Bailey Ulinski only knows a couple of things about the Bahamas.

“I know it’s warm and sunny, with sand and beaches,” the Woodmore High School senior said. “A lot of my friends went there last year and they really enjoyed it.”

Ulinski will be one of 47 Woodmore students who will take their senior class trip to the Bahamas from March 21 to 24. Carolyn Nitz, who teaches English and journalism at Woodmore, has served as a chaperone for more than a decade.

“I’ve been involved with our senior class trip for the past 11 years, and we have always gone to the Bahamas,” Nitz said. “Several years ago we went to Chicago. The kids get to pick where they want to go and the school allows for two paid advisors. There are three of us, and one of those positions is split. Three teachers go as advisors/chaperones, and we also take parents who volunteer to go and act as a chaperone.”

Woodmore English teacher Whitney Flick and family consumer science teacher Dova Zak also serve as chaperones.

“The three of us have gone the last 11 years,” Nitz said. “We take a cruise out of Port Canaveral, in Orlando, Fla., to Nassau for a three-night, four-day cruise. We have to have at least half the senior class to be able to have the trip. This is the first year we’ll be going by bus.”

In previous years the Woodmore contingent has flown to Orlando, but this year the group will take a bus to the Sunshine State. They will then board a Carnival Cruise Lines ship to take them to Nassau.

“Airfare is out of control,” Nitz said. “We had just enough people to get a bus. The students saved almost $300 by taking a bus. This only worked because we had just enough kids to fill one bus. If we had to split the cost between two buses, we would have flown.”

Woodmore’s senior class trip doesn’t cost taxpayers a penny. Many of the students raise money for the trip on their own via various fundraisers throughout the year.

“Just about all of us paid for it that way,” Ulinski said. “I worked at Cedar Point a couple weekends in the fall and we did sales, like Tupperware and candles and calendars. We just finished our last (fundraiser) a few weeks ago.”

The trip costs each Woodmore senior a minimum of $735, according to Ulinski.

“Everyone had to meet that goal,” she said. “If you raised more than that, the rest was yours in your pocket. You get to spend it on excursions and shopping during the trip. We were given a choice of going to a couple places. Most of us wanted to be on the warm beaches and on a boat. A lot of teachers were worried that if we went to New York or Washington, D.C., we would all end up in different places. They felt it would be easier to watch us if we were on a boat.”

Nitz said the students will be able to disembark from the Carnival cruise ship and take a water taxi to an uninhabited private island, Blue Lagoon Island, for a day.

“They can swim with dolphins and sea lions,” Nitz said. “There are some pretty nice excursions. On the island, it’s only people from the ship who are there, so it’s a safe place. It’s just people who are there for the day. At the end of the day they take us by water taxi and we get back on the ship.”

Ulinski, who has never been out of the United States - “I went to California once, when I was little,” she said, “but I only remember bits and pieces of it” - said her senior class trip can’t get here fast enough.

“I’m pretty excited,” she said. “It’s a good chance for the seniors to bond together one last time before we say goodbye.”

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