NATCHEZ — Checking baggage, boarding delays and crowds often make commercial air travel a stressful experience for most everyone.

Trinity Episcopal Day School senior Kailey Hutchins doesn’t fall into that category, however.

“It doesn’t even bother me any more,” Hutchins said.

Her time at Trinity has given the 17-year-old a great deal of travel experience.

Hutchins has traveled with her classmates to Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., Italy and Spain.

“Every place that I’ve taken the school, I’ve taken her,” Trinity Global Studies Director Linda Rodriguez said.

The countries are only a plane ride away, but that ride made a world of difference.

“The culture changed so much from here to there,” Hutchins said.

But she wasn’t always just accompanied by classmates and teachers.

Hutchins’ mother went with her on her trip to Spain. During the Italy trip, Hutchins’ grandmother as well as her mother came, which gave Hutchins the chance to see the new countries with family.

“It was neat to get to experience the culture with them,” Hutchins said.

Her favorite trip was when she went to Washington, D.C. during her junior year. She’d been to the nation’s capital once before as part of a church trip, but during her trip with Trinity Hutchins said she got a chance to see more of the sights.

She was even able to meet U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper in the Capitol Building and ask him questions.

Overall, Hutchins said the trip made her dream higher, and, after experiencing the city for herself, to set a new goal.

“I could so see myself living there,” Hutchins said.

Despite encountering so many new places and cultures, Hutchins said she learned that even if they’re living in different places, people still have some things in common.

“While everybody’s different, we’re all still people and we all still have beliefs and morals we strongly believe in,” Hutchins said.

When she’s not travelling, Hutchins is in the classroom earning straight As, as well as serving as the head of the cheerleading team and the student council president.

“I like representing my school, being the voice of what everybody wants,” Hutchins said.

But one more trip is still on Hutchins’ horizon. She’s planning on going somewhere closer than Italy or Washington, D.C., but, unlike her other travels, this one will represent the start of the next phase of her life — college.

After graduation, Hutchins will attend Mississippi State University. It’s a place she’s wanted to go for a long time, and one that’s not unfamiliar to her family since it’s her parents’ alma mater.

Once there, Hutchins plans to pursue a degree in marketing and managing, a career which requires people to find out other peoples’ wants and needs, she said.

“Everyone has a common goal that they’d like to meet,” Hutchins said.

After travelling so extensively, Hutchins said she believes that goal is to be successful, but Rodriguez believes Hutchins has learned something else too.

“I think she has really taken away a big picture mindset,” Rodriguez said. “She is very aware college is the beginning of a grand adventure, and I don’t think she’s afraid of new things.”

True to form, Hutchins said she’s more excited about college than nervous.

“I feel like it gives me a chance to open up to meet new friends and have more opportunities to become the person I want to be,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins is the daughter of Chris and Skeeter Hutchins.