With summer approaching, students are looking forward to a vacation from school. Seniors in particular plan trips as a way to celebrate the end of their high school career. Students Jade Widel and Kennedy Claypoole plan to wrap up their senior year in the most memorable way they can. 

Widel states that she is planning on taking a senior trip with a group of three friends and her mother in order to be able to share the experiences with them as well.

“I’m planning on going to Chicago since it is my mom’s hometown,” Widel said. 

Widel states that she has a layout set for the trip.

“The Shedd Aquarium is one of my dream places to go and see,” Widel said. “We plan to go to Dick’s Last Resort, River Cruise, Navy Pier and a few other landmarks.”

Widel has high hopes for her trip and wants to make it a great experience to look back on.

“This senior trip is going to be a trip to remember,” Widel said. “[This will be] the last memory me and my friends will all have together before we take different paths. Something [that] we can tell our new friends and something we will always cherish.”

Claypoole also plans on taking her senior trip along with other students. She plans on taking the trip to Disney World with the band as her senior trip.

“I have a lot of good friends [in the band] and going [to Disney] with them would be so fun! We have some freedom to ride the rides we want and do things together that we might not be able to do again,” Claypoole said.

Claypoole says that she plans on spending a lot of time with the assigned people that will be in her shared hotel room, but she also expressed that she will be able to spend her time with other friends as well. 

“I think we have to stay in groups of four, but I have some other friends that I’d like to hang out with too,” Claypoole said. “Maybe I’d hang out with my group and one other.”

Claypoole also mentioned parts of the parks that she was most interested in, one being the rides in particular. 

“I think it would be really fun to go on all of the roller coasters with my friends,” Claypoole said. “I never liked roller coasters as a kid, but I think they’re so fun now.”

Claypoole also mentioned how the Star Wars area in Disney World is at the top of her list.

“It’s a fairly recent addition, and I got to experience it for the first time last summer,” Claypoole said. “I’m very excited to go again!”

Claypoole also says that she likes the Avatar area as well. She then went into detail about why they are her two favorite areas in the park.

“The amount of detail that they put in everything is astounding,” Claypoole said. “When you enter the area, it really feels like you’re on that alien planet, or you’re standing next to the real Millennium Falcon. I adored every little detail.”

Claypoole says that she feels lucky that she is able to have the opportunity to go on the trip to Disney World with the band this year, especially since the trip was not able to happen last year.

“Because of COVID-19, there’s a lot of seniors that didn’t get to experience going. We only go every three years, so everyone [gets the chance to be] able to go eventually, but it really sucked that they had to miss out on going with band friends,” Claypoole said. “I was really worried that us seniors would miss the same thing, but luckily we [get] to go. I feel bad for the past seniors, but hopefully something like that won’t have to happen again.”

Claypoole says that the memories from the trip itself will be the most exciting part for her.

“Goofing around with friends that I might not get to meet again [will be the best],” Claypoole said. “It’s sad, but I know I have a hard time keeping in touch, so it’s going to be a nice send off before I leave for college.”