RUMFORD – A Maine Public Broadcasting Network reporter will accompany a group of juniors and seniors from Mountain Valley High School who will spend their April vacation week volunteering for Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans.

The students will leave April 13 and return April 19. MPBN radio news reporter Sara Nics will chronicle their days spent building new homes for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, as well as the lessons they learn from their experience volunteering in an unstable and depressed city.

The first news segment about the trip will air on MPBN’s “Maine Things Considered” on April 12, the day before students leave for New Orleans.

Nics plans to produce a longer radio documentary about the trip after her return, which will air in early May. While she is with the students in New Orleans, she will file radio stories for “Maine Things Considered” and also post photos and updates about the trip on mpbn.net. Listeners and members of the community may also read and contribute to a blog that will feature observations from the students themselves.

The student trip arose out of a conversation during a Mountain Valley social studies class this winter. A discussion of what the students hoped to get for Christmas led to the topic of volunteerism and giving to people in need. After the class, some students came back to their teacher, Carrie Youcis, and proposed to volunteer their time and energy to help people who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Each of the students has raised $500 to cover their travel costs.

People with Internet access can follow the students’ activities at mpbn.net/neworleans.