congressional youth leadership council

[KATHINOWA]

Has anyone's child participated in this? my son received an invitation to this today. not sure what to make of it

 

[agnes!]

In 2009 the New York Times said it was a scam: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/leadership-t.html

And from what I've seen, they promise all sorts of special access to political leaders, etc., etc., etc. but they're basically a tour operator with a gussied-up title. Now the tours might be fine and the kids might have a great time, *but* (sorry to say) it is no great honor to be 'selected', almost any high-school kid whose name or their parents' name shows up on email-marketing lists gets these impressive-looking envelopes & official-sounding e-mails.

There was a HUGE controversy for Obama's Inauguration when the organization over-promised (as usual) and then waaaaaay under-delivered. A US News & World Report finance blog had a report about it: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs...28/inaugural-youth-scam-controversy-continues
It worked out ok for some, but sounds like the majority were pretty upset:
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs...scam-controversy-continues/comments/?PageNr=2

agnes!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Fellow LI here. Which specific one is it. There are many with names that are very close and they are really basically the same thing.

My ds went to one about diplomacy. I dont know who the guest speaker was. They also had to pick and list like 3 tours they wanted. My ds had his top 3 and didnt get any of them. Some of his roomates went to embassys and said it was so boring as they were not allowed access and only just sat in the lobby etc. My ds got gettysburg, like 13th on his list. and I think he did go to some war college which he thought was interesting and they did the monument tour at night.

His cousin did 2 of them. One I cant remember and the other one was an invite back for the inaugaration which happened to be Obama. It was a big mess. They put them like blocks away in a stadium. The cousin and several bus mates revolted and walked to the real inaugaration.

The rooms and tours, etc. are well surpervised. I think ds had to do some mock thing and he was the allied troop commander?

Basically the only good things were he got to see what it was like totally away from us. He saw this might not be the career field for him (political/lawyer/fbi/jack bauer type etc). It did nothing if you listed it on a college application etc.

So I guess if you have some extra bucks to throw away, go ahead. If not save it for college tuition and books.

Our freinds dd did some medical thing and like it, but also decided that field was not for her.

Best of luck deciding.

 

[KATHINOWA]

We've been "selected" for People to People and to play soccer in Argentina so I suspected the selection was not very selective. The one thing in its favor was it came with a list of other alums who have participated and DS knows some so he was going to ask them about it. The one thing not in its favor is the information was very vague about what they would be doing and where they would be specifically staying.

Not something we are seriously considering but I thank you both for your information and input.

 

[olwyngdh]

The one my niece went to back in 1992 (might have been '93) was at a hotel in DC for a long weekend. They had a number of speakers, got a tour, and met with their Senator (or Congressman) among other things. She said it was a good experience.