The senior trip is an annual expedition to offer last-minute bonding to the class. Past trips have included going to a Los Angeles Dodgers game, a full day at Disneyland, and shopping at Venice beach. After finishing finals and clearing out their lockers, seniors left on the 2018 senior trip at 9:45 a.m., May 16, and will return May 18 in the evening.

Senior advisor Kori Friesen is a chaperone on the trip along with Robert Foshee, student leadership advisor. This combo leads the seniors throughout the year in monthly homeroom classes. Friesen shares the itinerary of the senior trip which includes the Broadway play School of Rock at the Pantages Theatre.

“This year we are taking our seniors to Los Angeles; we are doing a southern California tour to a bunch of different places,” Friesen said. “The first day we are heading to the Pantages Theatre to see the play School of Rock after a teppanyaki dinner. The next day we spend the whole day at Disneyland, then the day we come home we go to the beach in Santa Monica and do some shopping and then bowling and dinner before we head home.”

There are 39 seniors who qualified or decided to go on the trip this year and three chaperons joined them including, Friesen, Foshee and Kimberly Bell.

Daniel Avila, ’18, is excited for the extra time he gets to spend with his friends. Avila is planning on attending Grand Canyon University this fall while majoring in psychology.

“My favorite part about the senior trip is being able to hang out with friends who will be going away for college,” Avila said. “This is one of the last times to do that and I love being able to connect with all of them. The senior trip is good for seniors to go on because you can connect with your other classmates. We are like a big family. Being able to just do things with others and strengthen relationships is what senior trip is all about.”

Friesen reasons that at the end of the school year seniors should have a big culminating activity.

“We have the trip because it’s the end of your senior year you’ve got to have some culminating activity to finish off the journey that they have been on,” Friesen said. “Traditionally Fresno Christian has done a senior trip for as long as I know of. Over the years it has changed, sometimes it has been service with a little bit of fun but then it has changed to a whole lot of fun.”

The class of 2018 official boards the bus for the annual senior trip, May 16. The group will visit various attractions including Disneyland and the Santa Monica Pier Friday, May 18. @fresnochristian #TheFeather @Disney pic.twitter.com/Ch1pskrvaQ

— The Feather Online (@thefeather) May 16, 2018

Mathew Oliver, ‘18, believes that the senior trip is going to be a bonding experience.

“I think that it will be a great experience and it will be a good last chance to bond as a class,” Oliver said. “It is important to have this last fun time to make good memories especially after a week of hard finals.”

Friesen has been apart of the senior trip for the past five years. She explains why this trip is a good thing for seniors.

“For the past five years I have been joining Mr. Foshee as a senior advisor on the trip,” Friesen said. “We put it together throughout the year. We usually start with a senior retreat to have a bonding experience where we take the seniors up to the mountain and start the year off with developing the atmosphere of what they want to have as a senior class for the rest of the year, then we end the year for them with a senior trip.”

While the rest of the school finishes projects and prepares for finals, the seniors are whistling and jumping their way through Disneyland and California Adventure, visiting attractions such as Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, the Matterhorn and, who can forget, the tea cups.

Joey Huang, ’18, hopes to make some new memories outside of school with her classmates. Huang will be attending Boston University while majoring in biomedical engineering.

“I’m looking forward to visiting Disneyland and just spending quality time with my fellow classmates,” Huang said, “because this is our last trip together and I really want to create some good memories.  The senior trip is an opportunity for seniors to get to know each other in a fun environment, while doing many interesting activities in Southern California.”

The seniors left on the trip Wednesday morning, May 16, and, once arriving in Embassy Suites, Irvine, they enjoyed a  teppanyaki dinner before seeing School of Rock. All of Thursday will be spent at Disneyland. Friday, the seniors will be going to the beach in Santa Monica as well as shopping and bowling later in the afternoon. They plan to arrive back in Fresno by 10:30 p.m., dropping the students at Fresno Christian.

Seniors, please share with The Feather your favorite moments from the senior trip and leave a comment below the slide show.

Slideshow below includes images from the 2018 annual senior trip.

[rev_slider alias=”seniortrip2018″]

Jacob Hyatt also contributed to the article and can be reached via Twitter and email.

Vijay Stephen can be reached via Twitter and email.

For more articles, read Senior Reflection: Mariana Fikse, Senior Reflection: Cayla Rivas and Senior Reflection: Juliana Lozano and/or a recent article by our student body president, read COLUMN: Roman Endicott says inspiring endeavors ahead or Robert Foshee: Longtime multiple-sport campus coach, academic teacher.