SPOKANE, Wash., June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- People to People
Ambassador Programs, the leader in global educational travel
experiences, officially kicks off the summer travel season with
programs to six continents around the world. Students from
across the country will head abroad on unique educational and
experiential travel centered on unique access to people, places and
cultural activities.
For nearly 50 years, the company has been traveling students
across the globe, and takes pride in being the first to implement
such leading industry initiatives as:
- 100 percent teacher leader CPR certification
- 24 hour on-call capabilities during travel season
- State of the art emergency command center in corporate
headquarters
- The only company of its kind to employ a Senior Director of
Health and Safety
- All teachers and chaperones receive full background checks
- Nutritionist for meals
- Full scale response team simulations
- GPS enabled cell phone for teacher in each travel group
- Travel provider issued credit card for every group
- Optional GPS and phone rental feature for student
travelers
This year, People to People Ambassador Programs is launching the
FindMe solution from Cellhire, a world leader in providing
international wireless communications based in Dallas, TX.
The FindMe solution allows the Cellhire mobile phone or
BlackBerry device to be tracked using GPS, or cell tower
triangulation in the event that GPS is unavailable. FindMe
seamlessly reports the position of the handset to a central control
website.
During the upcoming summer travel season, People to People
Ambassador Programs is providing teacher leaders with this
solution. The feature is also available to parents renting
the FindMe phone through Cellhire. Parents can hold text
conversations with their student traveler through the FindMe
website, staying in touch despite time zone differences.
Cellhire will be employing safeguards regarding the amount of
data the FindMe phones use so that parents can quickly be alerted
if a student is starting to run up a large phone bill.
Locations are reported up to every 15 minutes and displayed on a
secure web portal, to which only the Cellhire customer has access
to view in map or location report format. Teacher leaders and
internal support staff can track either an individual or a group
and can view a full history of locations. Parents can keep track of
where there students are, and enjoy the educational travel
experience along with them.
"We are launching our new initiatives this summer to help give
parents better peace of mind in terms of where their student
traveler is, and what they eat," said Peg
Thomas, President of People to People Ambassador Programs.
"With our new GPS tracking feature, parents can enjoy
following along on the educational travel experience, and our
leaders and support staff can instantly pinpoint exact locations on
an as needed basis. Plus, our new health-related pilot
program is designed to help us in the implementation of new plans
geared toward making it easier for our Student Ambassadors to make
smarter nutritional choices while traveling and supply ongoing
information on health and nutrition."
The new Healthy Foods pilot program this summer is designed to
assist and educate student travelers on health and nutrition so
that they may make more informed meal decisions both now and into
the future. As part of the program, People to People
Ambassador Programs Safe Travel 24/7 Blog will be extended to
include posts from both Mike Bowers,
Senior Director of Health and Safety and April Davis, a combined registered dietitian and
Clinical Exercise Specialist. Davis works at Sacred Heart
Children's Hospital, St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute, and
Washington State University.
Davis provides education and nutrition support to adult and
pediatric patients in acute care settings with a wide range of
medical conditions including diabetes, hypertension, high
cholesterol, obesity, metabolism disorders, and heart disease. At
Washington State University, she teaches two courses for the
Nutrition & Exercise Physiology Program in the College of
Pharmacy.
Plans call for Davis to join a Student Ambassador program over
the summer to observe meals and food choices and report her
findings, as well as implementing a small pilot program to have
select teachers keep meal diaries during a program to review food
quality, selection, portion sizes, and other related items. A
post travel focus group will also be implemented to assist in the
development of goals and initiatives for the 2011 travel
season.
About People to People Ambassador Programs
People to People Ambassador Programs is the most recognized and
respected educational travel provider and has provided more than
400,000 citizens of the world the opportunity to promote peace
through understanding. The Ambassador Programs include Citizen,
Student, Sports and Leadership to promote international and
domestic programs for professionals, students, athletes, and the
leaders of tomorrow. Participation in a People to People Ambassador
Program contributes directly to personal success in a globalized
world and fosters international friendships.
Our hands on, unique, educational travel programs provide access
to people and places beyond compare and combine unique cultural
experiences with personal interaction to create global impact.
For nearly 50 years, People to People Ambassador Programs has
helped participants travel to seven continents while maintaining an
extraordinary track record of travel safety. Our safety record is
the result of many factors, including a reliance on federal
guidelines, the strength and experience of our leaders, our
organization's expertise and experience in program destination
countries, a vast global network of resources and team members, and
a sincere commitment to the wellbeing of our Ambassadors and their
families. For more information, visit:
www.peopletopeople.com.
The Ambassador Programs serve as the exclusive educational
travel provider of People to People International (PTPI), the
nonprofit, Kansas City-based
organization founded by President Dwight D.
Eisenhower to promote peace through understanding worldwide.
PTPI and Ambassadors Group are united in their mission of
bridging cultural and political borders through education and
exchange.
About Ambassadors Group
Ambassadors Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: EPAX) is a socially conscious,
education company located in Spokane,
Washington. Ambassadors Group is the parent company of
People to People Ambassador Programs, World Adventures Unlimited,
Society for Global Citizens, and BookRags, an educational research
website. The company also oversees the Washington School of
World Studies, an accredited travel study and distance learning
school. Additional information about Ambassadors Group and
subsidiaries is available at www.ambassadorsgroup.com.
SOURCE People to People Ambassador Programs