Our teenaged son received their letter in the mail stating that he was a "recommended student" and that he was nominated. We went to their spiel, he decided it looked like something he wanted to participate in, so he signed up. He was to pay for the entire program out of his pocket.
The initial get together meeting had two groups in an area that wasn't large enough for one group. The second meeting had two groups from the far east of the Phoenix valley driving 40 miles across the valley to meet in a school that didn't have enough parking. The teachers that are running the local program claim to have been doing it for years, yet the arrangements and lack of communication felt chaotic.
Given our sense of something not being right, our son begain looking into the program in more detail. He found that this is essentially a big money making program for a Spokane based publically traded travel agency.
He decided to withdraw from the program and was informed that there was a $500 withdrawal fee, though none of the hotels or airfare was booked, nor is there a limit on number of students in each area (hence the large groups in Scottsdale and Chandler in 09) Disgusted with the unprofessionalism displayed by the local teachers as well as the travel agency, he withdrew and is filing a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General's office to regain the $500 (which doesn't seem to appear in any of their documentation.)
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