secondary Campus, most of which operate with little to no funding. One of the big annual events is the Poetry Club's trip to the MSCI Spring Tournament at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Many kids describe it as the best thing they did in high school! It is a 3-day trip to compete in a Poetry Slam against high school students from across the state of Michigan (and my kids repping Ohio!) Entry fees, transportation costs, and lodging make this trip a heavy burden for many of my students, this year's cost being nearly $600 per student. It severely limits the number of students who can come on the trip. I would love to offer scholarships for the kids.

All of the money raised goes directly to lowering the out of pocket cost to the students. It is good to know what your donations can do. Here are what the donations are roughly equivalent to in terms of what they provide in travel, lodging, food, and activities:

$10 enough fuel to get us to Dayton, OH

$20 enough fuel to get us to Wapakoneta, OH

$25 enough fuel to get us to Bowling Green, OH

$35 a single round trip ferry ticket to Mackinac Island

$50 enough fuel to get us to Grand Blanc, MI

$100 enough fuel to get us all the way to Mackinac City, MI

$175 a 1 night stay at the Grand Hotel for a single student

$300 gets the whole team across the water by ferry to Mackinac Island

$395 the 2 night stay at the Grand Hotel for a single student

Whatever you can give would make a difference. Thank you.

-Tom