My High School Trip

Wow. That would be the word that I would use to describe my high school trip experience. We went to help out at a camp, called Camp Ladore. When I first heard about it, my first thoughts were, "Oh boy, this isn’t going to be fun." But before the trip started, I was determined to view this trip in a positive light. After all, the trip would become what I made of it!

    

 So early in the morning I woke up and came to school. We left the school shortly. My car ride included various story times and lots of laughter with my fellow sophomore girl classmates. That was the start of a great trip. When we arrived, we were introduced to the camp by Sarah, a lady with a British accent. Cool, right? Then we split up into cleaning groups: most guys, who would clean up more outdoor things and most girls, who cleaned the cabins.

     

My specific group was very enthusiastic about our job, to say the least. Alyssa Winters and I volunteered to clean the site nobody wanted to…..THE BATHROOM!  So we had to clean the sinks and toilets and everything else the bathrooms had to offer. Believe it or not, we had such a great time, I would gladly go back and do it again! We sang songs the whole time varying from "High School Musical" to random hymns. And we did this job for two days. On the second day, we changed location from one cabin to another.

    

 Then something unexpected happened. While I was cleaning, James Wolfe and Josh Hall dropped by giving us a few lollipops and gum that they “discovered.” Yanira Paulino and I, being very exhausted and not thinking clearly, ate the gum and lollipops never asking where they were found. Momentarily, we were told that the candy was found under one of the beds, and the last time those cabins were used was last summer! At that moment, I felt sick. But nothing became of it, so I just let it slide.

    

 We finally left the camp and stopped at Wendy’s on the way home. That was a very ordinary stop, until many students decided to run around the Wendy’s and perform a Chinese fire drill! It was awesome! We arrived home safely afterwards, thankfully.

    

 The next day we went to the Bronx zoo! On the long bus ride, many students were singing various songs and playing certain hand slapping games to pass the time.  At the zoo itself, we had many adventures including a Dora 4D movie, a carousel of bugs, Brandon Bellinghausen communicating with a lemur, Josh Hall being chased by a peacock, and Kelly Schwiker touching a goat! It was a one of a kind experience that can never be replaced.

    

 But on the way home, ten minutes from the school, tragedy struck! Ali Gemmell was sick, and Caleb Irvin passed out! It was a very emotional and nervous time for everyone! When we got to the school, Caleb was rushed to the emergency room while many people stayed behind at the school and prayed for him and Ali. Thankfully, they are both doing a lot better, so our prayers were answered! Thank the Lord! Overall our high school trip wasn’t what we expected, but was a very crazy adventure!

~NC