"Basically, the kids had a meeting, rolled out a map and were asked where they wanted to go if they could pick anywhere," said Jan Lazar, with The DREAM Program in Winooski, Vt. "They were trying to be as big and bold as possible."

So, after doing $18,000 worth of fund raising, 11 youngsters between the ages of 11 and 17 and six chaperones headed north, specifically to Homer, Kachemak Bay and Nanwalek. New friendships formed while they were here have bridged the thousands of miles separating the East Coast from Alaska.

"They basically walked into my office and said, 'We're going again next year,'" Lazar said. "They really loved the Nanwalek community and connected with the kids there."

In 1999, Dartmouth College students founded The DREAM Program as a nonprofit mentoring program that pairs college students with children from subsidized housing developments in Vermont. The combination of mentoring and community development projects offers experiences for the college students as well as the children and parents, with a goal of involving youngsters in positive risk-taking, exposure to new perspectives and introduction of community resources. Ian Laing of Homer was among those that helped start the program.

"It's like Big Brothers Big Sisters, except that they become involved with the community as a whole," Laing said. "Part of the intent is to get the kids out of their environment and show them the kinds of lives you can build. So, we were taking them to museums, getting them involved in educational trips, took them hiking."

As the program has grown, so have the opportunities, making the Alaska trip possible.

"The idea (to visit Alaska) came from one of their organizers that was an intern from Dartmouth years ago here at the Pratt," said Gale Parsons of the Pratt Museum. "They wanted to have some kind of experience with Native people so I put them in touch with Emilie Swenning in Nanwalek."

Chad Butt, programs director for The DREAM Project and one of the trip chaperones, said the first few minutes in Nanwalek were a bit awkward, with the Vermont and Nanwalek youngsters on separate sides of a community meeting room. But once introductions were made, the friendship-building was on, thanks to fishing, a dance, community service work and nonstop visiting. Since returning to Vermont, e-mails are keeping the lines of communication open and strengthening the friendships.

After leaving Nanwalek, the Vermont youngsters had the opportunity to visit Grewingk Glacier, thanks to Smoke Wagon Water Taxi's donated transportation and Laing's sister Abby at the helm.

"Most had never been on the water before," Abby Laing said. "They thought the hike was cool, the glacier was cool, but coming back, they all sat in the front of the boat and loved getting in the spray. ... It was really neat to see how excited they were."

Having been here once, are they coming back to Alaska?

"They're trying to decide," Lazar said. "Some really want the Nanwalek kids to come here. Others are bent on going there. So, it's up for discussion."

And it wasn't just the youngsters who fell in love with the area.

"I've started asking about teaching jobs in Homer," Butt said. "Homer was just amazing."