Wylie Students Head To Gulf To Support Damaged School

WYLIE (CBSDFW.COM) - Students from Wylie High School loaded up several buses Friday morning and started traveling 400 miles to the Gulf Coast to attend a Rockport-Fulton High School football game and show their support. Rockport-Fulton was one of the schools devastated by Harvey.

Students and community members rounded up donations for the Gulf Coast school, but decided to show emotional support as well by being there to give them in person. The buses pulled out of the parking lot at about 9:30 a.m. and should arrive just in time for Friday night's football game.

There are 166 students and 22 teachers spread across three buses, making a seven-hour drive south.

Wylie High School's football team has a bye week, and decided that this was the perfect opportunity for the Pirates to load up and offer support for their Pirates counterparts along the coast. Rockport-Fulton High School was heavily damaged by winds and flooding during Harvey, and many students lost their homes.

Students in Wylie felt compelled to help in some way. "It was just an overwhelming feeling of sadness and sorrow for people, because they are just like us," explained Wylie High School student body president Nadia Alem. "They go to school and then, one night, everything is just gone."

"We want them to know that they have people 400 miles away that care about them," added senior Jenny Tagle.

The students from Wylie are not traveling empty-handed. They have signs for the football game, but also a $5,000 check, new instruments for the band students, a new T-shirt cannon and more. Rockport-Fulton High School faces Ingleside High School on Friday night.