Spring break is looking different for high school students across the country as parents opt for chaperoned trips out of the country for their teens. 

Trips organized by tour companies such as GradCity, offer underage kids the opportunity to let loose on an all-inclusive, supervised getaway. 

“Any spring break trip with vetted adult chaperones is better and safer than those without, especially when high school students are looking to travel to common high-energy, ‘party’ destinations,” Cory Wenter, a U.S. Marine veteran specializing in presidential security, told Fox News Digital.

“It’s important that parents do their research and due diligence to ensure agencies, like GradCity, have strict safety protocols in place when hiring and training their chaperones and staff.” 

Spring breakers pose for a photo on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Friday, March 14, 2025. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)

Earlier this month, University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, 20, vanished from a Punta Cana beach after a night of drinking with friends. She reportedly drowned, but her remains have not been found. 

In 2023, 18-year-old Cameron Robbins, a recent Louisiana high school graduate, jumped overboard into “shark-infested waters” while on a cruise in the Bahamas with friends. Following an exhaustive, two-day-long search, the U.S. Coast Guard ended its search for Robbins. 

“Parents need to have hard conversations with themselves and their children to determine if they’re ready for such freedoms,” Wenter said. “Oftentimes, kids get into trouble on spring break trips because they are doing something they should not have been. Pushing and testing limits is exactly what adolescence is for. It does come at a cost, and parents need to know if their children are capable of making smart decisions in moments of peer pressure and opportunity.”

Kate Gladdin’s 24-year-old sister, Nicole, tragically died in a motorbike accident while traveling with her boyfriend in Thailand in 2012. Gladdin, an Australia native, attended a chaperoned trip following her graduation from high school, and works to educate parents and students about travel safety in light of her sister’s death. 

“[Kids can have] that invincibility mindset,” Gladdin told Fox News Digital. “I think the influence of social media – seeing people travel, seeing them on the edge of cliffs and on the back of bikes without helmets – and you think that’s the cool thing to do. What’s cool is putting your safety first.”

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.