There is a rock star teacher at my S’s school who’s a big proponent of outside the classroom learning. He arranges skype interviews, invites pretty famous authors to come talk to students, etc. He also does some amazing field trips with students. Most of them are class based – if you’re in a class you can do the field trip.
However, he has one small field trip each year that my S has been invited/selected to go on. They will do a two-day study tour and have dinner with a famous person this Fall. This person connected with the teacher about 8 years ago and has been paying for a group of students to do this every year since. Buys their plane tix, pays for hotel, everything.
Everyone selected has to read 4 non-fiction books about global issues and participate in book discussions and/or write essays leading up to the trip. There are 8 students in the whole group – mostly seniors and he’ll be one of 2 juniors.
It’s a big deal to him that he was invited. HIs teacher said he chose him because of his strong engagement in class and insightful way of looking at global issues.
My S is light on ECs so I’m wondering if this is something he could add to the list on the common app? Or would it be under the Honors/Awards section? Or is this stretch to include anywhere? If it’s included, does he use the famous person’s name?
Tks!
I would look at this as an experience, not an EC.
It could make a nice topic for an application essay.
I agree that it would be an experience. This might also be a good teacher to ask for a letter of recommendation and maybe have the teacher talk about the selection process.
@momofsenior1 – Yes, I’m pretty sure he will ask this teacher to write a recommendation.
@“Erin’s Dad” – agree could be an essay topic too. I have zero idea what he’ll choose to write about at this stage but I can certainly plant the seed.
It did occur to me that there’s a club he said he’s going to join at school this year that is related to the trip (same teacher is the advisor and its focused on the same issues). If he does, maybe he could briefly describe the trip after listing the club. They do other stuff too , of course, but this would be the most interesting so he could highlight it that way.
Welcome any other input!
If it was a competitive process, I would list it as an award/recognition, but it is not an EC. I believe there is room in the Common App to provide a short summary of the award. It certainly can be part of an essay.
Great essay topic about the experience!
Thanks for the input everyone – very helpful!
It is not an award/recognition or an EC. It is an experience, which would make a great essay topic. This teacher should also be asked to write a recommendation.