During a Park High a.m. assembly a handful of seniors were selected to stand in front of the school and hold up signs with letters spelling out “LAGOON”. Students all cheered as they realized what this meant, the seniors would be granted the chance to visit the amusement park in Utah to celebrate graduating from high school, a trip that would make past graduates jealous.
The weekend before they graduate, all the students going on the trip will load up on a bus at the school. They will then head down to the amusement park to spend an entire day celebrating. The class will head back that night, sleeping on the bus if needed.
For years now Park High has honored a tradition of celebrating that year’s graduating class in some way. The most popular one has been the “Senior All Night Party”. The twelfth-grade class would get together for a school/ parent-planned chaperoned party that lasted until the early morning hours.
This year however when the parents and administration got together they determined that a change would be nice for the students. They decided an out-of-state trip would be more enjoyable and entertaining for the class. This, combined with the fact that one of the parents of a Park High student had connections that could get the group a discount, the administration decided on the Lagoon. The Lagoon is a traditional amusement park located in Ogden, Utah. The park has popular rides such as Wicked, The Spider, Cannibale, and more that the students will get to ride.
Of course, even with a discount the class trip will not exactly be what someone could call “cheap”. The students are all generating the funds for the trip 418 miles from home.
However, this money has already begun to be gathered in many different forms as early as a couple of weeks after the announcement. “Ranger cookies” are one way the expense is being slowly chipped away at. Cookies are sold in the cafeteria on Tuesdays and Thursdays for students to purchase at two dollars a pop.
Seniors will be finding other ways to fund the trip including fundraisers, bake sales, wrapping gifts at Murdoch’s around Christmas time, and other various volunteer work before the trip. The amount of time it will take to raise the money is unknown at this point, Cydney Mitchell says “We’ll keep raising until we have it all”.
Future senior classes may also go to the lagoon to celebrate if that’s what is decided for their year. During previous years everyone has heard of the infamous senior all-night party along with its shenanigans, but there are murmurs of this tradition changing. Other options may be available to classes to come. “Whether it’s a party or a trip” says Mitchell, all that matters is that the graduates get to celebrate their accomplishment.