I am a teacher at McLeansville Elementary School. We are a small country school with hardworking students and families who do not get the same opportunities to travel and experience new places due to financial reasons. Research shows that students from lower socioeconomic groups do not get the same background knowledge from travel that more affluent students do. Background knowledge and hands-on experiences have been closely linked to educational success, especially in the area of reading comprehension.

Because of this, our school plans an overnight trip every year for our fourth and fifth grade students. This year's 3-day/2-night trip will be to Washington DC. Students will get to visit many of the historical landmarks in DC. Last year, we were able to take our students to the Outer Banks thanks to the generosity of others. Please help us again.

This trip costs $550 per student and includes busing, all meals, lodging for two nights, and entrance to all the amazing locations in DC. We have roughly 55-60 students attending and are doing countless fundraising activities at school, but the price is still high. We do not want any student to miss out on this amazing experience due to finances. If we reach the goal of $6000, we could reduce the cost of the trip by $100 for every student.

Please help our students enjoy this amazing trip.