Although essay writing and application deadlines weigh heavily on most seniors’ minds this time of year, right around the corner is another big date: the senior trip to Universal Studios on Oct. 2.

Despite generating criticism for occurring seven months earlier than it has previously, the new date can encourage more students to enjoy the experience.

Officially, administration moved the trip to underclassmen testing day to help students spread out the costs associated with being a senior; May can be an expensive month, between prom, graduation, grad night and other senior activities, so moving this to October helps with the budget.

In past years, the number of students who participated in the senior trip dropped, and there was also confusion between the senior trip and grad night, according to principal Leslie Roach.

The trip is hard to fit in October, a busy month when classes get into their challenging rhythm and students focus on college applications; however, seniors faced similar timing concerns when the trip was in May, with preparations for AP tests and class finals looming over the trip.

Regardless of the time of year, students will nevertheless have to juggle their workloads, so does it make a difference what season they juggle it in?

Students can relieve this tension by taking a mindset that, by finishing their work early, the trip will be more rewarding. In this case, it would be getting those college essays finished soon.

With the trip being so early in the year, some students are also concerned that they will have limited time to serve detentions that prevent trip eligibility. However, at the beginning of the year, there are also fewer opportunities to receive detentions—and hopefully less temptation too.  If students can resist behaviors that earn detentions for just a few weeks, they will have a much better chance of being able to attend the trip than if they had to serve an accumulation of detentions in May.

Ultimately, if the trip is in October, it will serve as a last hurrah before exam season and can be used as motivation to get work done early as well as help ease financial strain on students. Any updates on the trip or information about future senior activities will be available through the Senior Class Council’s Instagram, @nhs.classof25.