Trip will send juniors and seniors to Utah’s Wild West

With a twinkle in his eye, history teacher Matt Torrens recalls his trip with 20 juniors and seniors two years ago, hiking over rough terrain at the Canyonlands National Park in Utah.

From April 5-10, Torrens and 20 upperclassmen from the Media Arts Program (MAP) will be repeating this adventure in Salt Lake City and the surrounding towns. Torrens will be taking three chaperones: assistant principal Kerry Mohnike, guidance counselor Eileen Allen and parent Steve Metz along for the trip.

On the trip, students will hike, go on jeep rides, and look for animal bones, as well as picnic at scenic spots like Canyonlands National Park, Jailhouse Rock, Dead Horse Point and Green River. The students will also visit some historic sites, such as Topaz War Relocation Center and the Green River ghost town.

Although the trip, which costs $1,400 per student, was offered to all junior and senior social studies classes, Torrens said that only MAP students signed up.

He hopes that the biggest takeaway students will have from the trip is an appreciation for America’s history, and a knowledge of the unsettled West. He said that some of his most memorable moments from last year’s trip were seeing the body of a decomposing baby elk and seeing the full skull and antlers of a mule deer that was killed by a mountain lion.

“I take them and show them a variety of history, from dinosaurs to petroglyphs of Native Americans,” Torrens said.

Junior Rachel Davey said that she signed up to go on the trip because of the experience her older sister, Class of 2015 alumna Samie Davey, had on the trip a couple of years ago.

“My sister went on the trip and she loved it,” Davey said. “Also, Mr. Torrens is awesome and I thought it would be fun to go on a trip with him as a tour guide.”