TAPplication

Click here to submit a letter of recommendation for a student.

To apply to be a part of TAP Adventures continue on this page.

Student Application for Acceptance in TAP Adventures

Not just anyone gets to go on one of our trips. We’re very picky about who we select. We want to take kids who genuinely want to learn, grow, and experience the world. We want to take kids who are going to be excited to be a part of our group. We want to take kids who are good members of their community and school, and who want better things for themselves. We want to take kids who will participate in our classes, be active in our fund raising efforts, actively seek out knowledge about the destination, and will make our group better just by being there. This application is your chance to show us that you’re that type of kid. In the spaces below, convince us that you’d make TAP Adventures better.

Notice how we didn’t say anything about grades. We care more about what kind of person you are than how the letters on your report card look. We’d rather take a C student who busts their butt to get those grades and is a nice kid than take an A student who punches babies and is lazy. Don’t get us wrong, we’re teachers, failing classes is bad, but we look more at your character than your grades. However, just in case – work hard and keep those grades as high as you can.

Our application has three parts, so read through this process carefully so that you get all of the pieces done.

Part 1:

The first thing you need to do is submit the first part of our TAPplication.  It’s real simple, but it lets us know that you’re interested in TAP and are working on the second and third parts of the process.   Just click on the link below and fill out the form on the next page.

Part 1 of our TAPplication.(DO NOT FORGET there are two more parts below).

Part 2:

You need to submit four letters of recommendation:

You’ll need to think of four people that you trust to speak on your behalf.  The letters they write should include their name, their title, how they know you, and any begging, pleading, or general saying of nice things they’d like to do for you. They should not include your name in the body of the letter.  Simply, your references should tell us why they think you should be selected to participate in our group. They should send those letters to MinookaTAP2@gmail.com (the letter should be in the body of the email, not an attachment AND your name should be the subject of the email) OR they can submit them to the “letters of recommendation” section of this website.

1. The first letter should be from one of your middle school or high school teachers. Think about teachers who you feel got to know you well enough to write a letter on your behalf, then ask them to please, please, please write one for you. Those teachers should expect a few follow up questions via email.
2. The second letter should be written by another adult (not a school teacher and not someone related to you). Your baseball coach, karate instructor, dance teacher, the lady you babysit for, a neighbor who knows you well… Any of those folks will do.
3. Your third letter needs to come from an adult family member. Seeing what your family has to say about you helps us understand where you come from and what type of person you are, so ask mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, aunts, uncles, or older siblings to write a letter on your behalf.
4. The fourth letter is your choice. Pick from any of these folks: another teacher, another coach, another unrelated adult, a former TAP traveler, your principal (we’d be very impressed by those), President Obama, Harry Potter, anyone… Just ask someone you trust to write a nice letter that will help us get to know you.

Part 3:

While your friends and teachers are working on those letters, you can work on the third part of the application.  These answers require a little more thought than part 1.  In this section, you have a choice to make – you can write essays to answer the questions we’re asking, or you can submit a video response.  Remember what it says up above, though:

Not just anyone gets to go on one of our trips. We’re very picky about who we select. We want to take kids who genuinely want to learn, grow, and experience the world. We want to take kids who are going to be excited to be a part of our group. We want to take kids who are good members of their community and school, and who want better things for themselves. We want to take kids who will participate in our classes, be active in our fund raising efforts, actively seek out knowledge about the destination, and will make our group better just by being there. This application is your chance to show us that you’re that type of kid. In the spaces below, convince us that you’d make TAP Adventures better.

If you choose to write an essay, we suggest writing them in a Word Document or a Google Doc, then, after you’ve perfected them, copy/paste them into our form here.  Your essays should each be about one page long and be well thought out and organized. If your essay doesn’t fit, you may email it in the body of the email (no attachments) to MinookaTAP2@gmail.com

If you choose to submit a video application, film and edit your video as you see fit.  Post it on YouTube.  Then, in the space where other kids will post their written essay, post a link to your video.

Part 3 of our TAPplication.

Good luck.