A group of Lawrence high school graduates and students are seeking lots of votes in the next three days.

The students want the Lawrence school district to win a $50,000 grant in an online contest from the Pepsi Refresh Project. The money would fund a peer education program in which high school students teach anti-bullying and anti-discrimination programs to younger students.

But they need lots of help through Saturday night. Wednesday evening the group was in 128th place in the national vote. They need to crack the top 10 to get the money.

“We haven’t had as many votes as we were hoping for,” said Will Pendleton, a 2009 Lawrence High graduate. “There isn’t that much more time left, but we’re hoping that with everyone’s help we can still pull it off to get back into the top 10.”

The group at the beginning of the month entered the online voting contest, hoping to save programs like Bullies to Buddies and the cultural heritage panel. The programs send high school students into schools to teach younger students.

Because of $4.6 million in school district budget cuts for the coming school year, the programs need outside funding to survive.

“It’s just a really good thing for not only the high school students to get out there and talk to kids and get good experience in making presentations like that,” said Pendleton, a Kansas State University student. “It’s also for the kids to hear it from teenagers they look up to.”

Now he said group members are asking Lawrence residents and anyone else to vote at least once in the next three days.

To cast a vote log on to refresheverything.com/fyipeereducation. Anyone can vote once per day. The deadline to cast a vote is the end of the day Saturday.