In April of the 2019-2020 school year, the fine arts department planned to take a field trip to Disney World. Due to the school shutdown in March and COVID-19 spreading rapidly, the fine arts directors rescheduled the trip for June. With COVID-19 still affecting the country, the trip was ultimately rescheduled for the 2020-2021 school year; however, the fine arts directors don’t feel comfortable having the trip this year.

“At this point we just do not feel comfortable scheduling a multiple day trip outside of the State. There are just too many uncertainties still existing with the pandemic,” band director Larry Detwiler said.

Drama director Ben Cossitor feels disappointed, among everyone else, in not being able to go on the trip.

“Last March, we had just had our meeting to give out tickets and set up Disney accounts when everything fell apart. In those early days, we couldn’t imagine that we would ever have to cancel such a major trip, let alone that we would still be unable to go a year later,” Cossitor said.

Detwiler ultimately hopes to still have the trip in the Spring of the 2021-2022 school year.

“If allowed [next year], students in grades nine through 12 involved in the Fine Arts program will be able to go on the trip. If we can travel by the end of the year, we will do a one day trip,” Detwiler said.

The cancellation upsets senior Jacqueline Ertwine, but she knows that it is for the best.

“I’m not surprised that it’s cancelled. We are in the middle of a ubiquitous pandemic.  Many of us need to understand the severity of that. I would rather have the trip be cancelled, than jeopardize the health and safety of my peers. As a senior, it saddens me that I’m not going on this trip because personally, this may have been my only chance to go to Disney World! I was excited, but I know it was for the best,” Ertwine said.

Fundraising for a big trip is another difficulty that the directors face.

“Ultimately, this was the only decision we could make. A Disney trip requires a lot of early planning, commitments and nonrefundable deposits. Students would need the opportunity to start fundraising now, at the latest, to be able to afford the cost; unfortunately, we just can’t make that commitment in our present circumstances.  While it’s possible that by the end of the school year we’ll be back to a more normal lifestyle, we can’t count on that.  The one lesson that we’ve learned from the past nine months is that you can only plan for the circumstances you are in, not the ones you hope for,” Cossitor said.