Program Details 2012

"Thanks for leading the Cuba trip. It changed my daughter's life. Her perspective on many things has been challenged. I'm truly enjoying her growth."
- Parent of 2011 Cuba trip participant

	Global Service Program China		Global Service Program Ecuador

Program Dates for 2012

June 25 to 27	Faculty Institute workshops and trip preparation at George School
June 26 to 27	Student Institute workshops and trip preparation at George School
June 28	Depart for China and Ecuador
July 13	Ecuador trip returns to U.S.
July 14	China trip returns to U.S.

Note: the travel dates are subject to change depending on available flights, visa, and travel license restrictions.

Fees
The cost for this program is $3,250 for the Ecuador trip and $3,995 for the China trip. The fees include both the overseas flights and the institute workshops. Your only additional costs would include travel to and from George School and any spending money you want to bring to purchase snacks or gifts while overseas. Typically, $200 to $300 is more than adequate.

Financial Aid
There is limited financial aid available for both faculty and students through the E.E. Ford Grant. Because aid is limited, please carefully consider all the resources available that might help fund your trip before deciding how much aid to request. Faculty might be eligible for faculty enrichment funds or chair money from their schools. Students could consider a part-time job, birthday/holiday money, or special funds available from their school. You also might consider holding a fundraiser.

To demonstrate personal commitment to the program, we expect faculty to contribute a minimum of $500 of their own funds toward the cost of the trip. Students are expected to contribute at least 10 percent of the total cost of their trip.

For students to be considered for aid, they must already receive financial aid from their school.

You can request financial aid by completing the appropriate sections of the application form.

Thanks to a partnership with the Sino-US Cultural Communication George School Foundation, we are able to offer a number of financial aid grants to teachers who would like to participate in the China program. Please contact Pauline McKean at 215.579.6547 to learn more about this opportunity.

How to Apply
All application materials are due by February 29, 2012. Please email Pauline McKean at pauline_mckean@georgeschool.org if you need an application extension.

Who Can Apply?

-	Faculty and staff from independent schools are welcome to apply.
-	Students must be current high school sophomores or juniors to apply.
-	Space is limited; we can typically only take sixteen to eighteen participants on each trip.
-	Because we aim to have a ratio of one adult to two students, we encourage applicants from the same school to apply in groups of this ratio, when possible. There is a place on the application forms to list the other members of your application group. If you are applying as a group, please send in all your applications together.
-	More than one group per school is welcome to apply.
-	All the members of a single group application must apply for the same trip/country.
-	Individual students and teachers are welcome to apply, but preference will be given to those applying as groups. Individuals are likely to be accepted to help balance the desired ratio.
-	For the China trip, we especially encourage speakers or students of Mandarin to apply, but this is not a requirement.
-	Students applying for the Ecuador trip are also encouraged, but not required, to have a certain level of proficiency in Spanish.

Teachers, to help you decide which students would be competitive applicants for the program (especially if your school is submitting a group application), we have provided some guidelines in choosing international service trip participants. These are not requirements, but simply some things you might want to consider; in the sixty plus years of running international service trips, we have found this to be quite helpful.