A great preview of his book is on the Sports Illustrated website and can be found here. The book is is available at Amazon here.

“56” is a great read for the baseball fanatic, and a great thing to throw into your backpack while on our Major League Madness programs!

Speaking of Major League Madness, our schedules have recently been finalized with the release of the MLB schedule. Our East & Midwest program will see 12 games and visit 12 ballparks including Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. In California, you will visit 5 ballparks. For the outrageous fanatic, pair the two together and see 17 parks and games on our Combination program!

Hope to see you on the road this summer.

110 days until the season begins!

The Westcoast Blogger

The sticking began in 1993 when people waiting to get into the theater would stick their gum to the wall – many attaching coins to their gum. The theater scraped the gum twice … then gave up. In 1999, the wall was declared an official tourist attraction (check out the wall’s Facebook page here). The Gum Wall was featured in Love Happens with Jennifer Aniston and believe it or not is a very popular site for wedding photographers.

There are no “rules” for sticking, so leave your mark on the wall on our Adventurer, American Voyageur or Northwestern Odyssey this summer. If you’re feeling creative, make a design too. If the movement grows, this could become the #1 attraction in Seattle by next summer.

The Westcoast Blogger

Was it seeing a famous landmark like the Great Wall, Grand Canyon or Machu Picchu? Was it doing something new … bobsledding, SCUBA diving, aqua-sliding, surfing? Was it a fun memory at a campsite, Amazon jungle or on top of the Eiffel? Was it a trip song?

Post your favorite memory on our Facebook wall this week with the hash tag #bestsummerever. Don’t forget to include your trip name, number and year and feel free to include a photo, video and/or tag your friends as well.

Enjoy reminiscing; we can’t wait to share in your memories!

The Westcoast Blogger

Leading up to the big day, Izzy raised funds for the NYC charity Team For Kids and New York Road Runners who provides free or low-cost health and fitness programs to local children who would otherwise have little to no access to regular physical activity. Having worked with underprivileged children as a soccer coach in Montreal, Izzy felt very connected to their cause. To prepare for the marathon, Izzy trained four days a week for four months.

“The marathon itself was an amazing experience. The NYC hospitality was amazing during the run and I didn’t need friends/family to cheer me on as I had the crowd who were yelling ‘Go Izzy!’ since I wrote my name on the shirt I was running in. I was sort of worried about how I would do past the 20-mile mark since I had never ran that much. However, once into the Bronx, I realized I was only six miles from the finish line and begun accelerating my pace. I maintained this fast pace until the end despite the pain and exhaustion but at the end, it was totally worth it. As I crossed the finish line, I was already making plans in my head for when I would complete my next marathon.”

Coincidentally, Cal and Izzy actually ran in the same heat finishing less than a minute apart – but they didn’t know that the other one was there until days after the race. “It’s a wonder we never ran into each other,” Cal says. Cal has been running for about 10 years and completed a half-marathon two years ago. Just 5 weeks before the NYC Marathon, he learned that a family friend had an extra bib for the race and he decided to commit, running or biking nearly every day leading up to the big event.

“You start off at the base of the Verazano Bridge, everyone packed in tight, athletes from all over the world. I was feeling pretty unemotional as usual, not scared, not nervous, not particularly excited, but that quickly changed. They set-off a Howitzer cannon to start the race and then start playing “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra. As I started running up the bridge I was overcome with joy and the grandness of it all. That was when I knew it was going to be a great experience.”

Congrats again, guys! Way to go!

The Westcoast Blogger

P.S. – Staff, e-mail us at staff@westcoastconnection.com with what you’re up to!

Guess again!

We are proud to announce that Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel travelers completed 31,397 HOURS of community service in 2011!

What an incredible impact the Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel travelers have made! From Hawaii, to Peru, to Alaska, to China and beyond, our participants have truly made a lasting impact on the communities they have worked with and learned so much in the process. Let’s take this opportunity to highlight some of the amazing projects that our trips have been involved with in the last few months…

In California groups had the opportunity to work with Habitat for Humanity and build and construct alongside the families that will be moving into these homes in the future. Whether it was lending a hand with painting, caulking or hammering, our trip members didn’t hesitate to pitch in and help the community they became a part of.

Last summer on our Community Service elective on our Pre-College Enrichment program in Barcelona, 14 of our trip members worked at the Juvenile Center with children aged 5-9 years old. It was an incredible opportunity for our participants to interact with disadvantaged children to bring smiles to their faces while teaching English and practicing their Spanish.

Our summer in Costa Rica was a very special one. With Habitat for Humanity, all of our Costa Rica programs together help construct 3 houses in San Ramon. From the initial groundbreaking through the laying of foundation, floors, and putting up walls we did it all. An incredible accomplishment! We also worked with the Costa Rica Humanitarian Foundation building a brand new classroom for a school. The final group was able to hand the keys over to the teachers.

Our programs in South Africa had the unique opportunity to volunteer with the Morhotso Clinic where we spent an evening cooking a huge soup for all of the orphans and children. The next day our groups were able to play with and serve our soup to the children who were either orphaned because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic or whose parents were being treated at the Clinic.

Heading down south to the Amazon Jungle on the Ecuador & the Galapagos Community Service program, our trip members spent time clearing a soccer field for the Quicha community. We spent time with the local community playing soccer and practicing each other’s languages.

Congratulations to all our travelers who contributed to some amazing community service projects around the world. An outstanding accomplishment that works out to be 3.5 years of community service in ONE SUMMER!