Petal, Mississippi, High School Students Plan Trip Abroad

The Petal High School Art Club in Petal, Mississippi, has an exciting year ahead of them. While many of them are making plans for college and they all are working diligently on their schoolwork and art projects, they are also planning a trip abroad. The club has plans to send at least six of their members on a trip to London and Paris next summer. While they go about their daily lives, they have fund raising plans in the works. The ages of the students who are participating range from 15 - 18 years old and all of them are responsible, hard working teenagers with a drive to make this trip a success.

Art teacher Mrs. Williamson has organized the trip and the students and their parents are meeting regularly to plan fund raisers. The trip is planned for June of 2009. Each student who plans to go must raise approximately $2500.00 plus spending money. The trip will last eight days and take them on a whirlwind tour of some of the greatest architectural and artistic wonders of the two cities. They will visit such places as Windsor Castle, Trafalgar Square, the Eiffel Tower, The Tower of London, the Louvre and Versailles.

Art student Jenna White has committed to the trip and is excited by the opportunity that this presents her to see places she has read about and never expected to actually visit. The historical and artistic value of the trip has convinced students to work incredibly hard to both keep their grades at a high academic level and also raise funds for the group as a whole. None of the parents is able to afford this trip without financial assistance and donations, so all of the students are involved in the fund raising efforts. Several students have been forced to drop out of the trip due to financial strains, and the rest of the students are working doubly hard to make sure that the rest of them can make trip a success.

Fund raisers that have already occurred or are planned for the near future include bake sales, garage sales, a raffle of donated items, a benefit concert planned for January and participation in a local charity sale at Belk's Department Store. Club President JoDanna Buckalew has plans for several other fund raisers and is working on locating a venue for the benefit concert in January. While the teens are working hard, the funds are slow coming in. There are high hopes that the Christmas raffle will help close the gap between the unattainable and the attainable so far as the trip is concerned.