Students Headed To Senegal To Build School Still Short $8k

East Hampton High School students have raised a resounding $80,000 in four short months to fund a trip to West Africa to build a school in Senegal.

Priscilla Campbell, who organized the trip as the faculty advisor, said they are about $8,000 short, but she is confident they can raise the amount in time for the July excursion to the Fatick region of the Senegal.

"We're going to get there," Campbell told the board of the total amount needed, which she clarified after the meeting is about $88,000.

The board of education approved the trip for 15 students at a meting on Tuesday night. The project is part of an alliance between the school district and buildOn, an international nonprofit organization that runs youth service afterschool programs in United States high schools, and builds schools in developing countries.

The trip will take place between July 5 and July 15.

Donations are off-setting the entire cost of the trip, and students have been hard at work fundraising. Over Memorial Day weekend, they put on a yard sale, indoors due to rain.

So far the students have raised $80,000.

"That's was quite an undertaking," Christina DeSanti, a board member, said. "Very impressive," Jackie Lowey, another board member, added.

The original expected cost was $92,750, though that decreased slightly, Campbell said after the meeting. Each student costs $1,500 per person, and the district is paying $850 in transportation fees.

One way to donate is on the buildOn website at webuildon.buildon.org/ehhsstudents. Interested donors may also email Campbell directly at PCampbell@ehufsd.org.