My son just became a member of a touring a capella group. I understand that his group will be touring during the winter,spring,and summer break. Can anyone with experience give a concerned mom info regarding the supervisory aspects of a group of college-aged young adults traveling the US and abroad? For example, does the group travel with a university sponsor,etc? If there is an emergency, who is available to help out? Thanks!
There is not one answer that fits every school and every situation. I think you should give your son a list of your questions and ask him to get you the details you want. FWIW when my D went abroad on a school sponsored trip I asked her to get certain information so I could become comfortable with the trip – I let her know that if she didn’t get the information I would either contact the faculty advisor leading the trip myself or not let her go. She got everything inside of two days.
Good advice. He just got tapped yesterday, so I’m holding back on asking all my questions at the moment but figured I’d ease my concerns by seeking out info elsewhere at this point. ty
I’m tagging @Memmsmom here as her daughter participates and she’s very knowledgeable 
And congratulations to your S.
Everything will be fine. Trust me on this.
They normally are housed by friends and family members of the group. They have positions within the group that plan and arrange all of the travel. There are other positions that check and make sure that everything will be fine. The gigs that they perform at are all either people they have connections with or people that they have performed for before. The groups tend to stay together at all times, even when they have time off and they are all very protective of each other. Although your son may be new to the group- that group has already decided that he belongs. Its a really big deal to them. My daughter is a junior now and has had some of the most amazing adventures with her group. She has traveled to different large cities here and a few countries abroad. She has met some incredible people along the way and made connections for her future she would never had the chance to meet without this. Congratulations to him, this is a big deal!
Im also going to tag @Musicmom2015 who has a son that is a junior now and also is in one of the male groups that tours. They actually tour quite a bit so she will be very reassuring.
@martoni CONGRATS to your son!! Acapella at Yale is a really big deal (as you’ve probably learned from hearing about the rush process) and such a wonderful opportunity. My son is a junior in his group and has already done extensive travel in the US and abroad. I know as a mom it’s overwhelming. I can only speak for my son’s group, but he will be fine. If you are able to attend Parent’s weekend, you will get to meet everyone involved. The groups are student run (no faculty involvement), but you will be amazed at how professional these kids can be. They organize all of the travel, lodging, and gigs. In my son’s experience, most of the lodging is at people’s homes. When they arrange gigs, they also arrange for local families to host a group of the boys (they split up into smaller groups since most people could not host 15 kids!). These are often family friends of one of the boys, or contacts at schools and organizations that welcome them. The group really does take care of its members. When we had some travel issues, the boys in charge and their parents made sure everything was taken care of and that I was aware of the situation. The group is also likely going to be a nice group of friends that he has, after only being there a few weeks, which is a comfort as a mom, right? Please pm me and I can share lots of details. In the meantime, don’t worry. Be excited for him as he begins this fun adventure. Oh yeah, and my son somehow still finds time for his classes!
Also, I knew it was rush week and had been watching for any news in the Yale Parents thread. Never would have seen this one, so thanks @memmsmom! Congrats to all the new members!
Thanks for tagging the other mom; it’s been helpful.
Thank you for all the information. It is reassuring to hear about other parent’s experiences…this is all very new. Also, thanks for tagging another mom as well!
The Wiffenpoofs?? Congrats!!!
I was not aware there was a Yale parent’s thread. I must look that up. Actually I created a FB private group for parents of 2021 students. We’re up to almost 200 members, lol.
We had a group come to NASA from Yale. They were wonderful. We talked to them and they said they were staying at a person’s home. Congratulations!