Inaugural Youth 'Scam' Controversy Continues

I WAS THERE

I personally attended PYIC. It was not near as bad as everyone is making it out to be. We listened to many speakers and yes we were up early and to bed late but we did so much stuff everyday that we'll never get to do again. also we had plenty of time to sleep on busses and we made alot of new friends. also yes it was cold and we walked alot but that was on the day of the inauguration other than that we were at our hotels or the University of Maryland. also the day of the inauguration our FA gave us her cell number in case we were to get lost and everyone was with a group of friends. Everyone is throwing way to big a fit about this. honestly there were alot of flaws with the program but when your at such a historic event and you have that many people you have to expect that.

CJ of IN @ May 29, 2009 18:24:23 PM

I feel u

hey guys i attended the conference too and have to say i had a good time in DC but only because of the people and the other things we did independently apart from the conference. In fairness I could have done all of that by myself. the actual conference was a flop because it was too large and too unorganized. They didn't really have a solid program and hadn't thought of the logistic difficulties in getting 5000 people through a city that had been filled with an extra million or two. Al Gore and Colin Powell were good but i'm sure there will be other opportunities to watch these men speak with another 5000 people. The only reason I paid was cause I thought the group was small so we were getting a more personal address.

wayne of VA @ Mar 23, 2009 22:45:39 PM

Alexandria Nicholas

the event was indeed a scam. It reads like we were specially invited to be apart of history--history of billions with no priority nor concern. both my family and I still struggle with disappointment because neither the prepaid photos are apart of my memory. the event could have been accomplshed with my family for far less money and possibly tickets to a ball that really had the Obamas appearing.

I share the centiments of the hundreds of PYIC youths and hope that someone puts a stop to this scam.

Alexandira Nicholas of NY @ Feb 26, 2009 19:07:26 PM

Misrepresentation

"On the Mall," was actually not in my invitation. I was told that I would witness the inauguration and parade from an exclusive vantage. This was only one of the lies in the "invitation" sent to me.

Even when their HQ was called, they said there was a section set aside just for students to witness these events. That was a lie.

Everything they said would happen, did not. They didn't care if students returned medical information. They didn't care if students returned to their hotel rooms - no one checked!

Imagine a 13-year old child alone in a big city. She has been promised, based upon her good grades and exemplary conduct, that she will have a place to witness this historical event and, instead, she is abandoned on The Mall. A little map her only guide. Would you want your daughter or son in this situation?

Before you criticize the parents, understand that this organization has changed from being a reputable non-profit, to a disreputable for-profit that dismisses the safety of children for the safety of mega-bucks.

Before you judge anyone else, read the literature these people sent to attendees and potential attendees. It was not an educational experience. Well, it was, but not the sort you would want and certainly not the sort you would pay over $3,000 to have.

$3,000-how many credits does that buy in your university?

j willard of ME @ Feb 14, 2009 11:59:56 AM

Partially Correct

I was one of the participants and I was not only led to believe I would have a ticket to the inauguration and the ball, but they also promised us seminars with the famous blind man who climbed Mt Everest, Lance Armstrong and many other high profile people. The only two people we had a conference with were Al Gore and Colin Powell. These to gentleman had amazing words of wisdom, but I still feel I missed out on many other seminars with intellectual and well traveled people. Overall the experience I had with UPIC was not up to standard with the other conferences I’ve been involved in under the Congressional Youth Leadership Conference “umbrella”, for example, The National Youth Leadership Conference. I was expecting a well organized experience with well informed advisors. Instead I found myself standing out in the frigid cold for more than an hour on multiple occasions and the advisors were not only uninformed but they didn’t have a line of communication to find out the information they didn’t know, generally they would just point to another advisor and state: “Try him/her, he’ll/she’ll should know the answer” which was continuously false! I can’t believe that UPIC was so unorganized and so disappointing!

JESSICA NANTS of OH @ Feb 06, 2009 09:48:30 AM

Inaugural Youth Scam

This 'Conference' was a creature of Envision EMI LLC of Vienna VA a heavy-duty marketing firm mainly out for the bucks -- the bigger bucks the better (according to their vision statement) that has generated an avalanche of complaints to the web, blogs, Facebook, the BBB of Metro Washington DC etc. As far as I can tell, they have a long history of very questionable marketing practices, misrepresentations, etc. and many disgruntled and angry/furious 'customers' howling for their scalps.

A fiasco, fraud, scam, heartbreak, ... you name it. Many, many students were ripped off and missed out on the opportunity of lifetime because they (or more likely their parents) paid big bucks but didn't even get to SEE the Inauguration!!

Larry Wiley of NJ @ Feb 01, 2009 16:23:46 PM

Well....

I went and had an amazing time.

Don't get me wrong. All of that's true.

(Except for not seeing the inauguration. We were there. It was cold. There were a lot of people. What did you expect?).

But I think everyone's looking at it in the worst possible way.

Some of the speakers we had seen made a huge impact on my life and I think waiting in the bus, in the lobby, and in the cold, were definitely worth it.

Meeting new people was also something that I enjoyed. Some people even made life long friendships.

About us not being fed, that's not completely true. If we were late for a meal and didn't get to eat, there was pizza waiting for us at our hotel. Also, I doubt the lunches served to us were the reason for some scholars coming home sick. I'm sure some came home sick without eating those lunches and some didn't come home sick with eating those lunches. I came home with a head cold. Which I believe was simply because we were outside for so long on the day of the inauguration.

They may have sent too many kids to go with this conference, but I'm sure majority of these students could say they were proud to be there witnessing history.

Jess of MI @ Jan 31, 2009 10:36:28 AM

This doesn't begin to cover the issue

I am a parent of one of the college students. We were assured this was a limited group and we needed to sign her up right away to assure her spot. We began making payments on this long before we even knew who would be inaugurated. We were never informed of the 15000 students being taken, far more than ever before. It appears kids were allowed to "sign up" (pay their money) as late as 4 weeks ago.

This was a pure example of greed and disregard for the children and their families they scammed.

Please continue to cover this story and encourage other media to pick up on this.

Thanks.

Lee Ann of IL @ Jan 30, 2009 12:29:22 PM