Philadelphia, PA- July 2, 2008- Cheryl D. Gill, founder of Away We Go! Youth Travel Camp, announced plans today to host Tanya Walters, founder of Godparents Youth Organization (GYO) on Sunday July 6th. Walters gained national attention as a Los Angeles bus driver who made it her mission in life to help kids find their paths in life by showing them the world in a unique way: by traveling with them across the country on a bus. This compelling story attracted the attention of numerous news outlets, and eventually resulted in an invitation to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to share her story with a national audience.

“I am extremely excited to host Ms. Walters here in Philadelphia,” said Cheryl D. Gill. “The work that GYO does, and the impact they have on the lives of the youth in Los Angeles, is precisely what I and Away We Go! hope to accomplish in our city, not only through travel all over the United States, but international travel as well.”

On Sunday, July 6th, Walters and GYO will join with Gill’s church, Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, Rev. Alyn E. Waller, Sr. Pastor, for morning service at 10 a.m. In the afternoon GYO will visit with Away We Go! Youth Travel Camp, 6906 Old York Road, Philadelphia, PA 19126, along with 50 children from local schools, churches and local Boys and Girls Clubs, for hamburgers and hotdogs. During this visit Walters has requested several girls write essays to be shared on the topic, “Why am I beautiful, inside and out.”

Walters founded GYO in 2002. Motivated by her religion and her dreams, she wanted to open the eyes of young people who she met on her bus route. Walters takes the youth on cross-country bus trips to important historical landmarks to help them understand that they can dream bigger than their inner-city neighborhoods.

Away We Go! Youth Travel Camp is a non-profit organization whose goals are to encourage students to see and appreciate different cultures and parts of the world by taking the classroom abroad. The students will be mentored by experienced travelers who will bridge the gap between reading about the world in books and seeing it up close and personal. Away We Go! hopes these experiences will foster a greater sense of appreciation for academic studies and other cultures, as well as build self-esteem and motivate students to accomplish great things in life. For more information, please visit our website at www.awaywegoyouthtravelcamp.com

Read the Press Release

Cheryl D. Gill, founder of Away We Go! Youth Travel Camp, was awarded a $8,000 grant from Enon Community Reinvestment Ministry.  Away We Go! is a non profit established in or high school students that embraces a mission to promote global education through cultural exhange, language learning and education travel. The Away We Go Youth Travel Camp, Inc. fulfills its mission by providing opportunities for inner city youth to travel the world and experience different cultures while learning and earning credits for school.

Welcome

Away We Go Youth Travel Camp is a nonprofit organization designed to promote global education through cultural exchange, language exposure and educational travel experiences.

The camp will facilitate year-round travel for high school youths.

The program will form partnerships with local school districts.

How Away We Go! Works

Our all-inclusive tours help show students the world. Accompanied by a knowledgeable, experienced tour director, students can bring their lessons to life by exploring the greatest destinations and experiencing other cultures firsthand. Local expert guides in every major city provide even more insight. All flights, motorcoach, ground transportation, and hotel accommodations are included.

AWAY WE GO! YOUTH TRAVEL CAMP provides fully staffed travel representatives dedicated to helping our travelers and their parents with questions about packing and activities on tour.

Why Choose Us

What better way to learn the world than to travel it. Away We Go! provides learning experiences for students, which help to build the foundation for a lifetime of inspiration and motivation.With our educational tours, students absorb as much of their travel experiences as possible. We provide tours which include a mixture of culture, education fun events, and activities led by an experienced and trained tour guide. We believe that travel should always be safe and well-planned out for everyone involved. Year after year, we will pride ourselves in providing safe, reliable, fun, educational travel program to thousands of students each year.

WHY TEACHERS CHOOSE US?

Watch your students’ eyes light up when they return from their educational tour and their lessons come to life. As your Away We Go! representative, we will help you make this life-changing experience a reality. We guarantee our expertise, experience, and integrity. Away We Go! strives to reinvent the concept of the educational tour. We’re proud to be pioneers in the field of experiential learning. Today we’re striving to be the world’s leading educational travel non-profit organization.Our simple promise to you is to provide educational travel experiences to young people to build strong communication skills and instill a greater sense of hope in our children for the future.

WHY SCHOOLS CHOOSE US?

Away We Go! provides structure to document the work that goes into leading a tour and to provide students with valuable learning experiences outside the classroom. Our tour are designed to help students develop professionally as global citizens and to transfer that cultural learning in the world today. Our tours addresses global connections standards that are often difficult to meet in the classroom. Our tours provides students with a way to quantify the knowledge and experience they have gained, and to help bring that knowledge of the world. Our educational tours were created and approved by Away We Go! educational advisory board. Our tours are created to make school better, students can discuss with their teachers the tour assignments and how it relates their class curriculum.

What We Do

The program’s education tours will run September – June. The program’s educational tours are listed below. In addition to the proposed scheduled trips, below you will find in further detail exactly what an Away We Go! educational tour is all about.

Educational Tours: Our all-inclusive tours help show students the world. Accompanied by a knowledgeable, experienced tour director, students can bring their lessons to life by exploring the greatest destinations and experiencing other cultures firsthand. Local expert guides in every major city provide even more insight. All flights, ground transportation,motorcoach, and hotel accommodations are included.

Personalized Agent: We love what we do and look forward to working with each student. From your first call, Away We Go! Youth Travel Camp becomes your travel partner. You’re assigned to a representative who helps you while on tour, pitch it to your school and community, assist with fundraising efforts if necessary and help prepare students to travel.

Planning: An Away We Go! tour is as easy to enroll as it is fun to be involved. Parents and students both get invited to tour development orientation and training. You gain firsthand experience with guidelines when traveling abroad. You’ll learn the ins and outs of document preparation and passport requirements. Plus, we offer you a wide range of resources to assist you at every stage of the planning process, including:

• Tour Information package
• Tour Handbook. Written by experienced Away We Go! Youth Travel Camp professional, this step-by-step guidelines and regulations
• Away We Go! Uniforms

Preparation: We want to help you prepare! Use our website as a valuable tool to help your students get ready for the adventure ahead:

• Create your own Away We Go! web and blog page. Use it to inform your friends and family updates, post reading lists, send group reminder emails and send information.
• Receive Luggage
• Receive Name Badge
• Download important pre-departure information and forms.

We provide a fully staffed travel representatives dedicated to helping students and their parents with questions about packing and activities. A toll free number is provided for everyone’s assistance 866 AWAY.EDU. Your group’s safety is always our top priority. Wherever you travel, Away We Go! support staff is there to provide assistance and support while group is in tours.

Travel Abroad: We promise the fastest and most reliable ground transportation, usually by motor coach. And since getting there is part of the fun, you may find yourself have creative fun while learning at the same time. With Away We Go! you’ll always fly with the world’s best international airlines.

Tour Director: An enthusiastic bilingual guide travels with you 24 hours a day to make sure things go smoothly every step of the way. Your tour director also leads sightseeing expeditions, conducts spontaneous free time outings, and offers tips for local restaurants and shopping.

Experiential Learning Opportunities: Learn about the local culture by participating in it, not just by watching it. It’s more fun that way!

Experience meal with local flavor: Our cultural meals consist of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Students can experience cultural cuisine and explore a little of the local fare from restaurants known for their atmosphere and regional specialties.

Privately guided sightseeing: All Away We Go! tours include a sightseeing overview of every major city by motor coach—so you can get the lay of the land. Visits to important monuments and museums are privately led by a professional guide. Your tour director will also lead occasional walking tours of cultural attractions and we also build in plenty of free time to get inspired by the local atmosphere.

Superior hotel accommodations: A good night’s sleep is important, so count on superior tourist class hotels with private baths. Most Away We Go! Youth Travel Camp hotels are located in the center of town near public transportation. And rest assured, we inspect every hotel personally to ensure it’s comfortable.

Travel Journal: A student education tour requires that students prepare for their tour by assigned reading material and completing pre-tour essay in their travel journals. On-tour, students must fulfill a photo assignment and travel blog assignments. Upon returning, students are required to write essays on the material they have read, answer Away We Go! reflective questions associated with their tour experience, and complete a summary activity.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
1. Cheryl D. Gill, President & Founder
2. Egerton E. Gill, Co-Founder
3. Robyn Murphy, Educator
4. Dawn DuVerney, Esq
5. Valerie Harrison, Esq
6. Thea Austin, CPA
7. Tracey Lewis,Writer, Speaker & Motivator
8. Tamika Thomas, DHS Social Worker

STAFF

• Renee Hudson–Executive Assistant
• Alexis Armstrong–Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Karen McDougal–Grant/Proposal Writer
• Maria Rowe–Photographer
• Gail Ramsey–Communications Consultant
• Laneshe Miller–Public/Media Relations
• Landis Rowe–Lesson Plan Advisor
• Erica Sterling–Website Development/Maintenance
• Toni Dennis–Sponsorship Coordinator
• James Kevin Finney–Video Projects
• Community Outreach Advisor–
• Malcolm Gill–Blogger