Beginning in 2017, the ETHS Travel Club connected students with the means to journey around the world and visit new places. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the club was forced to halt its operations. However, the club has now started up again with new meetings and big plans.
In the short time between the beginning of the Travel Club and the pandemic that shut down the world, members of the club found themselves going to places near and far. In its very first year, the club travelled to Costa Rica, and in the years following, they voyaged to Belize, Chinatown, and restaurants in the Chicagoland area.
However, the travel club did more than just what its name suggests, as it also functioned as a way to teach kids about travel and the preparation that goes into it. During meetings, different aspects of travel, such as budgeting, buying at the right time, packing, low-cost travelling, and fundraising for trips, were all explored.
“The goal [of Travel Club] is to get students of all different economic backgrounds to travel,” stated Travel Club Sponsor Ganae McAlpin-Toney. “We don’t want people to feel like, ‘oh, I don’t have this, or I don’t have that,’ no, just come, and we’re going to help you.”
After COVID-19 swept through the world in 2020, effectively cutting off travel for the time being, the club was forced to suspend, with an upcoming trip to Puerto Rico being cancelled. Now, in the 2025-2026 school year, the club is reignited due to popular request, giving the chance for a new group of ETHS students to participate in the trips it offers. The travel club had its first meeting in December, with sponsors Sunsharae Brewer and McAlpin leading the gathering. Together, they hope all students who are interested have the chance to travel.
“I think it’s so important for people to travel so you can understand different cultures and ways of being,” remarked McAlpin. “When you’re just in a bubble, you think everything is one way, and when you’re able to travel, you’re able to see so many different perspectives on things.”
Currently, the club has plans for a trip to China in the coming summer, and is working on the necessary details to make it happen. Beyond this, the club is a student-centered operation, so it is the members who will collaborate and decide the locations of future trips, both domestic and international.
“I enjoyed how we got to share our ideas of where we would like to go, starting with ideas of areas closer to us and then places further from us,” stated ETHS freshman Isabel Morales, who attended the first meeting for the club. “I look forward to finalizing a plan to travel somewhere and raising the money for that trip.”
For students interested in joining the travel club, they can email McAlpin or Brewer at [email protected] and [email protected], respectively.
