ClearCause Founder Sheryl Hill Honored in Saving the World on Good Must Grow!

Good Must Grow has chosen ClearCause founder Sheryl Hill as one of fifteen people who are saving the world in 2013!

 “There are so many brilliant minds raising up worthy causes and fueling a new form of capitalism. So many exceptionally talented individuals who have abandoned cushy corner offices, fat paychecks and the typical corporate ladder in favor of new adventures that just might change the world. As we close out 2013, we thought it was appropriate to reflect on some of these modern day heroes,” reads an article on the Good Must Grow blog.

Sheryl’s son, Tyler Hill, died a preventable death while studying abroad in Japan on a People to People Student Ambassador trip when he was only sixteen. Read his story here.

Sheryl’s biography on the blog reads as follows: “Sheryl turned the tragic loss of her son into a powerful nonprofit that helps keep kids safe when they travel abroad. She’s attacked a pressing and previously unaddressed issue and made miraculous strides in only a few short years.”

Sheryl is incredibly passionate and driven to keep youth safe as they study abroad. Her work needs to be applauded! 

Thank you Heath Shackleford! We think Good Must Grow is changing the world too!

USA Today College Article Applauds ClearCause’s Study Abroad Safety Work!

A recent USA Today College article applauds ClearCause’s work in protecting students who study abroad!

Rose Conry, the student author of this article, tells her story of studying abroad in Valparaiso, Chile. While she was there, she found out another study abroad student in her organization had passed away. 283,332 students studied abroad in 2011-2012 school year, according to the Institute of International Education. “Some of these students never made it back, but learning the exact number of deaths is difficult, due to the lack of mandatory reporting at state or federal levels,” she wrote.

ClearCause founder Sheryl Hill is quoted in the article, saying: “We wrongly assume that the laws to protect our kids are there, and they’re not.” At ClearCause’s urging, both state Senator Terri Bonoff and state Representative Yvonne Selcer are trying to expand the law requiring study abroad programs with enrolled Minnesota students to have mandatory safety reports.

“We are hoping that this could be a model for other states and perhaps for federal action,” Bonoff said.

Deaths, illness, injury and crime statistics would all be included in these reports. The hope is that greater transparency within study abroad programs “to enable families to make informed decision regarding study-abroad options without restricting students’ opportunities overseas,” the article reported.

Sheryl plans to create an anonymous reporting system on ClearCause’s website where students can leave feedback on various study abroad programs.

“When those kids die, we all lose. We lose all that potential,” Sheryl said.

Read the full article here.

ClearCause Safety Work in Study Abroad Featured in KSTP News

 ClearCause is featured on a KSTP Channel 5 News  which aired Thursday October 24, 2013.

Twenty-year-old Thomas Plotkin was hiking in a remote part of India on a study abroad trip with National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) when his life ended.  His mother, Elizabeth Brenner, is rallying for her son in a wrongful death lawsuit against NOLS. Thomas’ body was never found.

“He was beautiful. He was perfect. He was my world,” Brenner said.

ClearCause founder Sheryl Hill’s son Tyler Hill also died a preventable death while traveling abroad in Japan on a People to People Student Ambassador trip. "I wanted to give my son the world. It's not worth it if they die," Sheryl said.

Brenner filed a lawsuit in federal court against NOLS, accusing them of negligence in her son’s death, the article reported. “She alleges that NOLS didn’t provide enough instruction and supervision to its students and didn’t get to authorities fast enough after Plotkin’s fall,” the article reported.

"No one investigates these programs. They investigate themselves," Sheryl said. "You need to know everything that happens on those trips and who you are trusting your child to because there are sometimes no second chances.”

That’s why ClearCause exists – we fight for safety, transparency, regulation and oversight in the youth and student abroad industry.  Safety is not an accident.

 Watch the full story here.

Watch Elizabeth Brenner's story below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfD0ZKt4e2w

Pioneer Press Highlights Tragic Death of Thomas Plotkin in NOLS and ClearCause Safety Work

A Pioneer Press article published today highlights the story of Thomas Plotkin, a 20-year-old college student who died in the Himalayas while on a study abroad trip to India with National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Read Thomas’ full story here.

Thomas’ mother, Elizabeth Brenner, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against NOLS in federal court. The lawsuit states that her son’s death was because of NOLS’ “willful and wanton” negligence and that the company knew there was significant risk “of severe injury or death,” the article reported.

“NOLS' own investigation determined the death ‘was nothing more than a tragic accident,’ the suit says. But an inquiry by the Indian government was more damning, saying the path the students were on ‘comprises a rough terrain and is very bad in some instances,’” the Pioneer Press article reported.

"Keeping these adverse geographical conditions in mind, the possibility of an accident can never be denied, and hence it does not seem proper to have trekked that path during the evening and under a light drizzle," the Indian investigation concluded.

Bruce Palmer, the school’s director, said that NOLS takes about 3,000 students a year in field-based programs. 23,000 students have graduated from the NOLS program since it was established in 1965, the article reported.

There is little or no oversight of the programs through which American students study abroad, ClearCause founder Sheryl Hill says. Sheryl Hill, mother of Tyler Hill, who died a preventable death on a People to People Student Ambassador trip to Japan in 2007, created the ClearCause Foundation to advocate for safe global youth travel.

"What we've learned is that there is no oversight, there are no laws, there is no accountability," said Sheryl in the article. "The laws that protect our kids on campuses here do not exist when those campuses take our students abroad.”

Sheryl and Elizabeth urged authorities and state legislators to join ClearCause’s work in keeping students safe in study abroad programs. Now, Senator Terri Bonoff and State Representative Yvonne Selcher plan to introduce legislation requiring study abroad programs to report injuiries and deaths of students in hopes of keeping future study abroad trips more safe.

"They don't even have to tell you when bad things happen," said Hill. "We're trying to put the 'count' in 'accountability.' These programs are encouraging kids to go abroad and they're offering credits and they need to be transparent. When they're putting our students on unsafe roads or in unsafe houses and they refuse to talk to parents about it, they need to be sanctioned."

Read the full article here.

Watch Elizabeth's story below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfD0ZKt4e2w

ClearCause Featured in Three News Articles: Keeping Study Abroad Safe

ClearCause’s work to keep study abroad safe has recently been featured in three news articles from Minnesota Public Radio and the Minnesota Daily!

Read the Minnesota Public Radio article, the “Study abroad safely” editorial letter to the Minnesota Daily by Stacey Tsantir, ClearCause board member emeritus and Director of International Health, Safety and Compliance and the “Prioritizing student safety abroad,” article written by the Minnesota Daily Editorial Board.

All three articles discuss how ClearCause is advocating for safety and regulations in study abroad programs. The MPR article reported that MN Sen. Terri Bonoff and MN Rep. Yvonne Selcer will be drafting legislation this coming session after working alongside ClearCause.The “Prioritizing student safety abroad” article by the Minnesota Daily’s Editorial Board agreed  that Congress should increase safety in study abroad. Stacey Tsantir’s letter to the editor in the Minnesota Daily reflects on Clery Act Reporting and thoughtful considerations.

ClearCause founder Sheryl Hill commented on the article written by the Minnesota Daily Editorial Board, saying, “Students and families have the right to know the safety record, mishaps, and 'what the heck goes on over there' when programs escort our best and brightest into foreign countries and the trip goes south.

Global understanding is an awesome goal. Our best and brightest have fallen from windows and balconies that are not to 'US' code. They have been placed in housing without fire safety. When you have a fair mechanism for reporting that protects and informs our leaders in the industry will be the funnel for 'study applaud' and the safest programs will hopefully be championing more of our kids, instead of the cheapest ones.

Companies that sex/labor traffic foreign students in the U.S.A. have been sanctioned by the U S DOS since 2011. (CETUSA; PIE) Our best and brightest students deserve no less. THANK YOU DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD for this compelling article. I believe, wholeheartedly, that Minnesota (including the UofM) will set and raise the bar for Minnesota, America and potentially the world. Safety means the world to our students on programs abroad. Safety is NOT an accident. Our goal at ClearCause is transparency in an industry held to the highest standards, zero preventable deaths and injuries in student programs abroad.”

Have you used your voice to advocate for study abroad reform – to set a high standard and make it the best it can be?  

ClearCause Safety Study Abroad Efforts Highlighted in the StarTribune!

The Star Tribune published an article that highlights ClearCause and State Senator Terri Bonoff’s vision to maximize safety for students studying abroad.

Read the full article here.

ClearCause founder Sheryl Hill and Elizabeth Brenner contacted Senator Bonoff in June 2013 and asked her to work alongside ClearCause towards safe global youth travel for American students. Sheryl’s son, Tyler Hill, died a preventable death in a People to People student ambassador trip to Japan. Elizabeth’s son’s body (Thomas Plotkin) was never found after he traveled to India with National Outdoor Leadership School in 2011. Bonoff is planning on introducing legislation early in the 2014 session to help keep students safe while abroad.

“The law, co-authored in the House by Representative Yvonne Selcer, DFL-Minnetonka, would expand a Minnesota statute to protect students abroad to the same or greater degree that foreign students are protected here,” the Star Tribune article reported.

The law would require study abroad programs to reporttheir numbers of injuries and deaths of students. Without this law, study abroad programs aren’t held accountable to authorities or families.

“Programs, Hill said, investigate themselves and often notify their insurance companies and attorneys before notifying families, ‘if they even notify families,’” the Star Tribune article reported.

Boston attorney David P. Angueira represents two families of students who died while studying abroad and fully supports the efforts of Sheryl and ClearCause. “Parents love the idea of sending their kids on these trips,” Angueira said. “What parents don’t know is that these companies enter into independent contract agreements with providers in host countries. Some are licensed, but not all. The tour company will have schools and students sign releases. How often do you read the small print? You’d better start reading it. They put in language that says, ‘If your kid gets killed, you can’t sue us,’ ” he said in the Star Tribune article.

ClearCause and Bonoff hope that Minnesota can become a model for the nation through their efforts to keep students safe while studying abroad.

“Sheryl Hill is already a brave role model for too many families enduring unfathomable loss. ’Sheryl is driven to make a difference,” Bonoff said. “She sees herself as everyone’s mom. They’re all her kids.’”

Read the full article here.

The Kansas City Star on Justin Johnston and ClearCause Safety

An article from the Kansas City Star gives yet another view of the fight the Johnston family is putting up in defense of their son Justin, who was killed while studying abroad in Costa Rica in June 2011. (Read Justin’s story here.)

Justin was shot by a hotel security guard when he was returning to his hotel room late at night. After his death, Justin’s family conducted in-depth investigations into the study-abroad program Justin went with to Costa Rica, but it was too late to save their son. Now the Johnston family fights for justice.

The ClearCause Foundation works to warn parents and schools of the potential dangers in international education trips. Together with ClearCause founder, Sheryl Hill, the Johnston family is working towards a safer, more monitored and sanctioned industry bringing the study abroad trips to life. ClearCause advocates for safe study abroad programs and works to protect and inform students.

Read more about the Johnston’s family and ClearCause’s mission in the full Kansas City Star article here.