CLEVELAND, Ohio — For Juelz Williams, traveling abroad would be a dream come true.
"I've been in Cleveland my whole life," he says. "I want to go experience different things."
He's in 10th grade at Cleveland's John F. Kennedy High School, and is also one of 15 students from JFK and John Adams College & Career Academy planning to take a trip to Greece in March.
"I haven't even been out of the state, so this is going to be something I've never even experienced at all," he told us.
However, funding is holding Juelz and the other students back.
The group was hoping to get a portion of the $20 million donation from billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott through the CMSD Get More Opportunities Fund. The program has recently been a source of controversy, with the district more recently saying the donation would go towards shrinking its projected $143 million budget deficit instead.
"It is our hope that we are also financially supported as the other 11 CMSD schools traveling internationally this school year have been," Dr. Susan Roebuck, head school counselor at travel advisor at JFK, said during Tuesday night's Board of Education meeting.
Roebuck and Andrea Dockery-Murray, a visual arts teacher and travel advisor at John Adams, are leading the trip. Both spoke at Tuesday night's meeting, addressing the board for the second time this year while pleading for help after being denied funding from the district a combined total of five times.
"I think whether its Mackenzie Scott funds or another foundation's funds, we just really want these students to have the experience," Dockery-Murray told WKYC after the meeting. "Why cant they go?"
In an exclusive interview with 3News' Danielle Wiggins Wednesday morning, CMSD CEO Dr. Warren Morgan addressed the group's request.
"Last night, you heard the two educators that talked about the Greece trip and they applied for the Get More Opportunities three times and were denied," Morgan recounted. "And now they're faced with 'Hey, we want to go on this trip.'"
Also on Wednesday, Morgan said that after hearing community feedback, part of the Scott donation will go back to a revamped Get More Opportunities Fund, once it is back up and running.
"So right now, we're looking into all the opportunities for that," he said. "I would just even say 100% likely, because it was always in the general fund even when we made the decision to pause the program."
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District later reached out to 3News clarifying that there has been no decision on the amount of money that will be put back into the restructured program.
Meanwhile, the study abroad group has raised thousands of dollars through fundraising efforts, creating a video and GoFundMe with the motto "Who says inner city students cant travel abroad?" Overall, they need $30,000 to make the trip happen.
"Sometimes when all you see is depression or poverty or things that are not appealing, then you may think that's all there is to life and you don't want to strive for more," Roebuck said. "If you give them opportunities and you give them the quality education that they deserve, then you wont have the crime rates, you wont have the violence. You will have more students entering college and they will be prepared for college."
The original deadline to secure funding was Friday, but the travel company has since extended the deadline another week until March 8. Those still wishing to donate can do so at a second GoFundMe set up by Murray and others.