TEN West Devon students returned from an amazing trip to Croatia earlier this month, part of a World Challenge Short Haul Expedition. Each of the students, from Tavistock College, had raised just over £1,000 to enable them to be part of the trip through various activities such as sponsored walks and cycles, a Mexican themed evening and through sponsorship and donations. The girls flew from Heathrow to Zagreb and travelled onto the Paklenica National Park where they camped in tents and a mountain hut and took part in various challenging activities including hiking up a mountain to its peak, rafting through rapids and kayaking in the sea. Part of the challenge saw the girls take on different roles within the group, such as leader, shoppers, accountants, cooks, environmentalists and as they were responsible for feeding up to 20 people each day, it was vital that they pulled together as a team. The girls were accompanied by two of their teachers, Adele Britton and Alicia McKeown and met Dave Mulcahy, their World Challenge leader at Heathrow. Once in Zagreb they were met by Nikola who was to be their Croatian guide for the week. From Heathrow on, it was made clear to the girls that as this was their challenge, they had to make all decisions and could not rely on the adults for any of their day-to-day questions. The girls (pictured right) rose up to and met this challenge and Miss Britton and Miss McKeown said they were ?extremely proud? of the way in which they handled themselves during the entire trip. David Mulcahy from World Challenge said: ?The girls are a credit to themselves, to Tavistock College and to Devon.? This was a sentiment echoed by Nikola, who said that he had never worked with a stronger and more united group of students. Miss Britton, Miss McKeown and the girls said a big ?thank you? to World Challenge and everyone involved, most importantly Dave and Nikola, for giving them the trip of their lives. Also to everyone who supported their challenge, family members and businesses who provided sponsorship and donations.