By Isaiah Rosario, Sports Editor
Need help figuring out what to do for spring break? Travel to “The Most Magical Place on Earth” with student engagement’s all-inclusive package for students to travel to Disney World Orlando. The offer extends from March 9 to the 14.
Student engagement recently reduced the price of the trip by $1000, making the official listed price to go to Disney World $1,900. The pricing includes airfare, hotel, ticketed excursions, meals and more.
The assistant director of student engagement, Sharon Ortega, gave The Quadrangle insight into the creation of the package. It was primarily based on the idea of getting students engaged without affiliation with other organizations, while also not focusing an academic component on the trip.
“We wanted to provide an experience that didn’t have an academic component because most institutions provide either an academic travel experience or a service-based travel experience,” Ortega said. “We realistically wanted it to be something that is for students to have downtime, have fun, get to know each other and hopefully bond with students.”
Student engagement examined the success of Leadership Weekend and noticed how students respond to a different environment. The choice of Disney World primarily had to do with the ease of getting around the park and the complimentary shuttles for guests.
Students on campus have mixed thoughts about the trip. One student who spoke to The Quadrangle believes that the spring break packages are a good idea to let the student body travel.
“Although I can’t go, it’s a great idea to let the student body out there at Disney to ride good old Splash Mountain and travel the world at Epcot,” sophomore Andrew Cranston said.
Harrison Bookner, a sophomore at the college, differs in opinion, believing the trip doesn’t lend itself to creative freedom for individuals.
“I have no desire to go, to be honest,” Bookner said. “If I were to go on a trip, it’s gonna be where I want to go, when I want to go, based on my budget.”
The trips will also be chaperoned by college administrators to ensure a fun and safe college experience. The chaperoning on this trip was designed to be at the forefront of the promotion of this package to assure parents that students will be safe while traveling.
The Disney trip is seen as a beginner’s version of spring break for students who have not done a college spring break before. Although chaperones will be present, there will be some downtime for students to explore and have fun without supervision.
However, some students still do not see the use of chaperoning on spring break.
“I don’t understand going on a chaperoned trip with the school, but I guess if you want to meet people it could be cool,” Bookner said.
Despite Disney World being the only location offered this year, the trip is seen as a test run for student engagement to determine new possible locations for next year.
“I consider this a pilot program,” Ortega said. “We are definitely open to locations in the future and can’t wait to see how it happens this year and how it rolls out. Based on what we see this year, we will look to add locations in the future.”
Another concern raised by students is the trip’s pricing. Some students feel that they could take the same trip for cheaper, as the spring break offered by the school is only four days long.
Bookner stated that he agreed with other students that the price is a bit high for only four days unless “the students were staying in a five-star hotel”.
Ortega gave her perspective regarding the high pricing of the trip.
“We ran the numbers and Disney is expensive,” Ortega said. “I feel the same way and I wish we could find a way to bring down the cost for the students but these are expensive destinations and they’re [expensive] I think because of the convenience that they provide to you.”
On the flyer, it states that the last date to sign up for the trip was Jan. 17, but student engagement has extended the purchase date to Jan. 31 in order to give students more time to decide if they want to travel with the college.
