Annually, the upper-level German classes at Shaker High School take a trip to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (3 hour ride) in December to experience the popular German attraction of visiting Holiday Markets. Not only are these markets extremely fun for the students, they are deeply enriched with German culture and traditions. It is a wonderful, diverse learning opportunity for the students, while still being in the US.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 the trip was cancelled in 2020. It just wasn't safe to travel at that point. 

In addition to this trip being cancelled in 2020, current seniors also lost the opportunity to participate in the German Exchange trip (due to COVID-19).

Recently, the school decided that the trip could not happen in December due to the ongoing concern of COVID-19. Specifically, the transportation and potential transmission during such times. 

We find this reasoning to be confusing as a sports team was permitted to attend a game in Syracuse NY (2 hr 20 min ride). They were permitted to travel using the same bus we would use, with roughly the same amount of people.

We urge North Colonie administration to please reconsider their decision for the German Trip, especially for our Seniors that have been stripped of any opportunity of traveling to experience German Culture.