A trip to the ‘happiest place on earth’

Task Force of the class of 2022 confirms senior Grad Nite

Seniors+%28left+to+right%29+Mirayah+Villalpando%2C+Sylvanna+Olivas%2C+Caleb+Hutchins%2C+Ricardo+Sandoval+and+Ethan+Acio+look+for+their+student+ID+on+the+choices+list+in+front+of+the+Associated+Student+Body+store.+If+a+senior+is+on+the+choices+list%2C+they+are+not+allowed+to+attend+Grad+Nite.

Eiffel Sunga

Seniors (left to right) Mirayah Villalpando, Sylvanna Olivas, Caleb Hutchins, Ricardo Sandoval and Ethan Acio look for their student ID on the choices list in front of the Associated Student Body store. If a senior is on the choices list, they are not allowed to attend Grad Nite.

Yealin Lee, Managing Editor

On Feb. 24, Grad Nite’s confirmation was announced. According to the email that was sent to all Bonita Vista High (BVH) seniors, the trip to Disneyland and California Adventures is happening on May 14th-15th.

According to senior and president of Task Force Isabella Garcia, there will be a charter bus that will transport the students at around 7:30 in the morning with an expected arrival time at the amusement parks of 10:00 a.m. Students are anticipated to arrive back at Bonita Vista High (BVH) at 2:00 a.m.

Since Grad Nite tickets are expensivecosting 255 dollarsGarcia explains that there is a limited amount available for students to purchase. Since Task Force and Associated Student Body (ASB) purchases the tickets beforehand, they don’t want to buy an excess amount to make sure they don’t lose any money. There are around 480 senior students at BVH and 300 tickets available.

In addition, the Task Force sent out a poll to all senior students asking if they were willing to attend Grad Nite knowing the cost. According to Garcia there were around 150 students who were 100 percent certain they were going to attend.

“We still have to be cautious and aware because there were some students who said that they were on the fence about buying the tickets because of the high price. Personally I believe it’s not an unreasonable number. We have 480 students and not every senior goes so we do try our best to get as many tickets as possible for the senior class,” Garcia said.

Garcia mentions that she understands some students won’t be able to attend even if they wanted to because of the cost. Therefore, she encourages them to communicate their situation with Task Force advisor Robert Tucker.

We want to be fair and equitable to all the seniors who want to go on this senior night trip.

— senior and Task Force '22 president Isabella Garcia

“We do want to accommodate those students [who can’t afford the tickets] because we understand that we [the senior class] missed out on a lot of high school events and we want to be fair and equitable to all the seniors who want to go on this senior night trip,” Garcia said. “I’m very confident that we would be able to accommodate them and make sure that they would get to that event.”

If seniors want to participate in this event, Garcia and a recent email sent out to seniors recommends students stay off the choices list. This list compiles a series of students’ names who won’t be able to attend as a consequence for inappropriate behavior displayed on campus.

BVH is not the only high school that will have their Grad Nite on that day at Disneyland. There will be others attending and the park is going to be exclusive to these high schools.

“For Grad Nite, Disneyland puts on special events. [There are certain times in] May where the park is open to the public during most of the day and then they’re asked to leave […] at around 12. I’m not entirely sure but there are a couple hours later into the night and early Sunday morning where it is exclusive to those high school students,” Garcia said.

This senior Grad Nite is going to be the first in two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Garcia expresses her enthusiasm and feels relieved that BVH was able to secure a spot at Disneyland.

“I’m really happy that we were able to go to Disneyland and that we were able to secure a park hopper. I know Grad Nite is something that a lot of seniors look forward to and unfortunately the past two years our seniors were not able to get that experience and even if they could, we did have a ban [BVH was banned from Disneyland] so I am really excited,” Garcia said.