A Los Banos High School teacher returned stateside after taking students and chaperones to Europe for the sixth-straight year.</p><p>Linda Head, who teaches government, economics and psychology to juniors and seniors, said the trip included visits to several historical and artistically important sites. She said the trips are organized through Education First (EF), a study-abroad program.</p><p>Head said the group visited France and Italy, making stops in Paris, Versailles, Florence and Rome, among others.</p><p>Head said a trip like this serves to widen the perspectives of its participants.</p><p>"It expands their horizons so much, especially for kids from a town like this," Head said. "Some of these kids have never been out of Los Banos."</p><p>Head said visiting historical sites brings events, like the Treaty of Versailles, to life in the minds of the students.</p><p>Watching the students grow is the most rewarding part of the process, Head said.</p><p>"It really, literally changes their whole perspective on life," Head said.</p><p>The idea of taking students on an international trip germinated in the mind of the late Dustin Hobbs, a history teacher at the high school.</p><p>When he died in 2004 of leukemia, Head and another teacher, April Latta, took the project and opened it to anyone of high school age or older.</p><p>Madeline Andrade, a senior at Los Banos High School, went with the group to France and Italy. The trip was her second EF trip, and she's signed up for next summer's trip to Greece.</p><p>Andrade said because Los Banos is small, the trips are a nice change.</p><p>"It kind of widens your view," Andrade said.</p><p>Before going on an EF trip, Andrade had always assumed she would go to Merced College and stay within California. However, the trips made her realize that she has more options.</p><p>Andrade said she has a personal goal to keep visiting Europe.</p><p>Another participant, Jessica Silva, who graduated high school in June, said though she enjoyed herself in France and Italy, she missed the familiarity of home. </p><p>"It made me appreciate living here in Los Banos," Silva said.</p><p>The price tag for an EF trip is around $3,000, which includes travel, hotels, breakfast, dinner and everything else short of lunch and spending money.</p><p>Next summer's trip is tentatively scheduled for June 5-15, according to Head, and an informational meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 31, at Me-N-Ed's Pizzeria, 846 W. Pacheco Blvd.</p><p>Enterprise staff writer Thaddeus Miller can be reached at 388-6562 or by e-mail at tmiller@losbanosenterprise.com.