Local student selected for Australian odyssey

BRADENTON — Scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef.

Learning how to throw a boomerang.

Living with aborigines.

Southeast High School sophomore Kayla Higgins hopes to do all of these come July.

The 15-year-old has been selected to participate in the People To People Student Ambassador Program’s tour of Australia in July 2010.

The organization, founded in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was created to enhance international understanding and friendship through educational, cultural and humanitarian activities. The organization’s mission is to bridge cultural and political borders, making the world a better place for future generations.

“My purpose is to represent the U.S. and to learn about the different cultures,” Kayla said Wednesday. “It will give me a reason to appreciate what I have and the differences.”

Kayla was nominated by one of her teachers, but she has no idea which one.

Kayla leaves for Australia on July 8, and her first stop is in Mackay, a city on the Eastern Coast of Queensland.

During her 21-day tour, she’ll scuba dive the reef, climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge and visit the Sydney Opera House.

While there she’ll stay with an Australian family for five days and in a hotel. And she’s excited she’ll get to spend a couple nights with the aborigines, too.

“We will go into the mountains with the aborigines to see how they live and will learn to boomerang,” Kayla said.

Southeast High Assistant Principal Alan Ramos said Kayla will receive social studies credit for participating in the program.

“Any trip where a student can go abroad and learn about different cultures, especially a place as far away as Australia, is a good opportunity,” Ramos said.

Kayla is the first student from the Manatee County School District to be selected for the program.

“In the past we’ve had students nominated but some have not participated because of the high cost involved,” Ramos said.

For now, Kayla is bagging groceries at Winn Dixie to raise $6,000 for the trip. And she says she’ll do it.

She’s already saved $600 and her uncle is considering giving her a loan.

“I’m hoping to borrow money and pay him back,” she said.