On Monday 13 February, 38 pupils and five staff members set off on a photography and business trip to New York City. After an early meet at Heathrow Airport, they settled down for the six-hour Atlantic crossing to John F. Kennedy International Airport. The following is a write-up of the trip, courtesy of Year 13 pupils, Gregor Jones and Ava Timms:
After unpacking and settling in, we walked across the road into Central Park to watch the sunset. This was surprising as we had been expecting colder temperatures instead of the warm 14 degrees that we were greeted with. From Central Park, we walked into Times Square, stopping at the 99-Cent Pizza and Dunkin Donut. After taking in the bright lights and the cool street performers, we finished the day off by having dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square.
We started day two with a walk to Applebee's in Times Square where bacon, eggs, potatoes and pancakes awaited us. This was followed by a trip to the Rockefeller Centre where the clear blue skies gave way to an amazing view of lower Manhattan. We were then given some free time to explore the surrounding streets before the photography and business students split up, with the business pupils going on a walk towards Wall Street; and the photography pupils heading on the subway to Brooklyn. There, the latter learned about the culture and history of the stunning street art that covers every wall in sight. This was followed by a graffiti workshop, where we were able to experiment and paint using some of the techniques that we had learned, before creating two of our own unique graffiti canvases. A crowded subway ride later took us back into Times Square for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp, before we finished off the day at the Gershwin Theatre to see Wicked on Broadway.
On day three, we woke up to blue skies and sunshine on our walk to Applebee’s for breakfast. After fuelling up for the big day ahead, the photography pupils set off to Brooklyn to take in the skyline view and the Statue of Liberty. After a coffee break, we continued our walk-through Dumbo and then took a picturesque walk over Brooklyn Bridge, through Wall Street and the Financial District. Meanwhile, the business pupils headed to The Museum of Modern Art for the Business Live event, where they were given the opportunity to listen to life and business advice from four very different and successful leaders.
Stacey Toussaint is a graduate from Columbia University Law faculty - she started her career at the New York Stock Exchange monitoring transactions and is now the CEO of a tour company called Inside Out Tours which focuses on authentic and inclusive stories about the history of New York. Her message focused on being authentic and finding purpose in your life while making money. The next speaker was Luisa Mendoza, who is the CEO of Global Tourism Sport & Entertainment. She spoke about her journey and how hard work and determination helped her pivot many times in her career in order to achieve excellence. The pupils then listened to Robin Sayetta speak about her role as Head of Business Development at the Museum of Modern Art. She shared how her small team manages and develops the revenue streams for the museum and hinted at a new partnership with a famous British retailer. Finally, we listened to Tyler Mount, the youngest Tony Award winning Broadway producer. He spoke about how his work ethic, attitude and authenticity created the opportunities for him in his career - we even got to hold his Tony Award! The pupils ended the session with a personal Q&A opportunity. After lots of walking in the sunshine, we all returned to the hostel to get ready to go out again to watch the Brooklyn Nets take on Miami Heat in a basketball match. Catching the subway to the Barclays Arena, we found our seats and enjoyed a tense game with the Brooklyn Nets taking the win.
On day four, we made our way to Manhattan and visited the 9/11 World Trade Centre Museum. We then enjoyed the views of the One World Observatory platform with 360-degree views of the city. Enjoying some free time and shopping, we walked to Little Italy through Soho and China Town and tucked into some homemade pizza and cannoli. The final evening in New York ended with some shopping in Soho and a night stroll through Central Park.
On the last day, we had our final Applebee's breakfast of the trip and a choice of doing some shopping and sight-seeing or visiting Grand Central Station. With our bags all packed and the bus waiting for us, we made our way to JFK to head home, waving goodbye to New York.
We want to say a huge thank you to all the staff who organised and attended the trip: Mrs Lovelock, Mr Olhausen, Mrs Bayley, Mrs Norrington and Mr Gower. It was such a fantastic trip and we have made some amazing lifelong memories.
Below is a video that summarises the trip, created by Year 12 pupil Jasper Cullen.
