Registration for Northwestern Ski Trip may have just ended, but plans for a Spring Break trip exclusive to Northwestern students are already underway. A group called NU Spring Escape has begun advertising a Spring Break trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

A group of NU students started NU Spring Escape with the hopes of beginning the next big campus tradition. The students started developing the idea under Northwestern Student Holdings, a student business group, but have since spun away from NSH and are running NU Spring Escape as an external company, independent from the University.

Planning began in the spring, when the group gauged interest through focus groups. The trip has largely been advertised through Facebook and through its website. NU Spring Escape CEO Oskar Melking, a Communication senior, said about 400 people have already shown interest. He said there will be 170 spots available for the trip.

Students have expressed interest in the trip, but some are discouraged by the high costs, which range from $1,399 to $1,599.

“I like that it’s an all-inclusive resort, and being with all Northwestern students and being somewhere nice and tropical sounds really fun. But, it’s a pretty expensive trip so I might go only if I save up the money,” McCormick junior Samuel Higbee said.

The concept of the Spring Break trip was inspired by NU Ski Trip, a yearly Winter Break student trip. NU Spring Escape executive members thought that a spring trip could be just as successful as a winter trip, especially with the change in weather.

“We were hoping to plan something as cool as Ski Trip,” said Madeleine Shannon, a Weinberg senior and the group’s chief marketing officer. “We met with the people that run Ski Trip, and they helped us understand how to do what they do. ... We wanted to get their advice so that we could understand how to run the Spring Break trip just as smoothly.”

Students have the option to stay for either five or seven nights for reduced prices, according to the trip’s website. A condominium section located on the beach side of the Vamar Vallarta resort will be designated the NU Village, made up entirely of NU students. The rest of the resort will host students from other American colleges, Melking said.

NU Spring Escape is working to create an all-inclusive and safe experience, Melking said. The group has partnered with a travel provider, called Xtreme Trips, that will offer a service and medical staff at all hours, and will rent out entire clubs exclusively for American college students.

“Spring Break trips in the past have been much smaller and haven’t been able to reach more broadly around campus,” Melking said. “With the NU specific events we’re planning and the section that all the students are staying in, I think it’ll really create the NU experience that will become an annual event.”

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