During the spring break of the Spring 2024 school semester, photography students were allowed to go on a trip to New York City. There were 22 people in attendance including Ms. Jordan, students, and chaperones.
They visited landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, the Museum of Modern Art, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Wall Street, Grand Central Station, and Central Park with the focus of taking pictures with their classroom-assigned cameras.
“We went to a lot of photogenic places, and good photo opportunities. We did a lot of walking and exploring the city. We’d go from one place to another and would just see what was around,” explained Adriana Perez.
Students had free time following their group excursions where they had to arrive at the hotel by their curfew of 7:15. After completing their planned activity for the day, students had free time to walk around and explore.
The trip was funded through the Cultural Arts Passport and required approval from the school, the district, and from the superintendent.
When asked about applying for the trip, Ms. Jordan said, “It was long and arduous and complicated. It was much more complicated than an in-town field trip.”
Before spring break there were a few weeks of planning and sign-up sheets that needed to be completed before the trip.
“We had meetings every Tuesday during lunch, and in those meetings, we’d be given papers to sign,” stated Jennifer Martinez.
Perez said, “It was pretty cool. We [students going on the trip] got to get familiar with each other through those meetings. It made contact a lot easier.”
Following the end of the trip, an Instagram account was created to document and share photos of the trip the student photographers took. The username is @nhhs.photography_trip. As of writing this, no posts have been made to the account.
While the trip was sudden, and had some difficulties, it proved to be very memorable.
Perez describes the trip as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, saying, “You don’t get the chance to go on a fully paid trip to New York. Especially to enjoy the scenery around you and take everything in. It was a unique and valuable experience.”
That Manhattan skyline is just like nothing you’ve ever seen,” reflected Ms. Jordan.
Martinez said when asked what was most memorable about the trip, “Even though the weather was most unfavorable, it has to be when we were on the double-decker bus, to go to the 9/11 Memorial and visit Wall Street, and got on one of the most exciting buses of all time, it was fun. It was chaotic in a way where you had to laugh.”
Overall the trip was complex to plan but it was an incredible experience offered to photography students here at NHHS. Ms Jordan feels, “I think it was perfect.”
