It is almost always a tradition for the graduating class of St. Dominic High School to book, plan and travel to their senior trip destination with their closest friends and guardians. Although COVID-19 has intensely impacted traveling restrictions, the class of 2021 has safely decided the best options and places to make their senior trip occur.

One group of senior girls has decided to be leaving during spring break from April 4-11. Seniors Maddie Lepp, Katie Donnelly, Ava Kinsella, Alayna Metherd and Kennedy Walsh are all planning on hanging out in Punta Cana this spring. The girls will be staying in a resort along with each of their mothers as guardians during their well-deserved vacation.

“We plan on going to the beach almost every day and have an excursion planned for each day like renting a boat and other activities like that,” Lepp said.

While one group of senior girls will be in Punta Cana, another will be enjoying Gulf Shores, Alabama during spring break. Seniors Kallie Nero, Ashley Homyk, Maddie Walker, Paige Kelley and Julia Rankey will be leaving on April 4 and driving through the night with the hopes of heading back home on April 9. The girls are lucky enough to be staying in a house with perfect accessibility to the beach.

“This senior trip is going to be memorable because not only am I going to be with my best friends, but we also get to drive down there which is something not a lot of people like doing when traveling,” Nero said.

Another group of seniors, including Elena Drummond, Gabby Hennessy, Camryn Collier, Natalie Gildehuas, Cole Pardo, Anthony Lewis, Brendan Deters, Jake Karolczak, Christian Vandamme, Gavin Kalish, Jimmy Doherty and Drew and Will Nicholson have all put into consideration their plans for their perfect senior trip. While giving COVID-19 the chance to slowly die down, the group has decided to postpone their vacation to over the summer, leaving July 3 and staying until July 10.

This group of 13 will be catching a plane and heading over to Destin, Florida. While sending a group of teenagers to another state, it is important for guardians to be there during the vacation. Mrs. Drummond, Mrs. Karolczak, Mrs. Hennessy, Mrs. Nicholson, Mrs. Deters, Mrs. Collier, Mrs. Pardo, Mrs. Kalish and Mrs. Lewis will all accompany their children on their exciting trip.

“I’m so excited for this senior trip because I get to be with my closest friends and we are staying in a rental house that is right across from the beach,” Drummond said.

Finally, seniors Ava Kannady, Sophia Kremer, Kelly Henderson, Morgan Snyder, Olivia Krick, Audrey Harper, Sarah Herr, and Ashley Decosty, similar to many other senior groups, have an undecided plan on where they want to travel. In an attempt to start planning, the girls recently had a mother-daughter dinner to discuss the best options for traveling. This girl group is planning on leaving sometime over spring break, but if COVID-19 intensifies, they will book their planned destination over the summer.

“Even though we do not have a set plan for our senior trip, our moms and us are all working together to make this happen and all we have to do is have patience and give it time,” Kremer said.

Going to a different environment with your closest friends as your final trip together can always be a heartening moment as you all move onto college shortly. Although the pandemic has made it difficult for traveling, our seniors have taken time and effort to come up with the safest travel options and resorts to let their final months of being a senior with their best friends happen.