How strangers rallied to give students with disabilities a class trip

In a way, the idea for the trip started forming 11 years ago.

Annie Vincent had just begun working that year as a special-education teacher for Arlington County Schools in Virginia, and some of her students asked if she could take them to Disney World. One even began calling her “Princess Annie” and later, after the student decided the Disney heroine she most resembled was Ariel, “Mermaid Annie.”

At the time, that dream trip made for playful conversation, but that’s all it was – a dream.

For many of the nation’s students, class trips that take them out of the state or even out of the country are built into the school year. They serve as rewards for participation and hard work. Band students travel. French club students travel. Graduating seniors travel. But students in special-education classes don’t usually get that chance. They don’t usually get to pack their bags, pick which classmates they want to sit next to on the plane or pose for photos in front of distant sights with their friends.

That’s what makes what has been happening in a Northern Virginia community unique.

In recent months, a whole lot of ordinary people have stepped up to create an extraordinary display of generosity and inclusivity. Strangers, police officers, firefighters, football players and even the Transportation Security Administration have come together to make sure a group of students with disabilities gets to go on a class trip.

On Monday, 13 students with Arlington’s Program for Employment Preparedness, which is known as PEP, are expected to step on to a plane at Reagan National Airport and head to Disney World in Florida.

Hundreds of people contributed money to cover the costs, school system officials made the trip a school-sponsored event and TSA employees arranged to let the students practice getting through the airport and on a plane.

“It’s been amazing to be a part of this and witness the community coming together,” Vincent said on a recent evening. “It shows how much good there really is in this world.”

Dennis Edelbrock, who teaches trumpet at George Mason University, held back tears as he talked about how strangers rallied for the students. His daughter Emma, who is 23, has Down syndrome and is one of Vincent’s students.

Edelbrock said after he and Vincent began talking months ago about how Emma and other students were going to graduate at the end of year without having gone on a trip with their classmates, they decided they could try to change that.

“We thought, ‘Why not?’ ” he said.

In January, Edelbrock started a GoFundMe, knowing he needed to raise enough money to not only cover the costs for the students but also for staff members and some parents.

“Be a part of our dream as we take the trip that so many of our typical siblings, friends and peers have experienced together through their arts, athletic and academic clubs during their school careers,” reads the GoFundMe page. “As students living with disability, the exciting experience of group travel to dynamic destinations like Disney World has been well beyond reach for many of us. BUT we are determined to see it happen!”

Edelbrock said he expected they might raise $10,000. If they did, they wouldn’t have enough for the trip, but they could at least say they tried.

He then watched as the amount hit $15,000. Then $20,000. Then $33,100.

An Arlington police officer who had spent time with the class brought several officers with him one day to visit the students, and soon they were raising money. Then the fire department joined the effort. Then the Dubliner restaurant in D.C. joined in. Then the Georgetown football program got involved.

Vincent said after she realized the trip was going to happen, she sent an email to TSA. Airports mean noise, crowds and stress and some of her students can respond to feeling overwhelmed by screaming, running away or trying to harm themselves. She wanted to prevent that. In her email to TSA, she explained that some of her students had never been on a plane before.

Within an hour, she received a phone call. Soon after that, June Forte, a customer service quality improvement manager for TSA, arranged for the students to visit Reagan National Airport twice. Late last month, Vincent tweeted a video of them on a plane, along with the words, “I witnessed an incredible act of inclusivity and compassion!”

Forte said she wanted to make sure the students felt comfortable by the time they took their flight Monday, and she could tell by the end of their second visit they were ready to travel.

“I guarantee they are going to get on the plane, every single one of them, and have a blast,” she said. She even made a call to her TSA counterpart in Orlando to make sure they are taken care of on that end. “This is going to be an awesome trip for those students.”

Cory Miller, who is 20 years old and autistic, used the word “great” to describe how he was feeling about the trip. What he’s most excited about: “Going on rides and eating all the yummy food.”

Another student is looking forward to settling into that plane seat and drinking a glass of milk.

Edelbrock said Emma uses only a few words to communicate, but he knows she will most enjoy spending time with her friends. Every morning, she runs to get on the school bus.

Graduation is often seen as an exciting and happy time, and for many young people it is.

But Vincent said for her students it is not. The program serves individuals who are older than 18 and haven’t aged out of the school system, but some of the current students have been in class together since before kindergarten.

“This is a very difficult time for us,” Vincent said. “Everything they know is coming to an end. … It’s very heartbreaking. I cry just thinking about it.”

She likened the trip to a senior thesis for the students. It gives them a chance to show off the life skills they have been working on for years. It also gives them what other seniors who take class trips get: a little bit more quality time together.

Six staff members and 13 parents will join the students on the trip. Vincent will be one of them.

Asked what she’s most excited about, Vincent said: “Just seeing their enjoyment, just watching them experience it and having this memory that’s going to last them for life, especially because they have been asking me for this for 11 years.”