The hospitality and tourism class from Thousand Islands Secondary School will not be headed to Europe next year. Teacher Peter Yerdon has decided to cancel the trip, following recent security threats.
Yerdon says they are looking into a North American trip for next year instead, possibly to New York City.
Local mom Julia O’Grady is very aware of the threat to safety overseas, because her teenaged daughter Mekayla has been in Brussels since January.
O’Grady says the family had the conversation about cancelling Mekayla’s six-month exchange trip after the Paris bombings in January. At the time, they decided not to let fear get in the way of a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. And now, even though she has seen army tanks rolling down the street in her Belgian home, Mekayla says she is not quite ready to come home yet.
O’Grady says she feels confident the Belgian host family is doing all they can to keep her daughter safe while she is away from home.