Seniors Ski, Snow Tube, and Party at Villa Roma
Besides winter sports, there was bowling, paintball, and basketball.
By ANNA BUKHMAN
They came, they thawed, they made it their own. After a three hour trip on February 3 from Brooklyn to upstate New York, four buses full of Midwood’s seniors and teacher chaperones started their three day, two night, winter sport extravaganza at the Villa Roma Resort.
The main attractions of the senior trip were skiing, snowboarding, and snow tubing. Faith Matthew said, “I liked snow tubing the most, definitely because I like roller coasters, so it was a cute winter version of that.”
Many students had their first experience on skis.
However, for those who didn’t want to partake in winter sports, there were plenty of indoor options starting with an annexed sports center where people could play basketball and volleyball, go bowling, swim, hang out in an arcade, or be a kid again in a bounce house. Wendy Wei said she “enjoyed doing the spider climb in the fitness center. It was tough, but worth the climb.”
Even some of the chaperones joined in on the fun. Ms. Cynthia Ly said, “I was able to play basketball with a couple students who were on the basketball team. They definitely crushed me, but it was a great experience playing them, and I got to learn a few tricks.” Ms. Kristina Coker said her favorite thing to do was bowling. “It was also nice to just see everyone having a good time and enjoying themselves,” she said.
For those who wanted a bigger adrenaline rush, paintball was another popular activity. Manuel Lozano-Velez said, “The playing area was a little unfair due to the high ground advantage depending on where your base was, but either way we all had a blast and forgot about the cold through our worry of getting hit by a paintball.”
Villa Roma is in upstate New York near the Catskill Mountains.
During the first night in the lodge the students got to experience a teen nightclub party. Many seniors had low expectations and figured they would leave about an hour in. Among them was Sabastian Senior, who was pleasantly surprised. “We actually enjoyed ourselves a lot from about 9 p.m. to 12:30 in the morning after realizing the DJ was pretty good at his job,” he said. “It was definitely not something to forget!”
The hotel varied in size and quality, students said. Matthew said via text, “The rooms were…interesting! They were fine, but some kids got better rooms than others, so it was a little bit of a :/ moment.” Kaitlyn Tran’s room had two beds, a pullout, and sofa. Lozano-Velez had a standard room with a bathroom and small closet. However, the room next door had a bed for two, a king sized bed, a huge bathroom, and a separate bathtub with ambient lights.
Most of the students weren’t too upset over the unequal rooms because most of their time was spent on activities. “It was pretty much a free-for-all given that we remained in proximity and did nothing dangerous,” said Senior. A lot of students, and some of the chaperones like Natifa Griffith, “couldn’t ski, but learned on the trip,” she said.
One of the most memorable moments was the small bonfire where students and chaperones could roast s’mores. Lozano-Velez had to use “one of nature's finest sticks” instead of the provided skewers, which ran out. “It was perfect because I was able to roast three marshmallows at once!” he said.
It was the school’s first time going to Villa Roma. “In the past years we went to Pine Grove and had horseback riding,” said Ly. “I thought [this trip] was a nice start, like a new beginning. It was very nice that we went with a different sport this year, just to be able to say ‘I went skiing,’ especially since a lot of the kids live in Brooklyn and they’ve never skied before.”
With a 1:00 a.m. curfew, a plethora of activities to choose from, and scenery rivaling some of the most imaginative fantasy novels, the seniors got to make long-lasting memories and learn some new skills.
“The last day was a little sad because we were having so much fun and then it was all just gone,” said Lozano-Velez.
“I didn’t generally have a particular activity that I liked the most,” Senior said. “It was more being able to partake in activities with people that I have an endless amount of love for that made the trip so enjoyable.”