From social media influence to peer connections, friend groups often turn to senior trips as a memorable event to commemorate their friendships and the end of high school. While coordinating a trip, seniors take into account varying factors that make up a successful plan.
Senior Chase Fu believes a senior trip can act as one of the last big things one does with their friends from school and childhood.
“Our senior trip is one of our final chances that we can spend our time with our friends before it might be time for people to go on their own paths,” Fu said.
Like Fu, senior Avy Balanza hopes her senior trip to Hawaii will give her memories with her friend group before parting ways. Balanza also shared that pressure from social media and society started the discussion about a senior trip.
“My friends and I decided to go on a senior trip mostly because of the culture surrounding it and how it’s a popular thing,” Balanza said. “It’s something that a lot of people tend to do before they leave, and we just thought it was a cool way to spend some time together before summer is over.”
Although Balanza and her friends plan to go somewhere new for them all, Fu is excited to share a place he visits often with his friends.
“Originally, I was planning to go to Taiwan to visit my family, but it turned out to be a good chance to go to a different country with friends as well. I would be able to show my culture and show the things that I do in Taiwan,” Fu said.
Senior Alyssa Horne shared that deciding on the time frame of the trip was the most difficult part of organizing her trip.
“I think the hardest part about planning it was finding the dates that worked out for everyone,” Horne said. “We wanted to do it in June because we knew that in July people would start getting busier with their families or having orientation events.”
Fu mentioned the main components that must be planned out before the trip.
“I had to plan for the flight, the living spaces and the food, and these are just the necessities,” Fu said. “You also have to make a list of places you actually want to go, or have an actual itinerary, which takes a lot more time because you have to research the amount of things to do in such a short amount of time.”
As Horne looks forward to her senior trip, she reflected on the planning process and how she would have improved the timeline of booking tickets.
“We started first planning in either October or November. We didn’t book anything because none of us were 18, but that’s when we finally decided who would be able to go and everything. We booked the trip in March,” Horne said. “Because we started planning in October, if we kept along with that schedule and let’s say we booked in January, it would be a lot cheaper.”
After going through the planning process, Horne advised upcoming seniors planning their trips next year to prioritize saving money over splurging.
“Don’t prioritize having a really nice hotel with a lot of rooms. We’re doing one room that has like two bathrooms, but we’re doing that because we know we’re gonna mainly spend time outside the room,” Horne said.
Although graduation means the end of seeing friends during the school day, many groups like Balanza’s look forward to creating lasting memories on their senior trip.
“It’s a way for you to be present and bond and create memories with your friends one last time before inevitably, you guys have to end up splitting up for college,” Balanza said.