Nine out of 10 Travellers drop out of school. Now a group is going to the US on a mission to change that. Anne Dempsey reports

Five years ago, about 1,000 Traveller children, the annual norm, took their first steps on the road to a complete education. Eager, maybe, a little apprehensive, certainly, but full of potential, like any other children on their first days at secondary school. Move forward to this week and, as the Leaving Certificate winds down, no more than 100 of them will have stayed long enough to get to the stage of translating post-exam celebration into the nervous anticipation of CAO results.

Ninety per cent dropout is a startling rate of attrition, but it is one that Maria Corbet, Traveller resource teacher at Good Shepherd National School in Churchtown, Dublin, believes is simple to understand. "I think the biggest point is that it's not expected. There is no precedent, no role model, no pressure from home. For most of us there is no question but that you stay at school, but for them it's the opposite, and it's a very special child who will break the mould."

Enter Discovery Camp, in the Californian city of San Diego, whose slogan is: "If you don't lead, you're destined to follow." The brainchild of Anthony Robbins, an American self-development and leadership trainer, the non-profit foundation was made possible by his lucrative corporate work. The aim of the camp is to empower students and teachers to achieve their greatest potential in a supportive, positive environment.

Next month nine Traveller pupils aged 11-16 and four teachers, two of them from Good Shepherd, fly to Discovery Camp on a trip that its organisers, Corbet and a social activist named Dermot Brannick, hope will change their lives. The camp offers confidence-building exercises, including sport, project and team work, to students and teachers, hoping they will bring home the philosophy and so create a ripple effect.

"The children have been chosen because of their recognised potential as youth leaders and the promise they show as positive role models to young Travellers in integrating within the settled community, as shown by the friends they made at school," says Brannick. "We want to strengthen their ability to think and stand up for themselves and resist negative peer pressure. This is especially important considering the increasing numbers of young Travellers getting into drugs, which was uncommon a few years ago, and the high levels still not attending secondary school."

Christy Connors, who is 12, is one of the group. "I'm looking forward to having fun, to bungee-jumping, to unforgettable things. I'm repeating sixth class to get more experience to go on to big school." What are his favourite subjects? "I'm good at maths and reading."

"And Christy is good at art, music, dancing," says his friend Sally Connors, who is also going to California. "And football," finishes Christy. "I was on the school team this year." Sally is also enthusiastic: "I see it as the chance of a lifetime, something I'll never get again. I will be meeting the country people" - Travellers' name for settled people - "maybe get used to them and give them a chance."

Giving the settled community a second chance is an objective of the trip. Three of the group, Sally and Olivia Connors, who are 14, and Elizabeth Maughan, who is 13, enrolled at a local community school last September with the hopes of their Good Shepherd primary teachers going with them.

"Everything was put in place: uniforms, transport, home-school liaison, everything," says Corbet. "At the beginning they seemed to love it and used to come back and tell us what they were doing."

But in January all three dropped out of school. They haven't returned; they are at home, helping their mothers or looking after younger family members. Why did they leave? "I didn't like it," says Sally; the other two nod in agreement. "You don't need to go to school to get a job," says Elizabeth.

Julie Connors (23), a special-needs assistant at the school, listens to the teenagers. "I left school at 14, and I wish now I had stayed," she says. "I left because I could, because nobody stopped me. I've lost out on a lot. I have asked them to stay on in school, but so far they don't see the point."

The organisers hope the Discovery experience will help the trio reconsider their options. "A specific objective is to strengthen the student's resolve to stay in education after primary school and to inspire past pupils to rejoin," says Brannick. "Many of us didn't see the importance of school when we were there, and it's difficult when there is nobody to explain what school offers you.

"The girls are being negative now, but the very fact that they went through primary school and made friends is positive. Managing secondary school when you are so few among so many is difficult."

Maria adds that the hope of the project is that the children will enjoy an experience that will promote the need for more of the same. "We hope they see new things in camp, that they want them for themselves and grow the confidence to reach out for them," she says.

The trip will cost €25,000; the Traveller community has already raised €8,000, with more promised. There will, however, be a shortfall. "We will be grateful for any public help," says Brannick.

Under a caption that says "Discover your potential", a picture in the Discovery Camp brochure shows a student, attached to safety wires, standing at the summit of a pole he has scaled, with his arms outstretched and the sun behind him. Julie looks at it. "I'm afraid of heights," she says, "but I'm going to try it. I'm going for everything."