By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Travel is back on the itinerary for high school organizations around the state. Last month, the USD 428 Board of Education approved a Washington, D.C. trip for the Great Bend High School choir. At Monday's July meeting, the board approved another trip, this time a Colorado jaunt for the GBHS orchestra.
Orchestra instructor Isaac Enochs presented to the board, reporting the students had selected Colorado on a list of short trip ideas. The 4-day trip would include a stop at Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, and a musical performance in Denver. The orchestra would also perform in Denver.
"The musical performance we're hoping to go to is Riverdance," Enochs said. "We got to see them in Dallas back in 2018 and they were really good. That was probably the highlight of our Dallas trip in 2018."
Enochs said the orchestra plans to take approximately 50 students on the 2023 trip, and the estimated cost for each student would be $750. Much of those costs would be covered with a series of fundraisers, including poinsettia and popcorn sales.
"We're really trying to make it to where every kid goes unless they have a conflict," Enochs said. "We're trying to fundraise so all kids will hopefully be able to go without putting in too much of their own money."
Enochs suggested using a travel agency for this year's trip. High school staff has planned trips previously, but the last trip just missed being canceled due to COVID-19.
"Who knows what could happen a year from now," Enochs said. "If we weren't able to go on our trip, we wouldn't have to lose all that money. That's part of the reason we want to use a travel agency. Also, it just streamlines the whole process."
Using a travel agency would insure the trip against cancellation, but also give the group an on-site tour guide and streamline all the accounting so GBHS staff would not have to receipt each transaction. Now approved, the trip is scheduled for the 2023 summer break.