High school friends make one last trip together

A group of 13 seniors from Chaffee High School took one last trip together — whitewater rafting down a stretch of the Chattooga River on the border of Georgia and North Carolina.

"I loved it," said senior Walker Rice. He said he floats the Current River a lot, but nothing yet compared to the rafting trip.

"It is so different because there's no 7-foot drops on the Current River."

Brandi Ritter, the Chaffee High School guidance counselor, said principal Neil Glass plans a senior trip each year depending on interest from the students. She said the trip is mostly fun but a learning experience as well.

"The kids really learn a lot about leadership and team work and respecting nature," she said.

The group of 13 graduating seniors and five chaperones boarded a bus on a Friday morning and drove 12 hours straight to Clayton, Ga., to the outpost for the rafting company.

"It would have been 10 [hours], but our school bus got lost," Rice said.

The students got wetsuits, helmets, life jackets, paddles and a raft. Then they were taken to a parking lot a quarter-mile from the river. They had to hike down to the river because conservation policies prohibit any type of development close to the river.

"We had to carry our raft on our head," Rice said.

Rice said the trip — two days on the river, camping and a long bus ride — was worth it so he could get in that quality time with school friends.

"There's only one other person from our class going to college with me," he said. Rice heads to Central Methodist University in Fayette, Mo., to major in biology and play football.

For him, the 10 or 12 hours on the bus were the most memorable parts of the trip.

"It was the group conversations that everyone was in," Rice said, though he would not disclose specifics. "Let's just say it was about life, love and the pursuit of happiness."

charris@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246