You can win a prize valued at $1,000 ($500 cash and $500 towards a future WCC/360° trip!)

Details are below.

“SHOW US YOUR SUMMER” VIDEO CONTEST:

We know you’ve taken a ton of photos. You may even have some awesome videos too. Now’s your chance to put it all together!

WE’RE LOOKING FOR THE BEST TRIP RECAP!

Put together a creative montage highlighting your summer experience. Use all of your photos, videos and anything else you’ve acquired. Be creative! Add captions, testimonials, transitions, sounds, music … anything you think will make your final product stand out!

The grand prize winner for our “Show Us Your Summer” Video Contest will win a prize valued at $1,000 ($500 cash and a $500 discount off of a summer 2011 trip)! Second prize will win $250 cash and $250 off of a summer 2011 trip. Third prize will win $100 cash and $100 off of a summer 2011 trip.

Our directors will narrow down the selection to the top 5 videos. After that, we will post them to our blog and let YOU decide the winner!

Official Rules of “Show us Your Summer” Video Contest:

- Videos will be judged on originality, creativity, most importantly, how they capture the Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel experience. Submissions should not contain inappropriate content.

- This contest is open to teens who have participated in a summer 2010 Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel program. Each video must be an original creation.

-  Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel reserves the right to modify any submissions for promotional use.

- There is no limit to the length of a video. It should be able to hold the attention of an audience. You may submit multiple entries so long as each entry meets the requirements.

- All videos submitted become property of Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel and can be used in future marketing and promotional material.

- Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel Directors will select five winners. These five videos will be uploaded to the official Westcoast 360° Blog for voting. The winner will be chosen after a period of one week (seven days).

“Show us Your Summer” Video Contest submissions must be received by September 15^th.

________________________________________________________________

Videos should be burned to a CD and mailed to:

or

Good luck!

The Westcoast Blogger

We hope that you had a fantastic summer and are enjoying sharing all of your memories with your family and friends.

ANNOUNCING OUR ANNUAL WESTCOAST CONNECTION / 360° STUDENT TRAVEL PHOTO AND VIDEO CONTEST.

PHOTO CONTEST (Contest #1):

You’re invited to submit photos for our annual brochure photo contest.  There is a prize of $50 for each photo selected for one of our brochures and $100 for the top photo selected by our directors as the #1 traveler photo.

All photo submissions must be on CD-ROM and a minimum of 4.0 mega-pixels.

All entrees must be received by August 20^th.

Please note, entries submitted via email will not be accepted.  Photos selected for use on our website are not eligible for prizes.

________________________________________________________________________________________

“SHOW US YOUR SUMMER” VIDEO CONTEST (Contest #2):

We know you’ve taken a ton of photos. You may even have some awesome videos too. Now’s your chance to put it all together!

WE’RE LOOKING FOR THE BEST TRIP RECAP!

Put together a creative montage highlighting your summer experience. Use all of your photos, videos and anything else you’ve acquired. Be creative! Add captions, testimonials, transitions, sounds, music … anything you think will make your final product stand out!

The grand prize winner for our “Show Us Your Summer” Video Contest will win a prize valued at $1,000 ($500 cash and a $500 discount off of a summer 2011 trip)! Second prize will win $250 cash and $250 off of a summer 2011 trip. Third prize will win $100 cash and $100 off of a summer 2011 trip.

Our directors will narrow down the selection to the top 5 videos. After that, we will post them to our blog and let YOU decide the winner!

Official Rules of “Show us Your Summer” Video Contest:

- Videos will be judged on originality, creativity, most importantly, how they capture the Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel experience. Submissions should not contain inappropriate content.

- This contest is open to teens who have participated in a summer 2010 Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel program. Each video must be an original creation.

-  Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel reserves the right to modify any submissions for promotional use.

- There is no limit to the length of a video. It should be able to hold the attention of an audience. You may submit multiple entries so long as each entry meets the requirements.

- All videos submitted become property of Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel and can be used in future marketing and promotional material.

- Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel Directors will select five winners. These five videos will be uploaded to the official Westcoast 360° Blog for voting. The winner will be chosen after a period of one week (seven days).

“Show us Your Summer” Video Contest submissions must be received by September 15^th.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Photos and videos should be burned to a CD and mailed to:

or

________________________________________________________________________________________

We look forward to seeing your amazing photos for the photo contest by August 20^th and your videos for the “Show us your Summer” Video Contest by September 15^th!

Good luck!

The Westcoast Blogger

Switzerland

Sweitz, La Suisse. This amazing little country has four official languages and though it occupies an area smaller than most U.S. states and has a population that is less than Manhattan, they manage to produce some incredible soccer talent.  Training at higher altitude gives this team the ability to show up physically fit and make up for some of the imbalance they have compared to the more talented European teams like Portugal, Spain and England.  The Swiss are considered minnows but for the past four World Cups that they have participated in, they have been a tough competitor. In 2006, they became the first team in the history of the cup to be knocked out without having conceded a goal (they were eliminated in the 2nd round in a penalty shootout with the Ukraine).

You can visit Switzerland while skiing or snowboarding in miraculous Zermatt or Tignes or gazing at breathtaking Interlaken on many of our programs in Europe including our European Discovery, European Escape, European Experience, European Escapade, Backpack France and Switzerland and Backpack Europe programs.

Spain

Can La Rojo be stopped?  When you think of soccer skills, everyone seems to think of Argentina and Brazil and thoughts of Pele and Maradona come to mind but since 2007 the best team in the world has truly been Spain. The winner of the 2008 European Cup, Spain oozes with talent. Up front they have two of the best in Liverpool’s Fernando Torres and Barcelona’s brand new signing David Villa (both of whom would be the starting forward on any team in the world). But it is in midfield where Spain just cannot be compared. Names like Xaxi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Xabi Alonso, David Silva and Pedro are enough to make any team unable to sleep at night. These guys play for teams like Barcelona, Valencia, Real Madrid and Arsenal and can move the ball like it is a part of their body. If there is one weakness with the Spaniards, it could be their defense. But when you are this good going forward, who needs defense!

With 360° Student Travel you can travel throughout Spain on our Language Immersion program called the Spanish Spectacular or spend your summer in Barcelona on our Pre-College Enrichment: Barcelona program.

The Westcoast Blogger

Now that everything is normal, the Italian fans expect nothing but the best. Their team however has overachieved and, though still a powerhouse, is not nearly the team they once were. Leaders like former captain Francesco Totti and 2006 match winner Fabio Grosso have been left out of the team and those remaining are not all Internationally tested. A group consisting of Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia should gain the Italian team much needed confidence but don’t expect them to go much further than the round of 16.  Having said that, the same thing was said 2006 and they managed to lift the cup. With arguably the best “keeper in the world and the stingiest defense,” you just never know.

You can enjoy sumptuous pasta and the energy of Italy on all of our European touring programs including our European Discovery, European Escape, European Experience, European Escapade, Backpack Italy and Backpack Europe programs.

The Westcoast Blogger

Netherlands

The ‘Oranje‘ – This is one of the most exciting teams to watch and one of the best teams in the world. They are not favorites like Brazil and Argentina, but to those who truly follow the game, it is being quietly whispered that this will be Holland’s year.  There are no weaknesses on this team. They are fast, they are skillful, they are talented and they have a young team that is reaching its peak at the right time.

At the front, they have possibly one of the best forwards in the world, Arsenal’s Robin van Persie. In midfield they have a plethora of talent from Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan, Arjen Robben and Mark van Bommel of Bayern Munich (playing against each other in the Champions League Final May 22^nd) and Rafael van der Vaart of Real Madrid.

If you have yet to pick a team to root for and want to follow one that guarantees a wild ride, root for the Netherlands.

Our European Discovery is fortunate enough to visit the Netherlands’ most famous city, Amsterdam, for 2 days. The program tours the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank’s house as well as does an awesome bike tour through the city (the preferred method of transport in Holland!). The most memorable activity is always the comedy show at Boom Chicago Comedy Club.

The Westcoast Blogger