Disclaimer: This story is a part of out April Fool’s edition, The Goofordian. This story was created by Guilfordian Staff and is not based in fact.

As the Guilford community begins to enter the final month of the semester, the Guilford Exploration Club is already beginning preparations for the Fall 2019 semester. They are planning a completely student-led trip to Mars that will take place in the fall.

Assistant Director of Study Abroad Robbie Van Pelt expressed both concerns and excitement about the upcoming journey.

“I think exploring new things is a great thing for students to do and it’s good that this club is seeking out a new journey,” said Van Pelt. “This takes studying abroad to a whole new level. I think that it will be a lot of fun.

“I know that the club utilized a lot of help from students majoring in physics and astronomy to plan out the logistics of the trip so I’m sure that their calculations will come out fine. Although, I still think that they should bring at least one advisor along with them just in case something goes wrong.”

Club members will be actively participating in astronaut training over the summer. As they train, they will also be finalizing plans for their path to mars, the supplies they will need and the students who will be embarking on the journey.

Although the trip is entirely student-led, the Guilford Exploration Club will be bringing in experienced astronauts to speak about life in space and give advice to students. Featured astronauts who have been confirmed include Neil Armstrong, Sally Ride and Tim Johnson.

During a meeting with other club members, Guilford Exploration Club President and senior Caroline Grossman discussed her goals and mission.

“The mission of this club is to explore all things, big or small, to the point of existentialism,” Grossman said. “We hope that this will be a great opportunity for students to gain first-hand experience with space travel. Our mission, as a club, is to explore the galaxy one planet at a time. So, this is just the start! In the future, we hope to expand to planets such as Saturn, Jupiter, and even the moon!”

Grossman and the rest of the Guilford Exploration Club encourage interested students to reach out about possible Mars exploration opportunities quickly in order to have the opportunity to travel with the club this fall.

“We would love for any students who may be interested to talk to us and ask us any questions that they have,” said sophomore Caiytelin Dungworth. “But, if someone really does want to come to Mars with us I think they should speak out pretty soon because of all the training we have to do. If they try to join us last minute then there won’t be enough time to prepare them.”

The launch for the Mars journey is currently set for Friday, Sept. 13. Students are planning to be back on Earth by Dec. 16 of next year.