Mrs. Malana Tharp, mother of AVA Executive Board member Emily Tharp (now Mrs. Emily Frantz as of 11 Nov 06) has offered to comfort and reassure any fretful parents that are concerned for their daughters travelling abroad. Malana was and still holds the record for being our most concerned and anxious mother.
In fact, in spite of Emily´s insistence, Malana did not allow Emily to participate in AVA 98. Emily was determined and was able to convince her mom to at least attend the parent info meeting. From that meeting through to departure Malana required constant reassurance. She can tell you more about that.
Suffice to say, Emily not only participated in AVA 99 her mother INSISTED that she also participate in AVA 2000. The future path this marked for Emily is best described by her mother. I have her permission to release her phone number and post her email. Just let us know.
You may phone her at: (602) 769-6350 or email her at: mtharp1@cox.net
A GREAT Letter from a Mom
It is so hard to imagine that 8 years have passed since Angela’s first trip to Spain with AVA! I remember all of the excitement the first time the ‘kids’ tried to finagle their parents (in April) out of the money to go with Kimo on his personal annual Spain trip (in June!) Obviously, that didn’t fly. Not with parents, and not with Kimo. He is a man of integrity, and anything worth having, is worth working for! So they began their quest…they found jobs, some with Kimo’s help. They organized car wash after car wash (remember when the Cobblestone carwash manager came over and PAID these enterprising young adults to stop because they were taking all of his business?) They started hiking mile after mile to get into shape. They learned how to pack 21 days of clothing and personal items (plus souvenirs on the way back home) into 12 square inches of backpack. Passports, shots, and let’s not forget how important it was to polish their understanding of the Spanish language! They started out as ‘kids’ in April of 1997, and after overcoming pick pockets, lost passports, and -oops!- sleeping on the train right past the intended destination, these highly dependent ‘kids’ arrived home safe, educated, exhilarated, enlightened, excited, exhausted, filled with pride, and very much adults! You could see it in each of their faces as they walked off the plane. They carried themselves with a whole new confidence, pride, and sense of self. I saw off my baby, and received back a confident, capable, young woman.
I truly feel that Angela’s experience that first year, and again her Senior year were an experience that she will never again be able to duplicate. The timing was perfect. She hadn’t yet begun her career, her college, a relationship, or a family. She was able to go off, worry free, with friends that have remained best friends to this day, to learn so much about Europe and even more about herself.
If there is a parent who is apprehensive about having his or her child so far from home, the only advice I can offer is to Let Go. This trip with AVA will offer your child an experience that you as his or her parent could never duplicate. Being away from your protective arms will encourage your teen to justly understand and truly respect what being responsible for himself and others is really about!
My best regards,
Jackie Kushnick