US colleges.

It is the first time in the school's 100-year history that such a large group of fifth-year students will have had the opportunity to experience college life before enrolment.

And the school's first assistant and senior supervisor Carlos Symonds said he hoped the Education Month event would become an annual one.

"We're trying to expose them, first hand, to the colleges before they apply,'' Mr. Symonds explained. "What happens is we find students shooting in the dark when it comes to applying to colleges.

"They are told by friends and relatives where they should apply. And often they have no idea about the city and the college environment.'' The senior students began the ten-day tour, mainly funded by their parents, last Thursday when they left for Boston.

There they were to visit Harvard University and MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts before moving on to Princeton, Columbia and New York University in the New York/New Jersey area.

The students were then scheduled to visit Philadelphia's Temple University; Howard, Georgetown, and George Washington universities in Washington D.C.

before moving on to Duke and Furman in North Carolina; and Emory, Morehouse, Spellman, Morris Brown, and Clark in Atlanta, Georgia.

In addition to visiting the colleges, the students were also due to tour the Empire State Building, Ambassador Theatre, and Radio City Music Hall in New York; the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.; and the Martin Luther King Center and CNN Studios in Atlanta.

"The educational tour should also introduce students to the unique and divergent flavours of the respective cities and colleges,'' Mr. Symonds added.

"We feel it will be an invaluable experience.'' Chaperones for the tour are guidance counsellors Winifred Simmons and Kennette Smith; third-year supervisor Tammy Richardson, and parent Sgt. Major John Richardson of the Bermuda Regiment.

COLLEGE BOUND -- Berkeley Institute senior students pose at the Bermuda International Airport before departing on a ten-day tour of colleges in the US on Thursday. Pictured accompanying the students are, at far left, teacher Tammy Richardson, guidance counsellors Winifred Simmons (stooping), Kennette Smith (behind her), and parent Sgt. Major John Richardson.