CATSKILL — The Catskill High School senior class is headed to Washington D.C. for its class trip June 1 to June 3.
“It is educational, yet fun,” according to a field trip request from the class advisor to the Board of Education. “It is a chance to explore our nation’s Capitol. The educational experience will be both cultural and historical.”
The approval for the trip is one the senior class fought long and hard for, said senior class President Andrew Holliday.
In the beginning of March, Catskill Schools’ Superintendent of Schools Dan Wilson said the class would have to look at other options because a trip to Washington, D.C., was cost-prohibitive to some students, and he gave them suggestions, including Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey.
“I met with the senior class officers and their advisor,” Wilson said at a March 13 Board of Education meeting. “I told them we would have to look at other options because the price ranges that they had given me in their proposal were outside what the majority said they could afford.”
After Wilson expressed his concerns, the class president’s father, Jeffery Holliday, advocated to the school board and Wilson, saying a trip to Washington, D.C., would be educational, not a “wasteful trip to an amusement park.”
“Provide students with an opportunity to celebrate their academic achievements pending graduation,” Jeffrey Holliday said. “It’s an opportunity for a lifelong memory.
“If the same board will allow the class of 2023 to fly to Florida, I’m sure you can find a way to allow these kids to go to Washington,” he added.
Senior class advisor Kristie Allen submitted an updated field trip request to Washington, D.C., on April 3 to the high school’s principal and Wilson.
The school board and Wilson approved the request and the trip April 9.
Allen could not provide comment on the trip, due to school district policy, she said.
Wilson did not immediately respond for comment.
The class was actively fundraising for the trip but the delay pushed everything back, Andrew Holliday said.
“We are just glad it’s approved,” he said following the trip’s school board approval April 9.
The trip to Washington D.C., will include attendance to an Orioles baseball game, visits to museums, the nation’s Capitol, tours of monuments and a potential tour with the U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-19, Andrew Holliday said.
Holliday’s father said he is taking a trip to Washington, D.C., next week to meet with Molinaro to discuss his schedule.
“It will be a good experience for the kids,” he said. “It’s also an election year, so it will also be good PR for Molinaro.”
The class held a meeting March 26 to discuss the trip where students were asked to commit to it.
The class has 76 students, according to Jeffrey Holliday. Of those 76 students, 55 students were interested but seven could not pay the full amount of $418.
The students continued to fundraise and work with school clubs to raise money so every student interested in going would be able to go. Local businesses also donated money totaling in $2,500 and an additional $1,000 other funding to lower costs.
All money raised and earned would bring the total amount of the tickets from $418 a student to potentially $307 a student.
“The community support has been awesome,” Jeffrey Holliday said.
The class is selling tickets for a duck race fundraiser, Holliday said, adding they are holding a fundraiser outside of the school district May 4 to raise money that will go directly to the students and will pay for the remaining seven students’ trips in full.
The Duck Race will begin at the Black Bridge and finish at the Uncle Sam Bridge by CONE-E Island. Trophies and cash cards will be awarded to the first nine weighted ducks to cross the finish line, and an award will be given to the last duck.
“No duck left behind,” Holliday said.
Each duck will require a $10 donation for a duck entry, or sponsor packages can be purchased for $100 or $300. A lucky duck sponsor is $100 and includes 10 ducks and one entry into the prerace lucky duck drawing. The student sponsor is $300, which includes sponsoring a student, receiving 30 ducks and six entries into the prerace lucky duck drawing.
“By May 2, people will be notified their duck number, but the ducks get dumped into the water at the same time, so no one will know which duck is theirs until it passes the finish line,” Jeffrey Holliday said. “The more ducks we sell, the more goes into the kids having the best possible trip possible and making it affordable for everyone.”
To purchase entries or just donate, contact Lori Lasher Holliday on Facebook or call (518) 965-7873.
