ASAI

American Scholastic Associates International

2007-2008 Activity Calendar

The calendar is subject to change due to unforeseen difficulties.

** HF Orientation: The Host Family Orientation will take place individually with each AR by the end of July. A HF Orientation document must be signed and sent to RA Pam Pletcher. Pam’s orientation will be 7/28 at Wawasee High School in her room from 9 to 10:30 AM.

August: Student arrives at designated airport, adjusts to host family, registers for school and classes, contacts coach if interested fall sport, joins a sport or school activity, gets sport physical if going to be in sports, begins to make friends. Suggestion: Delay buying a lot of new clothes until the end of the first week of school to better judge what kids actually wear every day.

** Saturday, Aug.18th, 2007: There will be a Post Arrival Orientation at Wawasee High School. Attendance by our exchange students is required and host families may stay and visit during this time or come back and pick your student up. If you or your family can not attend, please contact your AR, so alternate plans can be made to get the student orientation done.

** Saturday, September 29, 2007: Annual trip to Chicago. It starts from the SB airport South Shore Train station at 7AM and ends there as well around 10:40 PM. Open to families and students. Everyone should take enough CASH to buy the $22. round trip ticket and additional money for meals and other optional purchases. Usually $100. is adequate for the day. Wear comfortable shoes. High heels are NOT recommended. Contact your AR if you need a ride to the airport. More specific info will be forth coming.

Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007: We will have a Halloween party from 4:00 pm until whenever at Tiffany’s home near Akron about an hour southwest of us. Students may dress in costume. At 5:30 pm we will judge the costumes with the best winning a prize. Please bring a covered dish to share. (The covered dish should be full of food.) We will have a hay ride, chili over an open fire, and smores! Your AR. has directions. See you there!

Saturday, Dec. 1st, 2007: We are invited to join the Ft. Wayne group for a day trip to Indianapolis. We will meet in Indy in the morning and spend the day together. Details of this trip are being planned. If a due date is given to respond as to whether you are going on this trip, and too few respond, it will be cancelled due to lack of interest.

Dec (the day is yet to be determined), 2007: We hope to schedule a Komet Hockey game between Christmas and New Years. We usually have 25 complementary tickets. When you get the detail, respond right away with the number of free tickets that you would like for your family.

Saturday, February 2, 2008: We will have the Northern Indiana area midyear meeting and carry in Taste Party. Before eating at 6:30, there will be a short meeting: after the meeting enjoy the “foods from around the world”. The dish should be prepared by the student and copies of the recipe should be with the dishes. After the dinner the students may stay the night for the dancing and other activities. Bring your own balls if you wish to ‘hoop it up’ or your own laptops, cards, games, snacks etc. Specifics will be forth coming after Christmas.

April: Pre-departure Information: This information must be given to all students to better prepare them for their return trip home. It will be done at school in a morning meeting or individually if you do not go to Wawasee. Students will need to give your AR your flight schedule info as well as your ending school date.

Saturday May 2^nd, 2008: To reward students who have completed the volunteer hours, we are planning an Awards Banquet. Details will be announced in April.

****** Please note ******

The intent of these meetings is to help assure that students and families have a successful year.

Regional Advisor and Area Representative, Pam Pletcher 574-457-4060

All students and a parent must meet with Mrs. Pletcher together or separately, before the 1st of the following months to complete a brief progress report on how everything is going: Oct, Dec, Feb, Apr, and mid to late May. In the alternate months, a phone contact will be made to check on the students and families.

SMG Trips

Students should have received information for 7 trips being offered for ASA students. The students may miss one week out of school during the year to take a trip. Another trip can be taken during Christmas and or spring break IF it does not take the student out of school. The student must get permission from the host family, AR and school to go one any of these trips. We have the right to reject a request IF the student is having persistent problems with the rules of ASA in the host family or school. Also, only 50 students are allowed on a trip, so book early if you really want to go on a trip.

Yearbook Pictures

Check with your school about the deadline for yearbook studio pictures. If the picture of the student is not turned in on time, the picture will not appear in the yearbook. Also the yearbook must be ordered on time as well. And be sure to get at least $30 from the student before s/he leaves to mail the yearbook to his/her home in the fall.

College

It is not our or your job to get the student into college! To continue on to college, the student would have to take and pass the GED AFTER school has ended in early June. Then a F1 (4 year) visa would have to be secured from the home country. The choice of college is up to the student. I suggest internet searches of colleges matching the student’s interests. Scholarships are usually not available at the last minute and rarely for international students. So college inquiries should be made in the fall by the exchange student.