Anyone here have a child that...

Anyone have a child that was qualified for The United States Achievement Academy??
My son is in the 8th grade and pretty much has all A's and B's.
The other day he brought home a letter saying that he has been selected as a USAA National Honor Student Award Winner.
I was soo happy to read this letter it brought tears to my eyes.
They want to print his biography and picture in a hardbound year book. Along with that he gets scholarship applications too.
They sell the book for a whopping 50.00!! Which I would love more than anything to have, but it just isn't possible for us to swing that much by the deadline. So I'm hoping someone at his school will have a copy that we can look at and at least see it all in print.(keeping fingers crossed here)

Now...here is my drawback. You see Cody is what they call Developmentally Delayed. Although he is 14 going on 15 his mind only works as if it were about 6 or 7yr old.
Cody is soo full of life and has never met a person he didn't like. He's always been popular with all the teachers and students during his 8 yrs of school. He leaves a very lasting impression on everyone he meets.
So the problem is, does anyone here know if this is a for real kind of thing?? Is it just a way to scam me out of money? Does every child get the same letter??
I can't seem to get in touch with his teacher, so I can't ask her all these questions until I do.
But I wanted to run it past you all and see if any of you have had any children that may have gotten this same type of letter??
Their web site talks mostly about the scholarships and etc, nothing about this type of letters.
With my DH not working, I'd hate to scrap up the money and find out later that it is a scam.

Please give me any input, as I can use all the advise I can get right about now.

Thanks ya'll.

Here is the site for this program. It indicates that children/youth are nominated by a Teacher in the school. You might inquire about how he was nominated. Scholarships awarded are listed with the name of the student, the Teacher who nominated them and the name of the School. I hope you find this helpful. Gary/Louisville

What will our student leaders receive for being nominated for the USAA Award?
Each student nominated will receive a congratulatory letter from the United States Achievement Academy.
The USAA Award recipients will be recognized in the appropriate edition of the USAA Official Yearbook listing their achievements and scholastic activities.
Each award winner will be eligible to compete for scholarship grants awarded by the Academy.
Each award recipient may voluntarily order the Official Yearbook. USAA Award recipients will receive a news release for local distribution.
.
A survey of teachers nationwide indicates a 95.2% positive appraisal of Academy Programs.
More than 600 teachers out of 2,000 polled responded, 95.2% favorably, to all questions asked concerning the United States Achievement Academy’s national programs in a survey.
The survey results were tabulated under the supervision of the certified public accounting firm of Hardmand and Wagers. The 23-question evaluation form was sent to every teacher who had participated in the program for one year or more. On the Academy evaluation form, the teachers were asked their opinions of various aspects of the awards program.

http://www.usaa-academy.com/Pages/edu2.html

Thanks Gary, I've been reading and re reading the letter they sent home and the web site you told me about. I just hope that I can get in touch with his teacher and maybe find out all the other details.
Thanks again

When I was in high school I got letters saying I was in the Who's Who of American High School Students and another book, titled something about High School Leaders. My parents scraped together the money (I believe $50, even back then!!) to get one of the books. There was a copy of my high school picture and a little write up about me, not more than a sentence or two about any of the thousands of kids in the book. Each page, if I recall, had 15 to 20 pictures and write ups on it. It didn't help me get into college, my grades and ACT scores did that, it didn't help get any scholarships I wouldn't have been eligible for anyway. It is a nice momento (though I couldn't tell you where it is today), and made my parents very proud.
Deb

Same here momcat....might as well put my name on your post.

A nice honor..several at our school got it, but didn't actually help me with anything.

Mollybee, the fact that the school sent it home with Cody is a positive reason and if it will help him to be proud of his accomplishments, I would say go for it. I was thinking it was like Who's Who and I have known of people that have made it into that.

Whether your child is developmentally disabled or not, he is still evidentally working at his pace to be a good student.

Hugs to Cory. I'm proud of him, whether he gets published or not. Kathy

Thank you all so much for your input.
All your suggestions have helped me a great deal.

I am really hoping to hear from his teacher on Monday,
So she can maybe help us get a copy of the book.
Again Thanks ya'll, you're the best!

I got stuff like this when I was in high school, too. It does nothing for you except boost your ego a tiny bit and you get to shell out $50.00 in the process. I wouldn't do it, but that's just my own opinion.

You could easily write a great op-ed piece from a humanitarian standpoint on your son and have the local newspaper print it and it would mean 1000 times more than having a tiny blurb in a book that no one else will ever read anyway.

I think it's great that your son is doing so well. That's an awesome testimony to you and to him. Great job! Cody sounds like a real joy to be around.

Ditto on the last several comments. I would accept the honor and brag about it to show your immense pride in your son. I would stop short of spending $50 though that would really hurt the budget. The idea of putting his picture and a list of his accomplishments in the local paper's community page sounds like a great idea. I know my small town paper would publish almost anything in the community pages when I was growing up. That way you could still have a copy of his achievement in print at a greatly reduced cost, plus he would receive much more attention since friends, family, neighbors, etc. could read about it. Great idea smilin32.!

I was one of those "Who's Who" students, too. It's a real published book, but anyone can publish a book, and the only people looking at it will be other parents whose kids are in the book. The publishers are preying on (if that is not too strong a term) on parents' and grandparents' pride of their children. Though the letter came from the school, the school might not realize that this is sort of a pseudo book (if indeed it is) and maybe the company pays the school district something in return for distributing these letters to the better students.

Same here with High School,

I got a letter about a year ago, very similar, I can't remember who was publishing it, but it was basically the same thing, or a "who's who" in American Colleges and Universities Same cost, 50 bucks for a Leather bound copy-- I pitched it.

While yes, it's an honor to be nominated, at 37, I don't need the accolades anymore. The only awards I was worried about were the Scholarships I got from my college. :-)

But, if it were my kids, yep, I'd probably do it too. Perhaps you can order one late?

Well I have taken ya'lls advise. We are just soo strapped for money right now, I can't see paying for this out of pocket.
I think I'll just check the box that says they will put his info in the book and let it go at that.

Thanks ya'll. I was sooo worried about having to tell Cody that I couldn't afford the book. He is such a super kid and well deserving. I just hope he understands.

Thanks again ya'll

You know, that brings me back (way to many years) when I was in highschool, and I was nominated for "Who's Who in American High School Students", both my Jr. & Sr. year. I never could figure out "why" and noone would tell me "who" nominated me. (I was in sports, music & editor of the paper, but nothing "spectacular", I was average, and so were my grades).

My parents thought it was a scam (I believe it was only $25.00 then, unless you wanted more about you in it, and then it was more).

Since then, I have seen those "Who's Who" books on occasion, in peoples homes, and they are real. BUT, whether colleges or universities actually pay any attention to them, when recruiting is beyond me.

I think this kind of thing is on par with the International Library of Poetry and other vanity publishing organizations who give awards and then want the winners to shell out money to buy the books. It's nice to have the honors, but it cheapens it when you know the publishers are praying on emotionally charged winners and their families. I knowt hat all marketing is manipulation of some sort, but this kind of thing really bums me out.

FYI, you might want to watch out for "National Honor Roll" scam, too: http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?6/35760


This message was edited Mar 9, 2004 4:29 PM

I got one of those Who's Who letter too way back when. I knew it was not on the up and up because my grades were not that good and I wasn't involved in any extra cirricular activities. Just one of those people who was studying hard and hoping to get that degree, pass the state tests and get a good job in my chosen field.

Yeah - I think they are all scams. When I asked "Who's Who" who nominated me, they told me "that's confidential information." Why? Because noone had nominated me? lol! Why they didn't send the letter to the REAL athletes, or REAL scholars, etc.... is beyond me - they never got the letter. It was very strange.