1 week Ago
IDAHO FALLS — A large group of local high school students learned a lesson in perseverance after embarking on an incredible trip to Mexico that ended with them stranded in Denver. Austin Robertson, a world language teacher at Thunder Ridge High School, says he and other staff were able to take 54 Spanish students, teachers, and community members to the state of Yucatan in Mexico on March 6 for a Spanish immersion trip and service opportunity. “We have a lot of Spanish students, and we wanted to get even more in our program excited about it,” says Robertson.
“We felt that if we offered a travel opportunity, more kids would be excited about staying in the Spanish program.” Organizers decided to take the students to Merida, the capital of the Yucatan state. To raise funds for the trip, students organized multiple fundraisers, such as selling food during lunch and looking for sponsors in the community.
“They worked so hard to be able to do this for a full year,” says Robertson. “It’s important for the students to want to do this for themselves and to raise money to go on a trip like that.” Not only did the create lifelong memories for students, but Robertson says the trip helped to build them up and make them more confident in their language and their lives.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for service, for using their language, for seeing a new part of the world,” says Robertson. “There’s some unique foods that you can find in the Yucatan, and the kids got to experience all these different types of food and culture. Students working with children at a a pediatric rehabilitation center in Mexico.
| Courtesy Austin Robertson The students also participated in service opportunities around the area, including working with children at a pediatric rehabilitation center and at a local food bank. “We were able to give some presentations to families, showing pictures of what Idaho’s like, where it’s on the map, and what we do in Idaho for fun,” says Robertson. “It serves almost 1,500 families with children that have disabilities.
” Students also traveled to one of the , the archeological site of Chichén Itzá. Students in front of the Chichén Itzá. | Courtesy Austin Robertson At the end of the trip, the group hit a travel bump.
On the journey home on March 16, their plane out of Mexico was nearly 40 minutes late to take off, reportedly due to air-traffic controller issues, making their connection in Denver extremely close. According to Robertson, many in the group contacted United Airlines to ask them to wait and tell them their plane was late. A few even ran ahead to try and get to the gate before they closed the door, leaving 54 passengers behind.
“In a scene reminiscent of ‘Home Alone,’ we ran to catch our flight, and even though we got to the gate, they told us sorry it was closed,” says Robertson. “Kids recorded the plane sitting there. We had been telling them to wait for us.
They wouldn’t leave 54 paying flyers, would they?” Many of the students had never flown before the trip, and a few had never been away from their parents, adding to the stress that they may not get home soon. “Eventually, we all got to our gate, all 54 of us, and the plane was right there, but they refused to reopen the gate for us, even though we made up a huge portion of the plane,” says Robertson. “We weren’t understanding that, so we were getting really frustrated.
” Students on a ‘night ride’ during their Spanish immersion trip. | Courtesy Austin Robertson Robertson says a few United Airlines employees quickly realized what had happened and apologized to the group, offering food vouchers and suggesting they stay at a hotel until the next flight, which was 14 hours later, at 8 a.m.
“Taking 54 high school kids back through the airport, onto buses, to a hotel, and then coming back early the next morning for a new flight just seemed like too much,” said Robertson. “So we told him we’d just spend the night in the airport.” The airport then guided the large group to place that wasn’t exactly luxury accommodations.
“They gave us cots, and the room that they had us in was kind of a terrace that’s up above the main hallways,” says Robertson. “There was just this large balcony above that, and it was very well lit, and they couldn’t dim the lights, and the TSA announcements about not leaving your baggage unattended, that loud announcement, every 30 minutes, it goes off.” The children brushed their teeth in the airport bathroom and tried to sleep amid the noise of travelers and the noisy cots.
Luckily, Robertson says, he had been guiding a great group of kids to be stuck in the airport with. “We had all these interruptions, and it was a pretty miserable night, but we took a few pictures because it was almost comical to see these 60 cots laid out in this room,” says Robertson. “The kids were able to keep a positive attitude, and I was really pleased with how they responded to it.
” Robertson says days later, a United Airlines employee contacted him and others in the group to apologize for not letting them on the plane. “A really nice lady called me and apologized, and she’s like, ‘We normally don’t do this, but it was an air traffic control decision, or it was an operations decision to close the plane and not let you guys on,'” says Robertson. “So they got all of our emails, and they sent everyone a $150 voucher credit to travel with United again.
” On March 26, Robertson says he received an email from Bryan Stoller, the vice president for Customer Care at United Airlines, apologizing for the incident. “I’ve always found that when things go wrong, it’s best to start with a simple apology,” the email says. “I’m sorry for the recent experience you had with on your flight.
” At the end of the day, Robertson says he is glad the students and organizers were able to safely experience a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and that everyone involved were good sports during the unfortunate night at the airport. “The only thing that surprised me more than United denying all 54 of us entry onto our plane was the resiliency and positive attitude of our students,” says Robertson. “Maybe this trip did more than just teach them Spanish language and culture.
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