By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

A group of Hays High School students are headed to a Europe later this month, and they are holding one last fundraiser to help raise money for the trip.

Lora Gallegos-Haynes, head of the Student International Travel Club, said 11 students and two sponsors will take a 13-day trip through Europe that will include stops in Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Saville, Costa De Sol and Morocco.

Gallegos-Haynes, a Spanish teacher at Hays High School, said the group has been raising funds to pay for the trip for the past two years by working the concession stand at Hays High, selling pizzas and baked goods and selling Hays High logo cups. This Saturday will mark the group’s second barbeque at Cerv’s at 27th and Vine.

The trip costs $4,500 through Education First Tours, which includes airfare, train tickets, tour bus, meals and entry fees.

Gallegos-Haynes said stops will include the Louvre, Prado Museum and a number of other tours. She said this is a good opportunity for students to learn about different cultures.

“We will have an opportunity to fly, ride one of the fastest trains in Europe as well as tour buses,” she said. “Many of the kids have never been on a plane, much less outside of Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska or Colorado.”

Saturday’s fundraiser is at Cerv’s is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. — or whenever the group runs out of hamburgers and hot dogs.

“This is more for the kids to get the spending money. Their trip has been paid for. Now we are working on getting them some money to spend,” Gallegos-Haynes said.

The group is scheduled to leave Wichita on May 27 and return June 8. Gallegos-Haynes said this is the 10th year HHS students have taken such a trip.