The students will be traveling on their bicycles until June 11, and will return to Abilene by June 13. The voyage, which will take the group from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, is part of a number of courses in which students participate to earn a minor in leadership.
   “It’s a class that’s heavy on practicing the stuff we study, so instead of just reading about it in a book, we have to go practice it,” Coleman Patterson, Director of the Leadership Studies Program at Hardin-Simmons University. “Leadership is a skill, and these students have been working on this since September.”
   Student Michelle Chahyadi, who joins fellow students Billy Lazaro, Ryanne Krueger, Jessyca Krueger, David Reynaud, Bailey Johnson, and Kirsten Patterson on the adventure, said every aspect of the trip has helped to teach them lessons in leadership.
   “We planned this whole trip ourselves, from the fundraiser to the mapping of the routes, we do it ourselves. Everyday we’ll also be taking turns as road captains, so we’ll have to be making decisions like alternative routes and we communicate that with each other,” said Chahyadi. “With this trip specifically it’s not just the ride, it’s the training and the preparation.”
   The class will be traveling from Eagle Pass to La Pryor, and then up to Canada through U.S. Route 83.