Fine arts department prepares for spring Disney trip

Presentation+Time%21+Larry+Detwiler+gives+a+presentation+to+students+and+parents+about+the+upcoming+spring+Disney+World+trip.+On+Sunday%2C+Sep.+19+the+fine+arts+department+had+a+meeting+to+discuss+the+upcoming+trip+and+parents+were+able+to+voice+their+concerns+if+they+wanted.

Myah Lear

Presentation Time! Larry Detwiler gives a presentation to students and parents about the upcoming spring Disney World trip. On Sunday, Sep. 19 the fine arts department had a meeting to discuss the upcoming trip and parents were able to voice their concerns if they wanted.

Myah Lear, Reporter

This spring, the fine arts department is planning on taking a trip to Disney World. The groups planning to attend are the orchestra, band, chorus and drama club. The group will leave for the trip after school on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, and they will return to school on Tuesday, May 3, 2022.

The students preparing to go on the trip will have to turn in a deposit of $150 by Oct. 15. Fundraising is available all through the time leading up to the trip for students to raise the other $650 for the trip.

“The big thing to do right now is fundraising. The students are trying to get the funds together so that they can go,” orchestra director Kelly Detwiler said. “Disney is an expensive trip. It’ll be a lot of fun, and I know a lot of the students have never gone to Disney so I know this will be a really great thing for them. And they are fundraising right now trying to get the money together.”

Many organizations fundraise throughout the year.

“I guess if you’re quarantined you might have some trouble if you can’t get out there and do fundraisers, but now with emails and texting and being able to scan something in and send it out to family and friends, I don’t think there would be too much trouble with them fundraising,” Detwiler said.

“The biggest thing to worry about is deadlines. The fundraisers are a quick turnaround because we are offering so many so it lasts only about two weeks. The kids just have to make sure they are paying attention to when the money is due and making sure before the due date or on the due date. They have to make sure they do their best to get it in on time,” drama director Ben Cossitor said.

A lot of the planning that has to do with COVID-19 will not be able to take place until later in the school year as things could change at any point.

“We don’t know what changes there will be for COVID-19 yet. In Disney right now, you are wearing a mask the entire time during your time on Disney property. That will probably be one of the changes but other than that it’s hard to predict, so we don’t know of any others at this point,” Detwiler said.

Things that have to do with COVID-19 and masks in this school district may not apply to the trip.

“We don’t know if mask exemptions will apply to the trip. That is something we will have through Disney directly and that is something that is on down the list. We will be taking care of questions like that probably in a few months,” Detwiler said.

If a student were to get sick or hurt on the trip there will be a protocol that teachers will follow.

“We have had that happen in the past. Of course Disney has their own first aid system there as well as local nearby hospitals. So we’ve always taken care of it before and it hasn’t been a problem,” Detwiler said.

All students must pay attention to their individual scheduling conflicts.

“All of the AP tests do have a second date testing, and so we are working on getting that date together and that’ll be the date that these students take the test. AP tests are no problem whatsoever,” Detwiler said.

The staff in the fine arts department are working hard to plan this trip to ensure that it will happen and go smoothly.

“There is a lot that goes into it, especially with a trip like this. They cost a lot of money, and you have to do fundraising. We have tons of fundraisers that we are planning to offer the kids. For instance right now there’s a fundraiser starting with Save Around coupons books. Next month there will probably be three more and so on and so on. Just setting up those fundraisers is a huge undertaking,” Cossitor said. “You have to make sure that the kids are getting a deposit in so you know who’s going and who isn’t going. You have to get the correct list of participants and there’s paperwork to be done to get the trip approved and making sure that you have parent permission and all that.”

Donations are another thing that the staff have to take into account when planning this trip.

“Sheetz has donated bottled water in the past. I believe in the past a company has lent us a truck to get stuff down there. We definitely get support like that from the community. We also have a support system with the parent boosters. We have the fine arts boosters who basically track all the kids’ money to know what they made and how much money they have earned from fundraisers and helping out in the concession stands at mansion park that the boosters run,” Cossitor said.

During the trip, there are many things that are currently being planned and worked out with the Disney Park.

“We don’t know where we are performing. For instance say the marching band was marching in Magic Kingdom on Friday our Magic Kingdom day would be Friday, and if the orchestra was performing at Animal Kingdom on Thursday, we make Animal Kingdom day on Thursday. All of that is still up in the air. We are still waiting for Disney to tell us where we are performing and then we can build our whole agenda off of that,” Detwiler said.

“We [drama club] are not going to be able to perform from our show. For the students that don’t do music there is a workshop that Disney offers where they take you behind the scenes and you get to learn about how they design the parks,” Cossitor said. “A lot of the kids that aren’t in music are probably going to more of my tech kids that help with building sets and making costumes. They’ll hopefully get a lot out of learning how Disney does basically that same thing just on a very larger scale.”

Chaperones will be able to attend based on past contributions to the fine arts department.

“We do take chaperones. We need lots of chaperones. We use their volunteer hours to choose who goes. For parents who volunteer a lot and put in the time to help us, they’re the ones that are asked first,” Detwiler said.