CHESAPEAKE — The kitchen at Chesapeake Middle School is quiet after Monday night’s spaghetti dinner, but the fundraisers continue as students keep working to earn money to pay for their spring trip to the nation’s capital.

On May 2, 44 eighth graders are scheduled to spend four days in Washington, D.C., the second year for the excursion.

“It is the end of their eighth grade year, right before they go to high school,” Veronica Angle, trip chaperon, said. “It is one of the milestones to growing up. Under supervision, they get to be with their friends. That is an element of fun, but under supervision. It’s experiencing visiting a place with their friends.”

The tentative itinerary is comparable to last year’s with a tour of the White House and the Capitol building and observing Congress in action in either the House or Senate gallery.

“One of the great things they get out of it is some of these kids have never been to a big city like Washington, D.C.” Angle said. “And our tour guide finds a safe place on the Metro and they ride from one place to another. It is like a city underground and they are always surprised at how fast it goes.”

The cost for each student is $475 for the trip and Angle estimates there is about $3,000 left that needs to be raised following the spaghetti dinner that brought in $1,200 and a pancake breakfast that netted $500.

“People have been offering to let (the students) sell their products and give them their profits,” Angle said. “We are also doing fundraisers for the gratuity for the bus driver and tour guide and for buying T-shirts. It is so much easier to pick out kids when they are wearing yellow T-shirts.”

Besides the chance to spend time with their friends in a new locale, Angle says the focus of the trip remains educational.

“They get a love for their country and a love for the way our government system works,” she said.