Ereck Jarvis, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin- Madison and current employee of the Madison Hostel, was hired in September to run the day-to-day operations of Madison's only International Hostel.

Ereck joined the HI-Madison Hostel in the summer of 2005. During his first year as a front desk employee Ereck went above and beyond the call of duty, and made the hostel an excellent accomodation for over 4,000 international and domestic guests.

Besides excelling in his daily responsibilities at the hostel, Ereck is pursuing his doctorate in English and teaching courses in his department. His great leadership skills, customer service, and understanding of the hostel will make Ereck a great manager for Madison.

Introducing... Hostelling International-Wisconsin's new website.

Every month we dedicate a brief segment to the next program to be offered by Hostelling International - Wisconsin. This month we felt it important to give our readers a brief history of some of our programs to better inform you of not just "where" our next program is but "what" it entails and "why" we offer this as a community educational program in Wisconsin.

World Travel 101 (WT101) is an educational travel seminar designed for travelers and potential travelers of all ages. This workshop is a place for folks who have not traveled much to start their voyage... ultimately to become savvy travelers and respectful global citizens. Travel Education Seminars are designed to teach the essentials- they offer information about how to prepare for domestic and international travel, and they focus on what it means to “journey with an open mind and gentle heart.” World Travel 101 workshops go beyond providing basic travel tips in order to educate young people not only about how to travel, but about why it is important to travel in a way that is respectful to different cultures, peoples and norms. Offered in schools and community venues, this program is designed primarily for young people preparing for their first trips, but can also be valuable to adult hostellers looking to expand the scope and depth of their trips. The seminar also helps participants approach hostelling as a fun, thoughtful, and unique learning experience.

At present Hostelling Internatinal-Wisconsin has provided WT101 seminars at public libraries, on campus at the UW, at local coffee shops, and at the Madison REI. One major accomplishment in the fall of 2005 included a large-scale presentation of WT101 to a Womens' Studies course at the UW-Madison. Within an hour and a half we collaborated with 160 college students, and had an excellent dialogue about being a global citizen, cultural factors one may encounter while traveling, and special considerations for the solo female traveler.

If you are interested in having HI-Wisconsin present this program to a group of students or would simply like to host an hour program on the essentials of beginning travel, please contact our program and volunteer coordinator, Tina, at 608-441-0030.

See the "Volunteer" links on the left to explore various volunteer opportunities. If you are interested:

• Call Tina at 608.441.0030
• Email tina_madisonhostel@yahoo.com
• Stop by the Madison Hostel at 141 S. Butler Street

Over the past several months, we have detailed the happenings of the "Picture Your Summer" photo contest and Open House for the Madison Hostel. On Saturday September 16th, the Madison Hostel welcomed almost fifty guests and participants in our Picture Your Summer photo contest.

The goal of the event was to allow children, in two separate elementary schools, to detail their summer activities and community happenings via photography. Each child was given a disposable camera and had three months to take pictures- in the end, all contestants' photos were voted on, and contest winners received prizes. Winning photos were enlarged and hung inside the Madison Hostel. The real successes from this program were illustrated by engaging children in the learning process around community and culture as well as seeing the diversity in each child's neighborhood, family and summer activities around the city of Madison.

The children's photographs that were awarded prizes were:
Orchard Ridge Elementary (Pablo Soto, Mel Stec, Mashanti McIntosh, Jackson Harrington, Bene McGee, Ally Clarke, and Romell Denton).
Leopold Elementary (Lauren Wendland, Jacob Nelson, Tyler Sheppard, Robert Fritsch, Luis Limon-Hernandez, and Brandon Spence).

We would also like to thank our sponsors for supporting Hostelling International- Wisconsin and their help in making this event possible:

• Channel 27 news
• REI
• Acme Photo