By Sarah Goodykoontz

What a year for the seniors: with applying to colleges, preparing for Senior Scenes, writing a 4500-5500-word paper and preparing to defend it, etc., our seniors have accomplished a lot. But it’s been stressful. Really, really stressful.

That’s why I personally loved leaving for our five-day senior trip to Washington, D.C. just 10 days after one of the most stressful parts of our year: the submission of our final draft of the Senior Thesis.

Senior Trip was the perfect way to relieve us, and sort of congratulate us. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a walk in the park (even though we definitely walked in some parks). It was five days of waking up earlier than you normally would — even earlier because of the time difference — and simply walking (and taking the metro, some seniors’ favorite part). All day. Everywhere.

And did our legs hurt? Yeah, a lot. But it is so worth it to go. A guide that I tried to keep mentally was the fact that I would be in a place that I would probably not visit again for a while, with people whom, sadly, I might not see for a while, after graduation at least. What do you do?

First, you pack it with your favorite, or what would end up becoming your favorite, places. Madison Hanosh recalls, “I loved walking around and seeing the monuments our first night there. It was gorgeous and I loved experiencing it with my friends.”

We had a lot of freedom to visit where we wanted, which added a lot of fun. Savannah Jaime remembers, “The Lincoln Memorial, and the Reflection Pool across the Washington Monument … it was so cool!”

We also went to the Capitol, the Library of Congress, some REALLY nice restaurants, the Holocaust Museum, and more! Thus, obviously enough, packing the trip with your new favorite places became an important part of the experience.

Next, you pack it with your favorite people. We had fun wherever we went, whether we were in our own groups enjoying free time to explore, or with our entire class. This was Morgan Cryder’s favorite part. She recounts loving “being in another state with my friends! It was an incredibly fun experience and so many memories were made with one another, and we all have this special bond now because of it. Great way to close out my time at TPA.”

It was definitely a great way to begin to wrap up high school. Juniors, get excited, because this is a great experience you won’t want to miss.