On Wednesday, several seniors from the CHS Symphony orchestra woke up and headed to the airport, planning on traveling to China for a group trip. The trip, where the students would perform at various theaters across China, had been planned for months. However, due to the blizzard that afflicted the state on the night of Dec. 25, the students found that their flight had to be postponed until today.

More on airport delays and cancellations.

Jessica Klemen, China trip attendee and senior, was one of the students who had her flight postponed.

“We were originally going to leave from the airport in Indianapolis to Newark,” Jessica said. “It didn’t happen because we needed two pilots, but one called in sick and the other didn’t come. It took about two hours until both pilots were replaced and came in. After a lot of waiting, we finally got into the plane. We were sitting in there for about 30 minutes of de-icing the plane and eventually found out we had to go back inside because there was snow-fog.”

According to the Indianapolis Star, the storm brought about 7 inches of snow to central Indiana. The travel conditions for today are presumed to be safe, but travelers are advised to still heed caution.

Julie Klemen, China trip chaperone and Jessica Klemen’s mother, was with the students at the airport during the incident. She said that despite the conflicts, the group was able to work with the airline to find a solution.

“I’m very proud of our students. Even though they had to be upset, they were mature,” Julie said. “(Director of Orchestras Soo Han) said on a trip of 100 students, they had to be flexible, and they were flexible.”

According to Julie, Han arranged a special flight for the students to travel to China.

“The current plans are that we’re leaving 24 hours later (that originally planned),” Julie said. “Instead of going to Newark then to Shanghai, we’re going to Chicago to Tokyo to Shanghai . . . Now we’re only getting there a day later.”

While the students waited at the airport, they caught the attention of local news stations who were covering airport delays due to the weather. Student discussed their situation and even played their instruments for the broadcast.

“Oh gosh, it was really unexpected (being interviewed by Wish TV 8 about the blizzard),” Jessica said. “I was really unprepared for what I was going to say and I was really nervous.”

Despite the obstacles the student faced in reaching China, Jessica said the decision to delay the trip was the safest solution.

“Everyone was really upset and angry (but) I was just glad we didn’t go because we would have had a high chance of crashing,” Jessica said. “I was bummed out, but I knew something would get figured out since this is such a huge trip and it’s really important to us.”

Julie said the incident was a learning experience for the orchestra.

According to Julie, “I think the thing we learned from this experience is that you do have to be flexible.”

In case winter weather continues into the school year, click here for the 2-hour delay schedule.