A trip of a lifetime to the Big Easy.

This summer, 27 of Lee County High School's most talented students will experience an education like no other in New Orleans. Once there, they will visit historical monuments, tour two universities, and volunteer with Hurricane Katrina charities. As you can imagine, New Orleans is a vibrant city that must be experienced first-hand—nothing beats walking along the Mississippi River, eating a delicious beignet from Cafe du Monde, and listening to the world's greatest jazz. Our students have to know what this is like.

Since the price of an educational trip is high, our students are engaging in an ambitious fundraising challenge. They are taking on jobs, working at school fundraisers, and organizing their own fundraisers to save up for the trip. In the process, they are learning the values of hard work, perseverance, and careful planning.

While our students are working extremely hard to make this trip a reality, some face severe financial challenges. The cost of the trip is $650 per student, nearly $18,000 as a group. Even with family support, most of the students cannot pay for the trip out of pocket. School fundraising helps, but in a rural county that is poor and sparsely populated, it cannot cover the entire cost of the trip. We are asking for your generosity to sponsor our students on a trip of a lifetime.