Kaila White

The Republic | azcentral.com

After the three women land in Barcelona, they’ll have one week to race through at least six checkpoints and end in Paris.

The catch: They have to get food, shelter and transportation using only Red Bull and charm as currency. No cash or cards allowed.

Three Arizona State University students earned a spot among 165 student teams from more than 50 countries that will trek through Europe in April as part of an elaborate Red Bull competition.

Caira Button, Emily Poes and Katie Knoepker are seniors graduating from ASU in May, best friends, Tempe residents and world travelers.

Out of thousands of applicants, they ended up the only team from Arizona and the only all-female team in the West Coast division.

“I am absolutely heartbroken that I am graduating,” Button said. “To be able to go out my senior year being able to represent my college in this worldwide competition, I couldn’t wish for anything more.”

“This is one of those things people dream about and make up,” Poes said. “It’s literally the biggest last hurrah that was ever possible.”

Send them off at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 9, at a going-away party host by Red Bull at The Lodge Sasquatch Kitchen in Tempe, or watch them live starting Tuesday, April 12, on Red Bull TV.

Who they are:

Button, 21, global studies major, fluent in Spanish, backpacking through India after graduation

Poes, 22, psychology major, fluent in American Sign Language, visiting Brazil in August

Knoepker, 22, global studies major, fluent in French, moving to Paris after graduation

The three became friends when all of them rushed ASU sorority Kappa Alpha Theta late (as in, not as freshmen) and raided each other’s closets for rush-appropriate clothes.

“They have been the best thing for me because it has given me the sisterhood everyone talks about — and I got these two out of it,” Poes said, laughing.

How a one-minute video won the trip of a lifetime

While studying in February they ran across the “Red Bull Can You Make It?” competition, scrambled to make a video application and had to gain enough votes to get their team in the top 18.

“Theta and the Greek system … honestly are how we won,” Knoepker said. Sorority and fraternity chapters from ASU and across the country spread the word to vote for them.

After 10 days, the women ended with 4,824 votes, putting them in second place. They met with Red Bull judges, who picked them and four other teams from the West Coast.

More than 600 miles on a few dozen Red Bulls

Total amount of Red Bulls: They start with 24 cans and at each checkpoint get 24 more. If they make it through the required six checkpoints, that's a total of at least 168 cans of Red Bull.

What’s in the way: Schoolwork. Button has 35 assignments due before the trip, and the women land back in the U.S. less than two weeks before final exams. Poes and Button are set to graduate with honors.

“I will be in the library until the day we leave," Button said. "I will probably be in the library until right before we fly out."

So, are they red Bull girls? No, they’ve never driven a Red Bull truck to hand out drinks.

The other teams from the West Coast: Three men from Walla Walla University in Washington, three men from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, two men and a woman from California State University in Los Angeles, and two women and a man from Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

In case of emergency: The women are using their language skills to develop code words. When Poes showed them how to sign “we need to leave now,” they mimicked sloppily and joked that it should be a stern face instead.

“I need to learn how to say that in Spanish: Please help us?” Poes asked.

“Ayudame! I told you in Mexico literally 20 times,” Button said, laughing.

The grand prize: A summer traveling across Europe as Contiki Travel Ambassadors.

How to watch and help them

The event begins April 12 and ends April 19.

Red Bull TV will air parts of the competition and is accessible online, as an app and as a channel on most streaming devices.

Also, the women have to finish on time in Paris just to be eligible to win — the points system relies on challenges at the checkpoints, tasks from the adventure list and a "social score" based on how many likes and shares they get on their journal posts during the trip.

Like and share their journal by visiting www.redbullcanyoumakeit.com/en/teams/459/ and clicking “Journal.”