Features

Senior Trip to Washington D.C.

Cate Didenko, Student Writer|May 2, 2023

Stephanie Nash

Pennridge High School Seniors at the Washington Monument

On April 21., The senior class hit the road to Washington, D.C. It was a trip full of fun, sightseeing, and memories. The Washington D.C. trip was designed to be an opportunity for the Senior class to celebrate their last weeks in high school. Since 2019, the trip has been run by Pennridge teachers: Timothy Busch, Stephanie Nash, and Angela Schoettle. However, this is only the second year the trip has occurred since the pandemic. Around 150 seniors out of the 600 seniors signed up. Students left early before school started that morning and left close to 6 p.m. from Washington, D.C., that night.

Students arrived in D.C. around 10 a.m. at Union Station, which is a transportation hub. From Union Station, students walked to the Capitol Building for a quick photo-op. From there, students walked to the Washington Monument. After spending some time by the monument, students were given the opportunity to explore the National Mall area, which encompasses the reflecting pool, World War II Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and many more. After spending the majority of the afternoon in these surrounding areas, Students were given the choice to look at the White House or to go to the Smithsonian Museum before heading back to Union Station for dinner. Overall, the seniors walked over 12 miles in total from monument to monument. In addition, Friday was a hot day in D.C., with temperatures soaring to 90 degrees. However, that did not stop students from enjoying the monuments, learning, and having fun with their friends.

Many of the students’ favorite parts of this trip were the freedom given to the seniors. Sabrina Oshea says, “My favorite part was the free time we had to explore the different memorials.” Once the Pennridge students arrived within the vicinity of the World War II Memorial, seniors were allowed to explore the National Mall on their own. Additional freedoms throughout the day were students were allowed to choose which bus to sit on and the groups they chose to spend the day with. Ava Ricci explains, “It was nice knowing I would get some freedom to do what I wanted while also being on a school trip for once.” Many students would agree with Ricci that the freedom given on the Washington D.C. trip was much greater than on field trips in the past.

Although our school did offer this opportunity for seniors, other schools may offer even larger-scale senior trips. For example, many high schools provide sponsored trips to Disney World or even the beach. While some seniors may complain that Pennridge should offer a bigger and better overnight trip, other students remain grateful for what we had. Ricci says, “I’ve heard about other schools going to Disney and things like that, and I think something like that would be fun too! But I know it takes a lot of planning, so D.C. was a great substitution to still give seniors the chance to have a ‘senior trip.’”

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