BETHEL – Four Telstar Middle and High School students have been invited by the Hip Hop Handbook, a California hip hop culture group, to tour with the group during February vacation.

The four – sophomores Jeremy Putnam and Eric Roy and eighth-graders Alex Goulet and Cody Smith – call themselves the Straight Up Breakers. They have been perfecting their breakdancing and beatboxing techniques for years. Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion.

Melissa Prescott, a SAD 44 middle school art teacher, has been supporting their art. She said the Hip Hop Handbook, a national touring company dedicated to the promotion of literacy and creative expression through the hip hop arts, presented a workshop for students at the end of the last school year. The boys kept in touch with the group over the summer.

The boys practice at home and as part of the area’s after-school program, Mahoosuc Kids Association.

The tour and the local group are not part of SAD 44 extracurricula offerings, Prescott said.

Each boy must raise about $265 to take part in the tour, which is the cost needed to cover lodging and traveling. Two of the boys’ parents and three members of Hip Hop Handbook will accompany them. Some money has been raised, but more is needed.

The Telstar boys will present a performance during halftime at Thursday’s home basketball game with Jay High School. During the game, a 50/50 raffle will be held to help raise money for the tour.

The boys are scheduled to perform Feb. 17 at Belmont Elementary School in Belmont, N.H., and North Salem Elementary School in North Salem, N.H.; Feb. 19, at Mill Run Elementary School in Ashburn, Va., and Warren County Middle School in Front Royal, Va.; and Feb. 20 at Charleston Elementary School in Charleston, Md., and Eisenburg Elementary School in New Castle, Del.

The boys are also scheduled to perform in front of their classmates and families at the school’s Feb. 13 talent show.

“They really got fired up after the Hip Hop Handbook came to our school,” Prescott said. “The tour is kind of an advanced job shadow.”