With classes starting to wind down and Graduation approaching, the Senior Class eagerly anticipated its annual trip to Universal Studios for Grad Bash. However, members of the Class of 2026 experienced the park a little differently; the School organized a daytime excursion on Wednesday, March 11.
Students gathered early in the morning and departed at 7:00 a.m, arriving at the park shortly after. After a full day exploring the rides, the group met up again around 8:00 p.m to return to campus. A second group of students, nominated for the Pathfinder Scholarship, joined the group later in the day after completing interviews at Palm Beach Atlantic Univ. in West Palm Beach.
The trip was coordinated by Senior Class Dean Dr. Peruggia, who worked with the administration and Universal staff to organize the day.
“This year 42 students attended Grad bash. Mr. Carr and I discussed a trip considering that we were not able to go to Grad Bash. So in the fall we looked through the calendar to find a day that might work that would not interfere with classes. I then reached out to Universal to see if they would accept our group on this day and then reached out to students to make sure that they could go,” Dr. Peruggia said.
Once the trip was scheduled, several teachers helped coordinate the logistics.
“After everyone had signed up, I purchased the tickets and Mr. German helped facilitate the transportation needs. However, we then found out that the Pathfinder interviews were on the same day so luckily Mrs. Naik [AP Psychology Teacher] worked with me to reach out to the Pathfinder organizers to secure an early interview time. Mr. Blount [Upper school science teacher] then agreed to drive a separate bus for the Pathfinder nominees who wanted to come on the trip,” Dr. Peruggia explained.
For students, the day offered a chance to spend time with friends while enjoying some of Universal’s most popular rides.
“My favorite part about the trip was being with my friends all day and going on really fun rides. My favorite ride was VelociCoaster because it’s super fast and the drop makes the ride 10 times better. One of my most memorable moments was meeting the pigs from Sing. We took pictures with them, and interacting with them for a few minutes made my entire day,” Senior Leanna Depaulis expressed.
Despite arriving a little later than the rest of the group, senior Sage Ponchock, a Pathfinder nominee for World Languages, felt that the trip was still a memorable experience.
“I loved spending the day with my friends outside of our normal comfort zones. We accomplished a ton and had a great time. It’s also somewhere we might never have gone together outside of school, so it was an amazing experience. Everyone was having a great time,” Ponchock explained.
Several faculty members attended the trip as chaperones and, they too, enjoyed all that Universal had to offer.
“I try to go to Grad Bash every year. Even if I’m not an advisor for the senior class, I love to go because I get to go on the rides, hang out with the other teachers, and support our students. It was a small group of students that attended this year, but I was happy to see that everyone had a buddy while walking around and seemed to have a great time enjoying the Universal magic,” Upper School math teacher Mrs. Rachelle Mays shared.
Like Mrs. Mays, Upper School math teacher Mr. Joel Hunt loved spending time with his students outside of the classroom.
“I started working in the middle school at Benjamin as a long term substitute when this class was in eighth grade. The next year, I started teaching at the high school so this is the first class that I have seen all the way through. I wanted to go because I just wanted to spend time with the kids as I feel pretty close to a lot of them. One of my favorite moments was going on one of the water rides with a couple of my students. I got soaking wet but it was awesome and so fun to share that moment with them,” Mr. Hunt shared.
Although this year’s trip looked a little different from the traditional Grad Bash experience, it still gave Seniors the opportunity to step away from their routines and be together in a more relaxed environment. Overall, it offered the Class of 2026 a chance to create more lasting memories before graduation.
