Life is fraught with obstacles and delays, as unforeseeable setbacks slam into hopes and dreams without warning. This is the nature of life, but despite the grim countenance of the saying, it makes the final achievement of goals that much sweeter. The trip that the AP US History, or APUSH, and pre-AP US History classes here at Minarets are attempting to go on reflects this aspect of reality. Originally, this trip would have happened in the last week of November; however this was delayed to the first week of December because of snow. Nature, however, had other plans, and the frozen conditions did not cease; forcing the instructor to push the excursion to January 15, 2019. Nature did not wish for the trip to happen on this day, and coupled with the still ongoing partial shutdown of the government, it was decided that another delay was necessary. The new date is planned for mid-early February, and will follow the original plan of going to the Mariposa court house, the North Fork Mono Museum, and finally Yosemite. Yosemite, as it is a national park, is greatly affected by the partial shutdown. The park is understaffed to a degree in which many locations throughout the park are closed; were others are negligently functional.
Mr. Kelly has said that he’s debating changing the plan so that the two classes go separately, to make scheduling easier. Regardless of any changes, however, the future is a wide open frontier, and this opportunity is simply too good to pass up. Mr. Kelly has given reasons for his persistence on the importance of the trip; “Since I’ve moved to California, I’ve realized how important the gold rush is not just to the state’s history, but to the country’s history as a whole… Most people just know about the geographical history of Yosemite, this gives them an opportunity to learn the human history of Yosemite.” Getting this hands on experience allows for students to internalize the reality of their studies, and learn these important histories in person. This is what the APUSH students will get. Someday. Whether in a month, or two months, or three. It will happen.