Georgia, a year 12 student at Hawkesdale P-12 College, said her sister Emily went on the trip three years ago and her brother Tim two years ago.

They told her the annual trip to upgrade a school at Indangan village on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines was hard but rewarding.

“They said they felt like they were making a difference,” Georgia said.

Georgia will get her chance to make a difference when she heads off this year on the 2014 Alternative Schoolies trip as part of a contingent of 17 south-west students, the largest group so far to take part.

Moyne Shire Council youth development officer Geraldine Edar-Ralph, who has organised the trip for the past four years, said students would this year distribute food aid to victims of Typhoon Haiyan on Bantayan Island as well as refurbish classrooms at the Indangan village school.

Mrs Edar-Ralph said the students hoped to raise $5000 to buy the food aid for families on Bantayan Island, which was one of the places worst hit. She said tickets for a fund-raising three-course dinner, to be hosted by the trip participants on October 11 at St Pius X hall, were almost sold out.

This year’s contingent includes nine from Brauer College, three from Hawkesdale P-12, and one each from Mortlake P-12, Warrnambool and Emmanuel colleges.

They will be joined by two past south-west students, Emily Grant and Hannah McDonald, as well as Mrs Edar-Ralph. The 22-day trip starts on November 22.

The annual trips have been supported by Warrnambool Lions and Rotary clubs with students also contributing financially.

Mrs Edar-Ralph said among the achievements was the completion of a library at the Indangan village school, the only library in a primary school in the Philippines.