<p>We just received the itinerary for the senior class trip at my daughter’s high school. The destination for the trip is Virginia Beach. Students will board their bus at the high school just before midnight on a Friday, and will sleep on the bus. They expect to arrive in Williamsburg, VA around 8 am, and following breakfast at one of the ubiquitous pancake houses will head for Busch Gardens where they will be on their own for the day. The class will regroup for a late supper at Busch Gardens and will then head for their hotel in Virginia Beach, where they will arrive around midnight. The next day (Sunday)will be devoted to the beach and boardwalk. They plan to leave Virginia Beach around noon on Monday and arrive back home before midnight so that the kids can get a “good night’s sleep” before school on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Personally, this trip sounds like an excursion to hell and back. But then I’m old. I would probably have thought it sounded great when I was 18. Then again, we didn’t have class trips, just a day away from school at the beach for a class picnic. </p>
<p>My wife is a little more perturbed about the trip. She went to an “old school” school, where the senior class trip had to have some educational component (one of my daughter’s friends moms did observe that “Busch Gardens will give the kids a little taste of Europe!”). </p>
<p>As it is, my daughter has a commitment for the weekend of the trip that she made long before it was scheduled. It did get us to wondering, however, if trips like this were common at public high schools these days, and what sort of criteria school districts had in place to serve as guidelines when developing a class trip itinerary. Do the schools that other CC parents’ kids attend sponsor senior class trips? Must they have an educational component? How exotic do they get? (Aruba anyone?) What considerations are given to kids who come from lower income families? While my daughter’s class will hold several fundraisers to cut costs, they still expect each kid to come up with several hundred bucks for the weekend. </p>
<p>So how is this sort of thing handled at your school?</p>
<p>We don’t have senior class trips- there is a senior party after graduation that the parents organize. Last year I was one of the chaperones- it was at a funplex sort of thing which was great fun and the kids really enjoyed it.</p>
<p>( PTA also reduces senior year costs by raising money at the spring auction)</p>
<p>not a senior class trip but the concert choir at our HS does a trip to NYC most years. They see a couple shows. This year there was a fundraising opportunity, other years there was not.</p>
<p>When I was in school, our chorus made trips to NYC and Philly. But we sang in competitions in addition to the tourist stuff. </p>
<p>I would be much happier with these trips if there was some purpose to them, other than to have fun.</p>
<p>I’m not aware of any senior trips done at our school.</p>
<p>Our high school seniors go to Disney World every year (from NJ), chaperoned by the teachers and administration. Students pay for their trips. There are always some who do not go due to the cost, but most do go.</p>
<p>They go to Disney World and there’s no fundraising involved. From looking at yearbooks I’d guess about 20% of the class goes so it’s not a big deal not to go. My daughter has already decided she won’t be going. There’s no way I’d pay for it and it’s not important enough to her to spend her money on.</p>
<p>S’s school goes to disneyland, busses from the Bay Area. This is instead of a traditional grad night. I would say 80% of the seniors go. It is paid by the students (parents).
No educational component at all…oh except they go to Medieval Times for dinner, could that be educational?</p>
<p>I’d be most concerned about the idea of leaving at midnight and driving all night and supposedly ‘sleeping on the bus’. There’s a greater chance the driver will fall asleep at the wheel, that there are drunks on the road, and realistically, most kids will get no sleep and be dead tired for their day of fun at the park.</p>
<p>They’re going to be exhausted, of course, but I’m more worried about them getting fried. They’re going to be spending two full days outdoors, in environments with little shade, with the second day spent in bathing suits. Even with hats and #45 sunscreen, that’s kind of brutal for the lighter-skinned kids.</p>
<p>Personally, I hate Busch Gardens Williamsburg (I live in Maryland, so we’ve been there several times). It really isn’t that great of a theme park, the entire place reeks of secondhand smoke, and the “European” themes are almost unbearably tacky. Also, the water park is a separate facility on the other side of town (it’s pretty good but probably not available to the kids on this trip).</p>
<p>I have great admiration for the adults who volunteer to chaperone this trip. If my kids’ schools had sponsored such a trip, there is no way that I would have been one of them.</p>
<p>I think its terrible that they have a school sponsored celebration for seniors that seniors can’t attend if they can’t pay for it…what a celebration!!</p>
<p>If there are fundraisers and every kid has the chance to go regardless of $$, fine, but otherwise…it really stinks</p>
<p>At my Ds grad night, there is a fee, but no one would be turned away for not being able to pay and the process is a very private one for getting your fee covered by the fundraisers or other parents each chipping in a few extra $.</p>
<p>My school has had similar trips with much less educational value. One went to a warm Caribbean island in recent years… for beach/sun. Really, lighten up, we’re seniors–and we deserve a non-educational trip. =]</p>
<p>Our HS also has a trip to Disney that each family must pay for – several days, chaperoned by students/admins.</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of the idea (expensive & seems ripe for potential problematic behavior). Then again, I went away for a week to the shore right after HS (unchaperoned, just w/friends) and the senior kids will be completely on their own in college a few, short months later.</p>
<p>I’m still having a hard time accepting the idea! :-)</p>
<p>My son’s class is also flying to Disney World. We have to get him to school at 4 AM so they can board a bus to get to the airport in time. Not my idea of fun, let me tell you.</p>
<p>That trip to Virginia Beach sounds like a nightmare - it is 48 degrees in VaBeach today. They don’t think Virginia is further south do they? The water is cold there until July. They may as well go to the Jersey Shore. You would have to pay my D a lot to take that trip.</p>
<p>No Senior trips here. “Senior Week” is local activities, the week before graduation - a trip to the local Six Flags, a dinner cruise, a barbeque, sometimes tickets to a major or minor league ball game. After graduation is an overnight party in the school - a huge deal organized by parents, donation requested from the parents of seniors but no one is turned away.</p>
<p>Eighth grade classes go to Washington DC for 4 days. Most middle schools take busses (a 10 hour drive), a few fly.</p>
<p>Personally I wouldn’t want to be at Busch Gardens all day after “sleeping” on a bus the night before. By dinner time all the kids will be griping at each other and fighting. The whole thing sounds like an excuse to party. Ick.</p>
<p>asdljkf1: “Really, lighten up, we’re seniors–and we deserve a non-educational trip. =]” You DESERVE a trip? Entitlement attitude, much?</p>
<p>We don’t have senior trips - some people organize them for a small group of friends, but nothing our HS plans.
Our school plans: Senior Breakfast, Senior BBQ/Yearbook distribution, and Senior Cruise (around the Harbor…lame)</p>
<p>The honors anatomy classes usually take a field trip too, but due to contract negotiations/possible strike, field trips must take place between 7:20-2:35, and the destination is well over 1 1/2 hours away. So, my class has decided to skip a day after the AP exams and take ourselves this year
:)</p>
<p>Thanks for the post about the bus driver falling asleep at the wheel, now I have one more thing to worry about!!
Disneyland opens at 10 pm that night, they stay all night. They are open just for a zillion high school seniors.I would hate to be a chaperone for that.
As far as costs, I guess its the same for the prom, those that can’t afford it don’t go. I don’t know a fair way to handle that. Prom is actually going to be more expensive than his disneyland trip.</p>
<p>We don’t have a senior trip. We are part of a very large urban/suburban school system with 20 high schools. It would be a logistical nightmare.<br>
I think our school does a senior breakfast and a senior picnic , both on school days so they basically just miss a few hours of school to have breakfast in the cafeteria and lunch on the football field the next day. </p>
<p>Most seniors make their own plans. This week is Spring Break for us and prob. half of the senior class (S included) is at the beach. They will go again after graduation. That’s pretty much the tradition in our area. </p>
<p>OP…I went to Busch Gardens with a couple of different sch. groups when I was in h.s. We loved it. My senior S would love it too.</p>
Sorry. What I really was considering was what appears to be a long bus ride (8 hours??) starting at midnight. This is a tough time to drive a long distance unless the driver is used to that shift.</p>
<p>I get concerned about some of the school sanctioned trips and proms/senior night events for those who can’t afford it as well. I think my D’s HS figured out some way to accommodate those who couldn’t afford the full price of the senior night and proms since her HS had plenty of kids whose parents didn’t have much money. One of the things they did to raise money for senior night was raffle off a new car.</p>
<p>I think it gets increasingly difficult when the mothers dream up fancier and more expensive things to do every year but nowadays they think the prom should be held at the fanciest hotel way downtown rather than in a local much less-expensive place.</p>
<p>My D’s class is going to Six Flags Darien Lake (I think it is still a Six Flags anyway) near Buffalo NY. They are doing the trip all in a day and had to pay $10 out of pocket. Last years class did a 3-day trip to Cedar Point in Ohio but our class pretty much didn’t do any decent fundraising and therefore voted on the cheapest option. D is less than thrilled but she said for $10 who cares. </p>
<p>We actually went to the same park for my senior trip but ours was a Grad Night (which the school board won’t allow anymore) so it was an all nighter and a lot of fun.</p>
<p>There is an optional trip to Busch Gardens/Washington DC for seniors but the teacher that organizes the trip is kind of odd and the price is $450 and most families don’t want to pay it.</p>