MADISON, Wis. (MCT) - From the time he learned to read, Alex Avalos' parents told him he would someday go to college to create a better life for himself.

The first glimmer of that day arrived last week, although not in the way Avalos expected, as the 14-year-old Addison Trail High School freshman visited the University of Wisconsin- Madison campus with 99 of his classmates.

"This is like, my first experience," Avalos said, pausing to snap a photo of Madison's Lake Mendota on his cell phone before continuing on the group tour. "It's cool."

While freshmen at other high schools may still be memorizing class schedules and locker combinations, first-year students at Addison Trail are piling onto buses for a mandatory college visit designed to inspire them from the beginning.

Field trips at school districts everywhere may be getting slashed due to budget shortfalls, while teachers complain of increased pressure to keep kids in the classroom to prepare for standardized tests. But administrators at the west suburban high school - which saw dramatic growth in its Latino student population in the last 10 years - refuse to scale back the freshman tradition.

"We just think it's so important to put kids on a college campus and give them an experience so they can begin with the end in mind," said Scott Helton, principal.

The school uses grant money and a $20 fee per student to shuttle all 500 freshmen - 100 at a time - to the sprawling Wisconsin campus. They are greeted by college tour guides who answer their questions. During one of last week's visits, these ranged from "How many classes do you have a day?" to "Where am I going to eat?"

Addison Trail administrators tried to find a Chicago area university to host them for the day, but when they started the program in 2003, the local campuses they tried could not accommodate them, Helton said.

The Addison students make up the largest group visit handled by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which requires extra staffing over the five days, says Jessica McCarty, visitor relations coordinator.

"We don't have anything else like this, not even in Wisconsin," said McCarty. "To do their entire class every year, especially coming from out of state, we love it."

After answering initial questions, the guides lead students on a 90-minute walking tour of campus, pausing to point out the football stadium and lecture halls. They offer such insider tidbits as where to go to walk over special tiles that echo in the wind.

"I definitely know what it's like to be in (your)...shoes, so ask lots of questions," said Alexandra Longo, a sophomore, as she led the high schoolers across University Avenue. "Hopefully after today you can see what you have to work for."

Longo's tour covered everything from taking AP courses in high school to test out of college credits, to how to join student clubs and organizations. In describing the revelry of the "Fifth Quarter" at UW Badgers football games - the band plays crowd favorites - she even demonstrated a dance from the student section.

"It's just a ton of fun and another way to celebrate a Badger win," she said.

The lessons were eye-opening to the Addison Trail students, some of whom had never set foot on a college campus.

"I thought college was just one building before," said Elizabeth Martinez, a 14-year-old who had only left the state of Illinois once prior to last week's field trip.

Martinez said her mother, a school aide who is raising her daughter alone, was grateful when she heard about the trip because she wouldn't have been able to take off work to bring her.

"My mom tells me that she wants me to go to college to be successful in life so we can have a big house," Martinez said.

That is just what Helton had in mind when he got the idea for the annual trip in 2001. Helton was a new principal who met with a group of students to learn about the realities of their lives. Addison Trail High School is currently about 54 percent Latino and another 54 percent low-income. Only 18 percent of students' parents have graduated from college, he said.

As Helton brainstormed ways to best reach students and their families, a precocious student leader told him that his parents hadn't gone to college and that he never would have known how to aspire to or apply for admission if he hadn't watched older students.

"Those words really stayed true to me: Give kids the exposure...Our guidance is really important," Helton said.

Assistant principal Michael Bolden repeated the message as he trudged through Madison's hilly campus. After the tour guide pointed out landmarks and popular lecture halls, Bolden told the students why they should care.

"When you have a big test, and when you have to stay up late to study, we want you to stop and think about why you have to do this," said Bolden. "You're only three years away."

Marc Anemone, 15, of Addison, was skeptical when he first learned he would be taking the tour of UW-Madison a few weeks into the start of high school.

"I thought it was weird, because we're, like, freshmen," he said.

English teacher Patricia Apostolopoulos said the students' enthusiasm becomes evident once they climb onto the bus.

"I don't think they're really ready to say what they want to do, but they get excited about being able to see a college and just experience what it's like," Apostolopoulos said.

Ultimately, Addison Trail administrators say the success of the program will show in a growing number of students who go on to post-secondary education. One of this year's college tour guides was a graduate of Addison Trail High School who went on one of the school's first tours, Helton said.

Yet even if students don't end up in Wisconsin, the importance of the program is that it opens their eyes to life after high school, said Steve Amundson, director of the office of visitor and information programs for UW-Madison.

"It could be a two-year-or four-year institution elsewhere," Amundson said. "What Addison Trail is trying to do is whet the appetite for these freshmen that there is a goal out there. You can attain it. It starts freshman year."