Natalee Holloway Suspect Joran Van Der Sloot Sought in Peru Murder

[DaffyKD]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

Can I ask a silly question, bu this is something that always bugged me? What were a bunch of kids doing in Aruba for a senior class trip?

I did not think Natalee was a senior at the time of her disappearance.

Our local high school (a public school) offered a marine ecology class for seniors. For 32 years,their final included going down to Mexico about 200 miles. They camped out on the beach and studied the marine life there. The kids were gone for almost a week with LOTS of supervision from a combination of teachers and some parents. This was school sanctioned. Last year, the students did not get to go because of the violence in Mexico. The class was in an area with VERY little population, the kids could not leave.

There are programs which are not only a tradition in the schools, but are sanctioned such as this was. No idea if the class this year was able to go.

DaffyKD

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by DaffyKD

I did not think Natalee was a senior at the time of her disappearance.

Our local high school (a public school) offered a marine ecology class for seniors. For 32 years,their final included going down to Mexico about 200 miles. They camped out on the beach and studied the marine life there. The kids were gone for almost a week with LOTS of supervision from a combination of teachers and some parents. This was school sanctioned. Last year, the students did not get to go because of the violence in Mexico. The class was in an area with VERY little population, the kids could not leave.

There are programs which are not only a tradition in the schools, but are sanctioned such as this was. No idea if the class this year was able to go.

DaffyKD

She graduated high school 6 days prior. We graduated on the 24th of May and she disappeared on the 30th. So technically...no, she wasn't a senior, she was a graduate.

This wasn't a sanctioned trip and was not supposed to be educational. It was blatantly a just-for-fun trip. A lot of people that I know went got the trip as a graduation present.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

She graduated high school 6 days prior. We graduated on the 24th of May and she disappeared on the 30th. So technically...no, she wasn't a senior, she was a graduate.

This wasn't a sanctioned trip and was not supposed to be educational. It was blatantly a just-for-fun trip. A lot of people that I know went got the trip as a graduation present.

I don't think anyone assumed it was a school-sanctioned trip. I know that I wrote that it was a school tradition, and wasn't it? There are plenty of school traditions that aren't necessarily school-sanctioned.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I don't think anyone assumed it was a school-sanctioned trip. I know that I wrote that it was a school tradition, and wasn't it? There are plenty of school traditions that aren't necessarily school-sanctioned.

I would say more of a community tradition, but sure. I say it is not a school tradition because it was always only graduates, and the school was careful to have nothing to do with the trips, or even acknowledge them.

Trust me, people did assume it was school sanctioned in the beginning, partially because of the media and their propensity to lean towards the scandal and not the facts. It caused quite a stink.