Word Count: 2501
On behalf of myself, and many other students, I would like to formally address
the Drug
and Alcohol problem that accompanied the 1999-2000 school year Vermont trip. Many
times I
have heard stories about the “infamous” Vermont Ski trip, and the many illegal things
that have
occurred consistently throughout the years. To the best of my knowledge this behavior
was
ignored, overlooked, and typical of this trip. So in believing that this kind of “partying”
was
habitual, I decided to participate along with several others who had attended past trips.
At first I was hesitant in bringing anything, but after a couple of conversations
with certain
individuals, I was convinced that it would be all right to do so without any punishment
being
enforced. Thus brought me to obtaining the “single” bottle I was bringing for a friend
,and I to
consume with others, along with the other alcoholic beverages brought on the trip by my
peers.
This brings us to the time of departure for Vermont, on Thursday March 17, 2000.
At
approximately 11:50 PM I arrived to load the bus. At a little after 12:00 AM we left the
Holley
High School for Vermont, without “A BAG CHECK” by any of the seven chaperones.
After a ten
hour drive we arrived at our destination, Stowe Ski Resort. At around 4:30 PM we loaded
the bus
to go to the Courtyard By Marriot, the hotel in which we would be staying at for the
remainder of
the trip. Following our arrival we were given the room assignments, we then unpacked
our bags
quickly, and my roommates and I hid the alcohol that we each brought under our beds.
After that
a majority of us students went to the pool, and jacuzzi for a swim before our expected
7:00 PM
dinner time. Dinner lasted for about a half an hour, to forty-five minutes, and soon after I
then
again went to the pool with a couple of people for another swim.
Around 8:30 PM I returned upstairs to a friends room, where I then received a
phone call
from one of my roommates asking me if I planned on returning to our room to “drink.” I
answered hesitantly, but after a little debating I decided to go back to my room. At that
moment I
only returned ,to change out of my swim clothes, before I headed back to the friends
room. While
I was in my room changing I was asked by two of my roommates to compare their drinks,
and
decipher which was better. This then proves that the alcohol, both mine, and my
roommates, had
already been out and consumed long before I first returned. After that, I went to my
friends room
and we both then returned to my room at about 9:00pm. Upon arrival we had found six
other
people in my room already there for one purpose. I then proceeded to ask one of my
roommates
where the bottles were, he then replied “in the liquor cabinet,” sure enough there I found
all the
alcohol moved from under the beds where I last knew it to be, into the place where I was
storing
my clothes. At that moment I removed “the bottle” from the cabinet to pass around to my
friends.
First I had opened the bottle so that everyone could smell the Butter Scotch aroma. After
passing
it around to all eight people including myself., we then all took “one baby sip” from the
bottle.
A few moments after that most of the people in my room decided to go take a
swim. Then
three female students left to go change into their swimming attire, leaving my friend,
three of my
roommates, and myself in the room. At this point the bottle had been sealed for a couple
of
minutes. I was then listening to one of my roommates tell a story, while the other two
changed.
During this short period of time there was a knock on the door, and Mr. Orbaker who was
the ski
trip advisor, walked into the room to see me holding the bottle in my hands. After I got
done
listening to my roommates story I then noticed Mr. Orbaker standing in the hallway
staring at me.
He then motioned for me to walk over to him, as I did he signaled for the bottle, grabbed
the
liquor and proceeded to say” way to be an asshole” and he then exited the room.
Five minutes following the above incident he returned to the room, then started
yelling at
us with profane words. Screaming at us he then mentioned how he, has my room with
alcohol,
one room smoking cigarettes, and another room lighting a bowl full of Marijuana.
Furiously he
next told everyone to get to their rooms and dispose of anything we didn’t want him to
see,
because there “might be” a bag and room check. At this moment two of my roommates
quickly
emptied their alcohol into the sink and hid the empty bottles. Moments later he then went
to every
room and told them to rid of anything that was inappropriate on this trip, and how their
might be
checks through the night, and we had to sleep with our doors open. At 10 PM all students
on the
trip turned in for the night. To the best of my memory he was only checking rooms to see
if we
were engaging in any type of “partying.” Approximately at 11:45pm he stopped all room
checks
in which there were never any complete searches of the room or bags. This completes our
first
night in Vermont.
When my room woke up in the morning a parent chaperone came to our room to
tell us to
get rid of everything we had cause Mr. Orbaker was thinking about a bag check. Which I
might
add once again, never occurred. We left the hotel at about 7:45 AM for Sugarbush Ski
Resort. As
I got on the bus the first thing he said to me was “ what are you doing here?” I replied
with
“what?” he then proceeded to say “I thought you came here to party.” Following that I
just sat
down in my seat without saying a word to anyone. As we were on our way to Sugarbush
he
decided to talk to the group as a whole. Over the loud speaker he went on to tell us how
he was
very pissed off, and disappointed in us for doing what we did the night before. Then he
went on to
say he knows it was more than just one of us and how we were all guilty, however there
were a
few innocent people and they know who they were. After the ten minute lecture he
finished it up
by stating that we would be stopping at the store on the way home. As he said that he
made a
crack how my room (room 201) would be better off if we picked up some Tylenol for our
headaches, and how another room would benefit by buying Nicotine patches for their
addiction.
We next arrived at Sugarbush and he told us that he didn’t care whether we had fun or not
cause
we already ruined his trip. Also that if there were any more problems we would be sent
home
early. After skiing around 4pm we made our way back to the hotel, but first we made a
stop at the
grocery store so we all could pick up snack items. We arrived at the hotel around 5-5:30
PM, and
then went on with our night like nothing had happened. At around 8:00 PM a student
from
another room took me up to the third floor and showed me where his room had thrown
out their
alcohol. There I saw three full bottles of liquor in the bottom of the garbage can. I asked
the
student when they threw the alcohol out and he said just after dinner on Saturday night.
So almost
24 hours after my incident, there was still alcohol in many students possession, which in
my eyes
shows that Mr. Orbaker neglected his duties as a chaperone, by not searching every room,
every
bag, and every anything.
Later that night at 10 PM we had what I guess is the annual pizza party in
Vermont,
which allowed us to stay out of our rooms until 10:45 PM. At that time we had to keep
our doors
open like we had the previous night, so he could check in on us. Despite of the curfew set
forth by
Mr. Orbaker, he himself allowed two students stay downstairs and converse with one of
the boys
relatives. At approximately 12 AM the two boys returned upstairs and went to bed. In the
meantime Mr. Orbaker had been performing his little room checks and kept asking my
room if the
two students had returned. Our room replied “NO” because one of the boys was staying
in my
room so we knew they hadn’t returned. To me this shows how a little favoritism was
exemplified
by Mr. Orbaker.
This now brings us to our final day on the trip, Sunday morning. We had all
gotten up and
on the bus like the day before, but this time without any comments to certain individuals.
We left
for Sugarbush around 7:45 AM. On our way there he again came on over the loud
speaker and
told us how last night was better, but how he hadn’t forgotten, and how he wanted us to
keep the
trip positive, not negative. After skiing till 3 PM we loaded the bus and left for home. The
whole
way home there were no problems or anything said about Friday nights fiasco. As we
arrived in
Brockport once again he used the loud speaker to state that the trip ended much better
than it had
started, and when talking to people outside of the ski club keep the trip positive and
everything
will be all right. Also as we pulled into the school parking lot ,he made the same
statement once
again, as above, and how we were all to be in school for homeroom.
The next morning I got up and came to school like any other day, and honestly
expected
everything to be all right like nothing happened. Just after 3rd period a member from the
ski club
rushed up to me and told me how they had just talked to Mr. Orbaker. They told me that
Mr.
Orbaker said to them “remember how I told you guys to keep the trip positive, well it’s
too late
it’s out and I had to report it to Mr. Camuto.” I then in a panic ran to Mr. Orbaker and
asked him
what was going to happen and he said how that he had to write me up, how he had to
write up
that he smelt cigarette smoke, and marijuana smoke. During the middle of 4th period I
was called
down to the office to speak with Mr. Camuto. When I arrived he asked me about the
situation
and I proceeded to tell him what went on. I never once lied to him about anything that
happened.
I was then told by Mr. Camuto how I would receive 5 days in ISS, and lose all extracurricular
privileges for the next 20 weeks. I then asked Mr. Camuto what was happening with
anybody else
and he said that there was not much they can do because Mr. Orbaker only saw me. I then
asked
him what was going to happen to the room where Mr. Orbaker smelt the marijuana, this
time I
was told that there was little checking they had to do and that they still had to talk to the
boys that
occupied that room.
Later that day as I was sitting in the ISS room I heard over the loud speaker the
boys that
were in the room associated with the marijuana smoke called down to the office. To my
surprise
nobody else joined me that day in ISS. At the end of the day I asked a friend what went
on with
the “pot smokers” and I was told how they all denied it, and just said people kept coming
in and
out of their room the whole night so they had no clue who was smoking. I then went
home
around 2:30 PM to tell my parents what went on, but when I got home Mr. Camuto had
already
contacted my mother and asked for a meeting the next afternoon with himself, my
parents, Mr.
Orbaker, and I.
So the next day at 3:30 PM my parents and I walked into Mr. Camuto’s office to
find that
he had no idea where Mr. Orbaker was. About ten minutes later Mr. Orbaker showed up
and
explained he was late due to the fact his dog had ran away, and he had just found him so
he had to
take the dog home first. The first thing said in the meeting was my parents asking Mr.
Orbaker for
his side of the story. In which the story was the same as my parents had heard from both
Mr.
Camuto, and I. Next my father went on to ask why I was the only one in trouble for the
entire
trip. Instead of answering the question they decided to work around it and say how I was
caught
with the bottle in my hands. Next I asked Mr. Camuto again what was happening with the
“pot
smokers” and he then told me “what can he do, they can’t prove who did it so they can’t
punish
anyone”. I then said “well punish everybody” and he replied with “we can’t do that.” The
meeting
concluded with my parents saying that “because our son told the truth and didn’t lie, he’s
going to
take the punishment for the entire trip,” and also how we would like to talk to Mr. Pileggi
about
the incident and the fact of how the policy should be changed in a couple of ways. Mr.
Camuto
then said “I’ll talk to Mr. Pileggi in the morning and give you a call back tomorrow on
what he
would like to do.”
To set the record straight it has been 3 days since the meeting, and STILL NO
CALL
BACK from MR. CAMUTO, and I would like to add my father has called Mr. Camuto
and left
messages at least two different times for Mr. Camuto to call him back. On Friday during
the day I
decided to go to his office personally and ask about what had been done. Mr. Camuto told
me
how he had talked to Mr. Pileggi Wednesday morning and Mr. Pileggi did not know what
he
would like to do, and as soon as he found out he would contact us immediately.
In conclusion I am left no other choice but to take matters into my own hands
because my
parents and I are tired of being blown off by Mr. Camuto. I would also like to state that in
no way
am I saying I shouldn’t be punished or that the punishment is in appropriate. I would just
like to
see others who were involved just as much, or more than me be punished to the fullest
extent of
the school policy as I am. In my opinion there should be many other students sitting out
in their
spring sport, having their National Honor Society membership revoked, and not attending
the
prom just like me. I would like to know since when in this world is telling lies acceptable
and
telling the truth gets you into ten times as much trouble.
Keywords:
word count behalf myself many other students would like formally address drug alcohol
problem that accompanied school year vermont trip many times have heard stories about
infamous vermont trip many illegal things that have occurred consistently throughout
years best knowledge this behavior ignored overlooked typical this trip believing that this
kind partying habitual decided participate along with several others attended past trips
first hesitant bringing anything after couple conversations with certain individuals
convinced would right without punishment being enforced thus brought obtaining single
bottle bringing friend consume with others along other alcoholic beverages brought peers
brings time departure vermont thursday march approximately arrived load little after left
holley high school without check seven chaperones after hour drive arrived destination
stowe resort around loaded courtyard marriot hotel which would staying remainder
following arrival were given room assignments then unpacked bags quickly roommates
alcohol each brought under beds majority students went pool jacuzzi swim before
expected dinner time dinner lasted about half hour forty five minutes soon then again
went pool couple people another swim around returned upstairs friends room where then
received phone call from roommates asking planned returning room drink answered
hesitantly little debating decided back moment only returned change swim clothes before
headed back friends while changing asked roommates compare their drinks decipher
which better proves alcohol both mine already been consumed long before first returned
went friends both about upon arrival found other people already there purpose proceeded
where bottles were replied liquor cabinet sure enough there found moved from under
beds where last knew into place storing clothes moment removed bottle from cabinet pass
around first opened bottle everyone could smell butter scotch aroma passing eight people
including myself took baby moments most decided take three female students left change
into their swimming attire leaving friend three myself point been sealed couple minutes
listening tell story while changed during short period time there knock door orbaker
advisor walked into holding hands done listening story noticed orbaker standing hallway
staring motioned walk over signaled grabbed liquor proceeded asshole exited five
minutes following above incident started yelling profane words screaming mentioned
smoking cigarettes another lighting bowl full marijuana furiously next told everyone their
rooms dispose anything didn want because might check moment quickly emptied sink
empty bottles moments later every told them anything inappropriate might checks
through night sleep doors open turned night best memory only checking rooms were
engaging type partying approximately stopped checks which never complete searches
bags completes night when woke morning parent chaperone came tell everything cause
orbaker thinking check might once again never occurred left hotel sugarbush resort thing
said what doing here replied what proceeded thought came here party following just
down seat without saying word anyone sugarbush talk group whole over loud speaker tell
very pissed disappointed doing what knows more than just guilty however innocent they
know they minute lecture finished stating stopping store home said made crack better
picked some tylenol headaches another benefit buying nicotine patches addiction next
arrived sugarbush told didn care whether cause already ruined also more problems sent
home early skiing made back hotel made stop grocery store could pick snack items like
nothing happened student took third floor showed thrown three full bottles liquor bottom
garbage asked student when they threw said just dinner saturday almost hours incident
still possession eyes shows neglected duties chaperone searching every every later guess
annual pizza party allowed stay rooms until keep doors open like previous could despite
curfew forth himself allowed stay downstairs converse boys relatives approximately boys
upstairs meantime been performing little checks kept asking replied because boys staying
knew hadn shows favoritism exemplified brings final sunday morning gotten comments
certain individuals again came over loud speaker last better hadn forgotten wanted keep
positive negative skiing till loaded home whole problems friday nights fiasco brockport
once used loud speaker state ended much than started when talking outside club keep
positive everything will right also pulled school parking same statement once above
homeroom next morning honestly expected everything right nothing happened period
member club rushed talked them remember guys positive well late report camuto panic
asked going happen write write smelt cigarette smoke marijuana smoke during middle
period called down office speak camuto situation never lied happened camuto receive
days lose extra curricular privileges weeks happening anybody else much because only
going happen smelt marijuana checking still talk occupied later sitting heard associated
smoke called down office surprise nobody else joined friend smokers denied kept coming
whole clue smoking parents contacted mother meeting afternoon himself parents parents
walked office find idea showed explained late fact away found take thing meeting asking
side story same heard both father trouble entire instead answering question work caught
hands happening smokers prove punish anyone well punish everybody meeting
concluded saying truth didn going take punishment entire also talk pileggi incident fact
policy should changed ways pileggi give call tomorrow record straight days since still
call father called messages least different times friday during personally done talked
pileggi wednesday know soon contact immediately conclusion choice matters hands tired
being blown state saying shouldn punished punishment appropriate others involved much
more than punished fullest extent policy opinion should sitting spring sport having
national honor society membership revoked attending prom know since world telling lies
acceptable telling truth gets times trouble
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