As the school year draws to a close, ten Richland One middle school students are counting down the days to a field trip like no other.

On Monday, June 1, the adventurous group of young explorers will depart Columbia for Ghana, West Africa. The seventh- graders were selected as ambassadors from their respective schools to participate in the Richland One Student Experience to Africa (ROSETA) program.

The students and their chaperones will spend two weeks touring Ghana and Morocco. Their many historical and cultural experiences in Africa will include visiting the W.E.B. DuBois Center for Pan- American Culture in Accra, Ghana; walking across a 1,000-foot long aerial walkway between the treetops in Kakum National Park; and touring Cape Coast Castle, which was one of the embarkation points for Africans being shipped to slavery in the Americas.

During the 2008- 2009 school year, the students, their parents and advisors engaged in studies to learn about the cultures of Ghana, Morocco and South Carolina prior to their journey to Africa.

The 2009 ROSETA participants are: Briana Symone Davidson, Danielle Nicole Conyers, Jocelyn Victoria Grace and Zaria Tra'Landa Woodard from St. Andrews Middle School; Carlton Jauan Brown from Southeast Middle School; Cymone Marie Reed and Jonathan Marshall Prince from Crayton Middle School; Deja Shawne Murray and Tiarra Latisha Stearns from Hand Middle School; D'Vaughn Abre Kelley from W.G. Sanders Middle School.

Accompanying the students on the trip will be chaperones Chantis Edens of Southeast Middle, Gwendolyn Blackwell of Hand Middle and Dr. Ransom Smith of W.G. Sanders Middle. The group will return to Columbia on June 14.

For more information about the ROSETA program, contact the Office of Communications at 231- 7504.