THREE Year 13 students from Callington Community College have just returned from the trip of a lifetime to America.

The students, Jenny Ross-Thomas, Issie Edwards and Jake Barker, were chosen following a year-long selection process. They were accompanied on the trip by Rebecca Wilkins, mathematics teacher at the college, and 17 other students from across the country.

The trip started in Houston, Texas, where the students had the opportunity to work in an elementary school, building rockets with the students. They also experienced a behind the scenes tour of the Johnson Space Centre, visited the historic Mission Control, the Sonny Carter Neutral Buoyancy Lab, a Saturn V rocket and a mock-up of the International Space Station (in which astronauts actually train). After several days in Texas the students flew to Orlando, Florida, where they toured the Kennedy Space Centre and visited the astronaut walk of fame.

During their time away the students had the chance to meet and dine with a number of people such as a SWAT team member, technicians and engineers from NASA and an actual astronaut.

Despite a 24 hour-long journey back to the UK, all three students were buzzing from their experiences and could not stop talking about it. They will remember the opportunity for the rest of their lives and will take the skills that they have learnt forward with them when they go on to university.

Throughout the trip the outstanding attitude and behaviour of the three students was regularly commented on by guests, other staff and members of the public. They were a credit to the college.