Lower Moreland High School Feels Phillies Fever

The most anticipated start to a professional sports season in Philadelphia has feeling the excitement.

So much so the National Honors Society is getting in on the act during the first week of the season, and the Senior Class Trip is making a return for the first time since 1998.

Since winning the World Series in 2008, Citizen’s Bank Park has been “the place to be” for people of all ages. Whether you’re a father taking your kids to the ballpark, a child attending his first baseball game, or even a teenage girl wearing her pink Chase Utley jersey, the Phillies experience offers something for everyone.

CBP is sold out on a regular basis and the stadium will enter the 2011 season with a with the seats filled to capacity for the 124^th straight time on Opening Day against the Astros on April 1.

The re-signing of Cliff Lee to assemble what is possibly the greatest starting rotation in baseball history (on paper) has created an excitement level this city has never seen. The Phillies have become part of the fabric of everyone’s life in this town, and adding another ace to the staff has made the Phillies the topic of every conversation.

NHS will make the trek downtown on April 6 to see the Fightin’ Phils take on division-rival New York. It is the middle game of a three-game series against the Mets. You really can’t pick a bad night to go to a Phillies game, but the timing of this trip will be unfortunate to baseball aficionados.

With the options of seeing Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, World Series MVP Cole Hamels, Philly folk hero Cliff Lee or the other ace Roy Oswalt, the students from Lower Moreland are scheduled to see fifth starter Joe Blanton.

The game is the fifth contest of the regular season. And even though the Phillies haven’t officially set a starting rotation and barring some unforeseen injury, it’s assumed Blanton (if he’s still on the team) will be the last one in line. But the matchup won’t bother most students as long as they’re in the friendly confines of the ballpark.

“They are big and we’re organizing a Phillies trip,” National Honor Society secretary Ariel Schuman said. “There are a couple of trips to the Phillies this year.  The other one is the Senior Trip.”

The Senior Trip, which the school hasn’t participated in since 1998 when the soon-to-be graduates went to Disney World, will make its return in the middle of April when the 12^th graders travel to Washington, D.C. to take in a Phillies-Nationals game.

With trip ideas in the hands of students, it’s no surprise to see the high school students at Citizen’s Bank Park, which has often times been compared to a college frat scene.

“I’m an officer for NHS, but we allow the other kids in NHS to think of a project,” Schuman said. “And if they want to start it, the whole NHS team gets behind them and they get their full credit for the year if they do that. So two girls decided to come up with the Senior Trip.

“We go to Washington and we tour around there,” Schuman added. “Actually, my AP Club is going to go, too, and then we go to the game after.”