Sean Reagle ’27
Darian Mihalakis ’27
Lilly Smolenski ’27
Photo Courtesy of Ellen Erikson
Following unprecedented demand for limited May Term trip offerings that brought chaos into this year’s May Term, EA was forced to add last minute trips and reject many students.
May Term trips are a popular annual tradition at EA that frequently has to deal with large levels of interest but this year was different. As a result of a multitude of factors, including how there weren’t athletic conflicts and great word-of-mouth, demand overwhelmed the process. Even after adding more trip offerings, only seniors and juniors who hadn’t already been on a trip were able to travel.
One of the biggest reasons for the surge of demand was how May Term, as a result of the Masters, is later this year, eliminating athletic conflicts. “I don’t know for certain but I think because May Term is later because of the closure all student athletics should be completely wrapped up,” explains Michael Letts, head of the Upper School. “Particuarly sports like crew and track can go really late, and I think the fact that [those athletes] won’t have any conflicts allowed them to travel,” he adds.
Upper school French teacher Christele Furey acknowledges how the lack of conflicts may have increased interest but believes that the main reason for the surge in demand was positive feedback from the student body. “Kids come back from these trips, have a good experience [and then] word of mouth spreads,” she says.
In order to deal with the influx in requests, EA decided to add two more trip offerings to the Galapagos and Ireland, made possible by EA’s helpful partners. “We know they can put trips together pretty quickly,” says Letts.
Explaining the reasoning behind the addition, Letts says, “It was partly the knowledge that there’s plenty of kids who want to take trips…We’re just trying to make sure kids who really want to travel have an opportunity to do so.”
The school also wanted to lessen the stress of having a lot of students for on-campus May Terms. “We need to be thoughtful about how we can’t have too many kids on campus because we have to make sure that we have enough faculty to run enough classes to make sure that class sizes aren’t crazy,” says Letts.
While seniors were excited to secure their spots, the influx of interest created challenges for underclassmen, none of whom were able to travel. Addi Thomas ’27 shares her perspective on how the surge affects younger students, commenting, “I think that there is a lot of activity throughout the upperclassmen this year, which does leave me to feel bad for the lowerclassmen. However, I think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime trip that the upperclassmen only have one or two opportunities to do. Looking at it from a freshman perspective,” she says, “you have three more years to go on one, so overall I think upperclassmen deserve the trip opportunities.”
Commenting on how the underclassmen weren’t able to go on a trip, Julia Griffin ’28 shares, “there’s also a lot of great options on campus for them to start off. And kind of given all the number of people interested, I think the way it was organized made sense.”
Ultimately, the increase in student interest has made the May Term highly competitive. Some students were thrilled to secure spots, while others were left waiting for future years to get their chance. The surge underscores the growing popularity of these trips and their profound significance for students.
Despite the competition, the excitement is still palpable. Tucker Ewan ’26 says, “Even though it was competitive to get here, it’s totally worth it.” Abby Whitman ’26 agrees, emphasizing the social aspect, “It’s not just about the trip itself– it’s about making memories with friends and enjoying a unique experience together.”
This year’s record-breaking interest has shown just how much May Term means to the student body– a celebration of learning, friendship, and discovery that leaves no one quite the same when they return.
