Before I leave for Aconcagua, I want to share with parents, teachers, educators and anyone else interested an idea I am working on.
I want to invite you to join a special opportunity in 2008 as I return to Mt. Everest. As you subscribers know, this is part of my Road Back to Mt. Everest: Memories are Everything - a year long effort to summit Everest and raise $100,000 for Alzheimer's research. The opportunity is for students to get personally involved and for educators to incorporate the climb into their curriculum.
As students follow my climb, I will call into the classroom a few times and do some Q&A via email. They will learn about the culture, geography and climbing. I will be climbing from Tibet (China) on the north side. The Chinese are taking the Olympic torch to the summit as part of their preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. This may be of interest to some.
On their side, the students could do some fund raising via events, car washes, etc. for Alzheimer's. The donations would go directly to Cure Alzheimer's Fund with 100% of the funds going to research - none to me, my climbing expenses or the CAF's overhead. In addition to raising money, the cascading impact of increased awareness through the students, their parents and other teachers should be high.
A PowerPoint presentation is available upon request that I created for CAF that may be useful in conversations with your School Board. I already have two schools who have "adopted" me. I can probably handle one or two more and would like one from outside the US. Please contact me with your questions or interest. I am leaving for Everest at the end of March.
Climb On!
Alan
