Pierce the Camino Cancellation

by Zachary Brehmeyer
edited by Tyler Comeau

The Pierce Camino trip has been cancelled because only five people signed up for the trip.

This trip has occurred every other year since 2011 with an average of eight to nine people attending every year.

(Photo: The Keene Sentinel)

“Ten-twelve students would be ideal,” said Professor Doug Challenger who is in charge of the trip. Challenger also said “The first trip in 2011 had 13 kids but has gone down ever since.” On the last trip in 2017 there were also only five students, but the administration let the trip happen as an exception. They had to shorten the trip by two weeks due to lack of funding.

Challenger said, “No one wants to leave campus for a semester.” He attributed this to roughly 50 percent of the school being involved in athletics and not being able to leave for a semester. Challenger also said, “Thirty percent of the students are health science majors and can’t leave.”

Challenger said “that the administration needs to address (the Camino trip) as a college in order to keep the trip as a possibility.” He also said that “as a faculty member he can’t intervene.”

Another reason for the lack of the attendance is the study abroad fee for the trip went up from $4,200 for the trip to $6,000.

In order to write this article I went in to Professor Challenger’s office and interviewed him about the cancellation of the Camino trip.