AVONDALE — Several Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy (TJCA) juniors and seniors had an opportunity to spend this past weekend visiting New York City (NYC). The students were immersed in the culture of Manhattan while visiting museums, parks, and other sites..
They arrived in NYC and began their journey with a trip to Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Grand Central Terminal. Students closed out their evening by having dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and enjoying the Broadway show & Juliet.
On the second day, students began with a visit to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. After lunch on Ellis Island, the excursion continued with a trip to the 9/11 Memorial Museum and additional tours of Trinity Church, and Wall Street. That evening, the students visited the Empire State Building.
The following day, they were able to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and visit Chinatown and Little Italy. Students closed out the evening with a tour of Greenwich Village with trips to Washington Square Park, and the NYU Bookstore.
On the final day, students visited Central Park, viewing Cherry Hill, Strawberry Fields, Belvedere Castle, and Delacorte Theater. After that, the students explored the Metropolitan Museum of Art before closing out their experience with a visit to Fifth Avenue and a return visit to Times Square.
Juniors Lucy Blair and Kriztal Lood were two of the TJCA students who went on the trip, and both students would love to do the trip again.
For Blair, it was her first time to NYC.
“Getting to see my favorite artists work in person at the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) was amazing and an experience I will never forget,” she said. “I really enjoyed seeing all of the filming sites for my favorite movies like Spiderman, and the food was SO GOOD! I also really loved seeing all of the street performers. They were all very talented.”
This trip was Lood’s second time in NYC, but she said this time was different.
“The difference with my second time going to New York was there were more activities we did as a group,” said Lood. “I got to see more of New York, experience the subway, and how New Yorkers live their lives. I was able to see the 9/11 museum and the Empire State Building.”
Both students encourage others to make a trip to Manhattan.
“If a sophomore asked me why they should go on this field trip I would say the experience,” said Lood.” The experience of traveling with your friends, and new friends, experiencing one of the biggest cities in the US, learning its history, and being able to see how New Yorkers live their lives.”
Blair echoed those sentiments.
“I would say GO! It's seriously incredible,” said Blair. You get to see so many amazing things and get an experience you wouldn't get if you went alone. The tour guides are great, the experience of the city is very different (in a good way), you get to form stronger relationships with your peers, and you get to experience so many cool, famous sights like seeing the gorgeous view from the top of the Empire State Building at night while the city is illuminated.”