by Marissa Bilancieri
edited by Kevin Flanders

The annual spring break trip to Costa Rica has been cancelled because airfare was too expensive for the student and teachers attending the trip.

Doug Carty, the director of Adventure Recreation, was the only staff member set to go on the trip, and was planning to bring Chelsea Ketchen as a student leader. The $1,300 to $1,500 cost became too expensive since the company organizing the trip, Outward Bound, was not going to cover the airfare.

Preceding the Costa Rica trip were two Austria trips, each receiving positive reactions.

“The purpose of these trips is to get students involved; we have day trips that can teach you a new skill and I like to go overseas for spring break because it teaches the kids about another culture,” Carty said.

During the Austria trips, things were done a little bit differently, because they were more expensive. The Austria trip focused more on skiing and snowboarding, but the Costa Rica trip focused on visiting beaches, snorkeling, and exploring the life of the animals that live there. In Austria, the students stayed in a hotel where they either paired up or tripled in the rooms, but in Costa Rica they were set to live in a bunk house, similar to those one might find at an overnight at summer camp.

Since Outward Bound did not cover the airfare, students would have had to put down a deposit for the airline tickets. Carty needed 12 deposits, but did not receive them in time. “My biggest regret was not starting to advertise the trip earlier,” said Carty. “We started pushing it back in October, but we should have done it earlier.”

Carty plans to reschedule the trip for next year, but decided that because the Austria trips were much more expensive they would have to take place every other year.