FARMINGTON – Thirty-one seventh-graders at Mt. Blue Middle School are counting the days till April vacation, looking forward to a five-day trip to Washington, D.C.

Led by teachers Patty Veayo and Becky Roy, they leave by bus early Sunday, April 20, and return April 24. The group has plans to visit the capitol, Mount Vernon, the Kennedy Center, a ghost tour of Alexandria, Va., Arlington National Cemetery, the Holocaust Museum, the memorials and the Museum of Natural History and Air and Space Museum, Roy said last week.

Trips to New York City have taken place in the past, she said, but this year teachers decided to do something different. The 31 students have had to raise approximately $675 each for the trip.

The science and social study students raised funds and helped each other, she said. A bake sale on Chester Greenwood Day in December was successful as well as the sale of tie-dyed T-shirts, she added.

The students, teachers and two parents are getting excited, she added. A scavenger hunt is being created for the students to work on while they are away and information about they places they will visit is being gathered before they go.

Roy set up a visit and photo at the Capitol with Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe as well, she said.