Senior trip was a blast!

By Kristi Helms-Smith

For Puyallup Tribal News
Published on: June 12, 2008

The seniors thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Sandusky, Ohio. Their favorite attraction, by far, was the Cedar Point Amusement Park, home to seventeen amazing roller coasters – more than any other park in the world. They have three of the top 10 steel roller coasters, including the Dragster, which reaches speeds of 120 miles per hour! Even the most timid of us rode at least one roller coaster. Most of the seniors walked away from the park carrying souvenirs and prizes, as well as tons of photographs. The favorite hot spot was the t-shirt shop, where many of the students bought custom-designed ’08 shirts to take home with them.

At the end of each day, most of the group spent hours in the indoor water park at the Castaway Bay resort. The park included a wave pool, basketball pool, and a funhouse with a huge bucket of water that doused the kids every two minutes. Of course, their favorite part of the water park was the water slides: four gigantic slides, including one with rafts! Once they wore themselves out, they were able to relax in the 50-person whirlpool spa.

For those who weren’t in the mood to get soaked, we made daily trips over to a nearby bowling alley or the local mall. The students had great fun at the bowling alley making music videos and competing at knocking down the most pins. Meanwhile, a number of students found fabulous new shoes or CDs they couldn’t live without at the mall.

Finally, we spent our last day visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Here, students got a close-up look at some extravagant performance outfits, including those worn by Michael Jackson, Madonna, Elvis Presley and David Bowie. In addition, they got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the Beatle’s movie “Help!” and had a chance to peruse the top 500 most influential rock songs.

The chaperones, James Bloomstine, Deanne Gardner, Shannon Wilson, Kristi Helms-Smith and Michael Williams were impressed with students’ respectful and responsible behavior. For some of the students, this was their first plane trip, but they all handled the take-offs, landings, and occasional turbulence with grace. They returned exhausted, but happy, with suitcases that were quite a bit heavier than when they set out. We would all like to thank Sadie Srail, who put so much time and energy into planning such a fabulous trip for our seniors.

The Class of 2008 would like to again express their gratitude for the on-going support of staff, parents, community and the Puyallup Tribal Council as they make their way to graduation.

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