While most TGS students stayed back to finish up their week before the long Rosh Hashanah weekend, the juniors made their way up through Arizona and eventually into Utah. If you go around and ask a junior at school what they thought of the trip, a common theme that will likely come up is driving. The trek to Utah and then back to Tucson took up a lengthy two days in a bus. However, when the destination was finally reached, the activities ended up being a highlight of the trip.
A couple of days on the bus meant a whole lot of downtime. To attenuate the circumstance, people spent their time on the bus in different ways. While some were asleep for what seemed like most of the trip, others set up their phones and tablets in creative ways to watch movies with friends.
On the way back, though, those sitting in the back of the bus had a different idea of fun. While some stared in disgust from the front, a speaker played the song “I-10” by Jordyinadaze, and many decided to join in. All this happened while driving down the actual I-10. In the end, everyone was relieved to leave the bus after becoming awfully familiar with it.
Thankfully, the trip agenda wasn’t only filled with bus travel. The reason for the long haul to southern Utah was to attend the Shakespeare festival in Cedar City. Ms. Barnett had the chance to indulge her English classes with lessons on the play “Hamlet” before they had the chance to witness it live. For some, watching “Hamlet” played out by actors on a stage in front of them was “very helpful in understanding the play [and] in seeing things done differently or alternatively to the text,” Liam Conroy noted.
Studying the play in class and then watching the play tied into each other well, since sometimes it is hard to picture a play when it’s meant to be acted. In addition to watching some Shakespeare, the junior class also saw a newer one man play called “Every Brilliant Thing,” featuring the actor from the original Broadway version. It was an interactive play so some of the students were able to deliver lines in the play.
Utah, with some of the best national parks in America, gave juniors the chance to make a stop at Zion National Park. Even though many students had empty water bottles by the halfway point up the elevated hike, the group pushed on to a scenic viewpoint. Naturally, the way back down felt like a breeze and the quick Zion adventure was over.
Many juniors walked away saying the most fun they had on the trip was going to an amusement park on the final night. Intense go-kart races and laser tag games broke out. Some struggled to bowl a 70, while others nearly fainted while trying to make it through the haunted house.
The long ride home the next morning brought an end to our 2019 junior trip, but not without the anthem of the trip, “I-10,” playing loudly on the speaker in the back of the bus.
Written by Leo Gruenstein (business editor)