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Published: September 23rd 2009
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Fund for Teachers
We were so excited to find out we had been awarded a summer sabbatical through Fund for Teachers. In the fall of 2008, I received an email notifying me of a wonderful opporunity for teachers. The organization is called Fund for Teachers and they give grants to teachers so they can travel during the summer and participate in once in a lifetime time learning experiences. The organization was started by Raymond Plank and he credits his early teachers as having a significant and lasting influence on his life. The following is from the founder about his motivation to start this organization:
"Growing up in the Midwest, the most important influence in my life other than my father was a man named Noah Foss. He was a Latin teacher, a towering figure who inspired, challenged and motivated countless young men at the small country day school I attended in the 1930s. But for Foss, who gave me the focus and self-respect I needed, I wouldn't have received an honors score on my college entrance exams. And, almost certainly, I never would have gone to Yale.
There are many Noah Fosses in this country; teachers who each day inspire, challenge and shape young lives in countless ways. A decade ago I began a modest grant program in Minnesota to reward deserving grades K-12 teachers who wanted a chance to enhance their skills, stimulate their minds, and bring new-found excitement back into the classroom. A chance to study volcanoes in Hawaii. Architecture in Florence. Language in Chile.
The time has now come to broaden this program to a national effort. The Fund for Teachers rewards promise, creativity and dedication. Our grants are based solely on merit. And they reflect a goal my father often spoke of - to make this world a little better off than it was before."
So, I thought this sounded like a wonderful opportunity, and I told my friend and colleague that we should give it a shot. We started researching and planning. The hardest decision was where in the world would we apply to travel? Australia was a top choice for both of us, but we quickly realized we would not have enough money to spend enough time there. Then, we came up with the idea of traveling to Egypt, but there was so much uncertainty with terrorism being so close. We thought we should not rule it out until we did some research. Michele and I did not find any reason that we should not travel to Egypt, so we began three long months of research and work on our proposal. We decided if we received the grant, we would travel with a tour group. We found a great guided tour through Smithsonian where we would travel with an Egyptologist. We became very excited and hopeful we would receive this grant, but we had to wait until the Spring before we would find out if our sabbatical was approved.
I remember getting the mail one day after work and there was a letter addressed from Fund for Teachers. I became so nervous because I have received rejection letters before. When I opened the letter, I saw the word Congratulations! We had been accepted to travel to Egypt! Then, it set in. What had I gotten myself into. I have never traveled overseas or left my family. In the months to follow, I tried to put those thoughts out of my mind and remind myself that God had given me the talent to acquire this opportunity and I was going to make the most out of it!
Michele and I began preparations for our trip. Our first step was to acquire passports. Then, we went to a travel clinic to get the suggested innoculations. We had shots for Hepatitis A and B, Typhoid, Pertussis, and a TB booster. We also received prescriptions to take with us for bacterial infections from contaminated food or water.
We also started making arrangements for our guided tour, but when we called to book they had cancelled the only summer tour to Egypt. We were devastated. We thought we would never find another reliable company to book our tour, and we were almost right. The ones that were highly recommended were way out of our price range. One night when I was just about to give up, I came across a travel company called Gap Adventures. It was started by a man who had been backpacking in Asia. When he returned he was driven to share his passion and vision about experiencing adventures in an authentic and sustainable manner with others. With nothing more than his own personal credit cards, Gap Adventures was born. What started off as a one-man show has grown to become the world's largest adventure travel company. I couldn't believe it. This was perfect, and they offered better choices to Egypt than the one we had originally booked. Everything was falling into place. Now we just needed plane tickets. We searched and searched for the best package. We had originally thought we would want to fly straight through to Cairo, but the more we thought about 15 hours on a plane, we changed our plan. We found a flight that had two stops. One in Frankfurt, Germany and the other in Paris, France. It was perfect. That would give us enough time to rest and get something to eat instead of airplane food!
We also bought travel insurance which I was not trying to think about, so I put that in the back of my mind until the Air France jet went down with no survivors weeks before our trip. Just guess what airline we would be flying? Yeah, Air France. My husband tried to reassure me by telling me the chances for two Air France Jets crashing in the same month were very slim.
In the meantime word had spread throughout our school and community about our summer travel. Most people were very supportive. I said most, but we did have a few friends who put those worries back in my mind. They would say, "I sure wouldn't want to die that way in a hostage situation." I just had to ignore them because I had done the research and I felt there was nothing to fear. We would be with a tour group and an Egyptologist.
Michele and I were ready to leave Kentucky to embark on a trip that we would never forget.
By Missy
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Gina Nicely
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Awesome!
What a wonderful experience you have had! My friend and I are trying to do something similar. It sounds as though this was a fabulous trip for the both of you! You really got to explore some exciting places!