Rising Senior: New FPW Destination Triggers Mixed Feelings, But Give It Time

In the wake of recent Fall Project Week announcements for the upcoming school year, lots of attention inevitably went to the rising-seniors' trip. The FPW possibilities for seniors have often been the most interesting and farthest away. In the pre-pandemic era, seniors had many options, some of which even took students abroad, into France and Iceland, for example. However, as we broke in The Acta Diurna a year ago, school administrators don't plan to have international trips on the horizon anytime soon. That’s not to say they still don’t offer great trips. For the current seniors this past fall, the choices were the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas or New York City (the latter ended up being canceled). For the seniors two years ago, the offerings were Yosemite National Park and Chicago.

With this context, we can now dive into some fallout from the announcement for the senior trip for next year. I and most of my grade were hoping for a similar trip to a national park, as the previous two classes had enjoyed a week in the picturesque terrain of the American West. However, at 3:30 on March 22, when classes let out for spring break, the mood shifted from excitement for the vacation to profound disappointment when the school emailed the junior class and our parents. The school announced that we have only one option for our trip next year. It’s not a national park; it’s not even a large-scale city that catches the imagination like NYC or LA. It’s a week trip to Boston, Massachusetts. And it gets worse from there: the school’s reasoning was that this trip would help “further our studies of AP U.S. History and AP Literature,” two classes that we won’t be studying next year, and one that won’t even be offered at Altamont. A massive letdown for the class of 2025. My classmates' opinions quickly turned sour, many even telling me they might take their own trips with their respective friend groups to more exciting pastures.

One rising senior, who wished to remain anonymous, said, "I think it is sad because being out in nature is really relaxing and would have been a bonding experience for our grade. And they have offered an outdoorsy trip every year up until this one. Also I think that it is interesting that Altamont decided to take away the trip that most of the kids have chosen to go on in prior years. Also, by changing to Boston it totally diminishes the fun and the difference between senior fall project week and every single other one."

But now, with more time to think about things, optimism seems to be rising for this trip day by day, and at the time of this writing, to my knowledge, the deadline to opt out has passed with nobody actually opting out.

Rising senior Johnny Stumpff says, “I was initially hesitant about the Boston trip because it didn’t seem like your traditional idea of a fun, exciting, action-packed Fall Project Week trip. However, I think it will be fun because the most important part of Fall Project Week is not the location itself, but rather the fact that you get to spend a week connecting with your friends." 

Laura Spann, another rising senior, adds, “I would’ve preferred to choose my own path like seniors in previous years. I saw a rough draft of the itinerary though, and it looks like it will be fun as long as we make it fun." 

Overall, from what I’ve been hearing, I can confidently make the claim that, as the days pass by and more information about the trip comes out, overall optimism for the trip is increasing. There are some intriguing activities on the trip itinerary, like a potential MLB playoff game, and a self-guided tour of Harvard (which will be interesting due to the shear prestige of the institution). I have no doubt that my grade obviously would have preferred a trip to a national park, but in the end, I think that if we all go into it with open minds, we can make it a great Fall Project Week.