As seniors anticipate the completion of their four years at Algonquin, many look to celebrate their efforts and time spent in the classroom by traveling on graduation trips with friends.

Senior Katie Miller is set to leave for Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with eight of her closest friends on June 29.

“We wanted to have a time to spend together before we go our separate ways to college and beyond,” Miller said.

Miller also hopes to escape the stress that may come with preparing for her transition into college.

“I’m not usually one to want to relax and I know I will definitely struggle with being sad about graduating, so hopefully this trip will be able to distract me from that and encourage me to just have a fun and exciting summer,” Miller said.

Senior Olivia Permatteo, who will be joining Miller on the trip, expressed her excitement to be in a new environment.

“I’m most looking forward to traveling out of the country to spend a week with some of my best friends,” Permatteo said.

Many other seniors share Permatteo’s enthusiasm to spend time in unfamiliar, yet exciting places.

Senior Sebastian Royo is embarking on a road trip with four of his closest friends the day following graduation, June 5, to ultimately reach the music festival Bonnaroo in Tennessee.

The music festival will feature over 100 artists over the course of four days. According to Royo, he is most looking forward to hearing Chance the Rapper and Major Lazer.

“We just want to hear some good music and spend some time together before we head off to college,” Royo said. “We’ve all worked hard during high school so we thought this was a good way to reward ourselves for all the work we’ve done.”

Senior Alex Pietropaolo, who is going to Tennessee with Royo, is looking forward to listening to music and spending time with his friends before they go their separate ways.

“We just want to have one last hurrah before going off to college and create some awesome memories that we can carry with us going forward,” Pietropaolo said.

Senior Brooke Goguen shares this desire to create lasting memories as she travels to Cancun, Mexico in July with three of her best friends.

“I hope to gain new memories and an even stronger friendship than I already have with the girls before we leave for college,” Goguen said. “I consider these girls my family so to have an experience like this is extremely important to me to end high school on a good note.”

According to Goguen, they could be doing anything from just relaxing on the beach to visiting the Mayan ruins.

Senior Morgan Cooley hopes her trip to Cancun solidifies their friendship despite the different paths they will be taking in the future. She emphasized a universal idea by which all three graduation trips were motivated.

“It will be tough not seeing each other all the time but I think the trip will make us realize that we will always have our best friends, even when we are in different parts of the country and starting new chapters of our lives,” Cooley said.