The Parks

February 16, 2023

Of course, aside from being a part of the conference the whole trip, StuCo found the time to enjoy the theme parks for themselves.

Students had a chance to get a little ‘goofy” during their time at Epcot. (Courtesy of Kristen Gartner)

“We got to go to all four of the parks at Disney World. Because you know we had limited time, so we learned to work together as a team to all come to a common consensus on what rides we wanted to go on,” Proctor said.

L to r, back row: Julia Ellis, Elizabeth Proctor, Owen Markel, Jack O’Rourke, Paige Tetlow, Riley Pickett, and Abby Gomez. Front row: Luisa Valdez, Caroline Mills, Emilia Villela, and Audrey Lowell at Animal Kingdom. (Photo courtesy of Kristen Gartner)

It seems as though they had a blast, not just with being at Disney World, but also having time with friends.

“It was amazing, it was so fun. Getting to be there with all your friends, and riding all the rides you want to ride. The whole atmosphere of Disney is just amazing.” Pickett said.

For Prather, being a Disney novice was a challenge.

“I’ve never been before, so we had Ms. Jeanes, who’s an AP, come with us, and she’s a Disney master. She was telling us how we should structure our day and how we should plan to go on different rides. She was telling us ‘you’d be lucky to ride everything once’.” said Prather. “We timed it right to where we were at the most popular ride first thing in the morning, and we rode it like three times before it got busy.”

Even the adults who went got to have just as much of an experience as the students.

“I love roller coasters.” Ms. Gartner said. “I think my favorite roller coaster was Slinky Dog, and it is in the Toy Story part of Hollywood Studios. I think I liked that one the best. It was very smooth, it was just a really cool ride. The funniest ride that I rode, the one where the four of us, Ms. Hart, Ms. Braun, and Ms. Jeanes and I laughed the hardest was the Millenium Falcon Star Wars part. We laughed so hard and still to this day are laughing about that particular ride.”

The four chaperones got into the spirit (L to r) Kristen Gartner, Jill Hart, Paige Jeanes and Laura Braun. (Photo courtesy of Kristen Gartner)

All in all, aside from the fun rides and cool theme parks, this trip gave StuCo a priceless opportunity to become better leaders and better students of TWHS.

“I would recommend [this trip] to anybody who joins Student Council in the future,” Proctor said. “Definitely go, you will learn leadership skills and you will get to have so much fun and just forget about school for a little bit and relax.”

They learned a great deal of leadership qualities and now have the amazing ability to incorporate them into their everyday lives now.

“I feel like it was such an amazing experience to just go and go behind the scenes of Disney World. No one really gets to experience that,” said Pickett.

The trip left StuCo students and sponsors with an everlasting impression.

In one word to describe the trip, Gartner said “Perfect.”