A few will need this.

POTTSTOWN PA – Pottsgrove High School’s girl basketball players will set out Thursday (July 19, 2012) for Kutztown PA. They’ll be followed next Sunday (July 29) by the boys and girls soccer players, off to Gettysburg; then by the football players, bound Aug. 19 for Preston Park; and after them by the boys and girls’ cross-country athletes, headed Aug. 23 to Trexlertown.

Punch your ticket! The Pottsgrove School District’s 2012-2013 travel season is under way.

During the next 12 months, 16 different student excursions – four more than last year – have been authorized by the district Board of School Directors.

The ones already mentioned are to sports-related camps. Three involve the district chapters of Delta Epsilon Chi (DECA), an international association of students interested in marketing careers. A few more exotic locales offer cultural value. For most (one of the DECA trips, noted below, is the exception), all expenses are paid by participating students.

Authorization of such travel is an exercise that appears annually on the board’s agenda. Directors unanimously and without comment approved these future jaunts during their May 22 meeting. The destinations, listed in bold type and in dated order, are:

• Kutztown PA, July 19-22, 2012. Girls basketball camp at Kutztown University, cost $320 per person;
  
• Gettysburg PA, July 29-31, 2012. Boys and girls soccer camp at Gettysburg College, cost $335 per person;
• Preston Park PA, Aug. 19-23, 2012. Football camp at Camp Wayne, cost $200 per person;
• Trexlertown PA, Aug. 23-25, 2012. Boys and girls cross-country camp at Camp Manatawny, cost $160 per person;
• New Castle PA, Nov. 1-3, 2012. Middle School student government to PASA state conference, cost $110 per person;
• Washington DC, Nov. 16-18, 2012. DECA Southern and North Atlantic Regional Conference, $300 per person;
• San Diego CA, Dec. 26-31, 2012. High school marching band to perform in the nationally televised Bridgeport Holiday Bowl, cost $1,850 per person;
• Hershey PA, Feb. 2-March 1 2013. DECA state career trip, cost $250 per person;
• Italy, March 20-28, 2013. Cost $2,506 per person;
• Wallops Island VA, April 10-13, 2013. Advanced Biology Trip, cost $350 per person;
• Charleston SC, April 10-14, 2013. Concert choir performance, cost $585 per person;
• Anaheim CA, April 23-28, 2013. DECA International Trip, about $1,000 per student, paid for by the district. As in the past, this particular trip involves a limited number (4) of students and is being treated the same as an athletic team traveling to competition in another state;
• Boston MA, May 3-5, 2013. Junior class trip, cost $459 per person;
• Orlando FL, May 28-June 1, 2013. Senior class trip; cost $1,139 per person;
• Germany, June 15-July 13, 2013. GAPP Exchange Trip, cost $2,000 per person; and
• Spain, 2013 dates to be determined. High school trip, estimated cost $3,000 per person.

The depressed economy may have had an effect on pricing. The costs of several trips are lower than those to identical locations last year.