“Four days, seems like? …Yep. Exactly four days. That’s how long it takes to get over the initial excitement of free Greek yogurt and Raisin Bran.” -Chaperone X
Admittedly the energy in the Breakfast Nook (as it’s been affectionately dubbed by our little group) was noticeably more somber and viscous this morning. However, once they emerged into the sunlight of yet another amazing weather day here in NYC, every group got right to work, making day four an experience to remember. As with day two, today we split up to pursue different interviews, footage, and metropolitan explorations; as a result, this entry is another somewhat jagged collection of notes and photos from each group.
This evening, we regrouped at the Schoenfeld Theatre on 45th Street to experience the sparse but grippingly heartfelt musical Come From Away, inspired by the true story of 7,000 passengers whose planes were rerouted to the small town of Newfoundland on and after 9/11. Building on the connections they made yesterday at the monument, students came to understand an entirely different vantage point of the events during and after September 2001. Many students stayed a bit after the show to meet and get autographs from cast members.
Tomorrow morning, we’ll rise and shine for a predictable but appreciated breakfast, a quick boarding of the busses, and a tour of the Museum of the Moving Image… to be followed by a smooth, uneventful, nap-filled journey back to Maryland. Knock on wood, and do your homework (wait, that’s for a snow day).
Shameless plug and dateless ‘save-the-date’: If you think these summaries and photos are exciting, just you wait until New York Showcase next spring, when you’ll get to view all our finished film projects together!
Group One
(Niky Z, Abby Y, Amy L, Chrissy L, Daria M, Chloe C, Amelia C, Josie C, Olivia C, and Ms. Wal)
Amazing interview with David Stone, producer (The Diary of Anne Frank, Wicked, Man of La Mancha, Putnam Spelling Bee, and more)
Interview number three with Matt DiCarlo, production manager of the Broadway musical Beetlejuice!
Group Two
(Lexi E, Nora O, Rush M, Ting S, Angie C, Abigail H, Ashly P, Sathvick D, and Mr. Young)
Ranger interview and amazing private tour!
Group Three
(Ava Mi., Vero S, Erica M, McKenzie P, Ishani B, Monica C, Grace L, Louisa S, Julie K, and Ms. Nanninga)
Super amazing walking tour of the history of slavery in New York, tied in to the history of capitalism. Totally fascinating…
(image borrowed from online: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24 /travel/new-york-city-underground-railroad-tour-slavery.html)
Group Four
(Alison C, Sana N, Aanika A, Soumya J, Justine B, Anna S, Geri P, Anusha K, Bella S, and Mr. Hudson)
Interview with author Katha Pollit in her home, discussing women’s rights.
Group Five
(Mahi G, Advika, Vismaya G, Emma K, Yalina A, Abhaya S, Nitya D, Trent W, William J, and Ms. Hershkowitz)
Today was our first day of using the Subway, and we learned a lot about problem solving and having a plan B (and C and D!) We found out there are several types of fare cards, and not all work in all situations. These tenacious kids made it work, however, and we had a great ride to Chinatown! We saw diverse architecture, a wide variety of family owned small businesses and stores and eclectic street performances. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and learned all about dim sum table-side service, dividing checks, and tipping.
After a morning spent immersed in the rich cultural experiences of Chinatown, we headed to the studios of New York Public Radio where we interviewed Mr. John Schaefer, host and producer on WNYC Radio. He was very impressed with the level of questions, and invited us back anytime we wanted to be a part of a show!
We snuck in some fun at M&M World and dinner out before being totally blown away at a performance of Come From Away.
We ended our evening with one last cafe dessert experience and reflected on what it means to be the last Clemente Humanities New York crew.
Group Six
(Ally J, Anna J, Sophia D, Sasha S, Liz R, Andrey C, Juan V, Ava Mu., Kenna G, and Ms. Orens)
Wow – what an amazing and adventurous day 4! Six subway rides, three interviews, a food truck lunch in Greenwich Village, ice cream at a small side street parlor and a fabulous play! These students continue to amaze me with their poise and positive reflections in all of our experiences. Great interview with Commanding Officer of Criminal Enterprise at NYPD Headquarters. The photo below is in the press room! All of my students were given NYPD hats as mementos. The NYPD was ready to hire them and our mental health interviewee called them “intelligent, passionate, and unbelievably put together.” What a wonderful experience!
Group Seven
(Ava N, Libby N, Snigdha G, Timnit R, Leo S, Zoe A, Eileen L, Sabrina S, and Mr. Brown)
Interview with Raphael Benavides Baccus, current owner/historian of Minton’s Playhouse.
“They made this one musician who wanted to play with them here try out first. Dizzy made him audition, to make sure he was good enough. Do you know who that musician was? …Charles Mingus!”
Group Eight
(Alanna Y, Jennifer Z, Emma Z, Jasmine L, Sandral B, Renee K, Zoe T, Isabel M, Sophia W, and Ms. Courtemanche)
Walking tour from our hotel to Koreatown, making our way to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in the Brown Building on NYU’s campus.
Walking food tour: Dō (a cookie dough place); Lombardi’s famous pizza, Nom Wah dim sum, where we interviewed the owner, Wilson Tang, then Eileen’s Cheesecake and the subway back home.
We reminded our students why it’s important to respect others using the city’s sidewalks and bike lanes; the Brooklyn Bridge hosts plenty of fast-moving cyclists, impatiently commuting into Manhattan. After a few minutes of paired walking practice (it really helped!), we kicked off our 2019 NYC Humanities Poetry Slam, which will continue spontaneously throughout the remainder of the trip in various locations.
From there, groups splintered off to explore different local landmarks, including 
A small cluster of students began asking questions of Julie Sweeney Roth, a tour guide routinely making her rounds, and she began to recount her personal experience of the attacks and resulting events.
groups set their own itineraries regarding shopping, exploring Times Square, and (eventually) embracing bedtime. We have one more full day in Manhattan tomorrow, and then we set our sights once more on Germantown and our own families and beds.
After a quick continental breakfast downstairs at the hotel, groups went their separate ways to explore the city and record their first interviews and historical project footage. Every group had a different adventure – from navigating the subway system to traverse the boroughs to interviewing VIPs and spokespersons from disparate industries – so we’ve asked our chaperones to share a few brief notes and pics to summarize what their students got into. At the end of the day (literally) we all came back together at the Gershwin Theatre to thrill to the beloved musical Wicked.
Today was a day where my students learned to adapt. Their very thought-out schedule had to be redone this morning. They handled it like the true rockstars they are. The girls came together, formulated a plan, and in the end, had an amazing day.
Students interviewed CEO Gerard Boucher from Boucher & Co., a digital advertising agency. Mr. Boucher and his staff were very gracious and encouraging of our students, and provided us all with swag including stickers, coasters, and coffee mugs.
The next few hours were an enjoyable flurry of ferry rides, history lessons, and selfies, as students explored Ellis Island and Liberty Island in their groups. Walking in the literal footsteps of previous generations of immigrants, students listened raptly to the stories and voices of real individuals, via audio pendants, on a self-guided tour the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. We hit the jackpot with the October weather today, shifting from light jackets to T-shirts, and then back to jackets again on the top deck of the return ferry.
After a quick but historically informative pass through 
Students look, listen, smell, and feel the life around them as they traverse the bustling, fascinating streets of Manhattan… and they’ll draw upon this inspiration to craft and perform reflective poems about the city throughout our trip. [Make a note to ask your children to share their poems with you, as well as any other reflections they are able to capture while we are here in the Big Apple.]
Of course, the Empire State Building itself was a uniquely memorable experience, whether students had previously visited or not. Several new exhibit pieces illuminated what the building process looked like, how it would feel to have King Kong reach into the room and grab for you, and the ways various superstars (and ordinary visitors) have made their mark on the iconic architectural marvel.
[To give you a sense of scale, the GBT dwarfs the Statue of Liberty and is almost as tall as the Washington Monument. It boasts the title of “the largest moving structure on land, and the largest fully-steerable telescope in the world.”] We wouldn’t really wrap our minds around its true engineering grandeur until day two, when we stood at the foot of the giant… but even from several miles away, and knowing very little about it or the observatory itself, the GBT was a wonder to behold.
They hypothesized about size, shape, and weight, as well as how best to return their payloads safely to Earth. Once construction was complete, Mr. Young added water and Alka-Seltzer to each rocket’s film canister for an explosive gas-powered lift-off. Even though some rockets experienced difficulty on the launchpad, we had some spectacular performances. In the end, students reflected that “lighter materials and simpler designs” were the way to go.
In order to obtain their building materials, they completed sketches and purchase orders, carefully deliberating on how to spend their limited funds on gum drops, toothpicks, marshmallows, raw spaghetti, and other goods. The 
What would we do differently? Well, we originally planned to use exactly ten spaghetti pieces in the top part, but as we were building, we found we needed to add more strength to the base.”
On our second and final evening, we all set off down the road on foot to see the GBT, and along the way spent a few minutes at each planet marker on the scale model of our solar system. [It’s kind of like the one at the Smithsonian, but much larger.] Students shared what they had researched for class, and taught each other about each of the planets… and also Pluto. The journey back to the dorm featured the annual “Space Race,” in which students raced up the slightly graded 1.6 mile return trip, in divisions including Speed Walking, Backwards Walking, Distance Running, and the newest category, Naruto. 
AND one final, lasting impression that the trip has left on me—and I think on all of us, to at least some extent—is a reminder that there IS life without cell phones and our ubiquitous technological interconnectivity. Even returning to 400 emails was worth it to escape my deep habit of Pavlovian response to every ping and vibration in my pocket or on my wrist. On our ride home, as we crossed back into cell range, the bus suddenly came alive with beeps, tweets, and ringtones of stalled communications—a sad and ominous audial bookend to the vocal excitement that so galvanized us when we first saw the GBT on arrival. One student a few rows back from me exclaimed, “Ohhh, man… I wish I was still in the dead zone!” I pondered this for a moment, understanding her perfectly, and then twisted back into the aisle to reply: “Well, maybe—just maybe—we can take a piece of the dead zone home with us.”
In their current unit, “Computer Hardware,” Mr. Simkanich’s 7th grade Computer Science students are combining coding, building circuits, and problem solving, as they program various hardware using our 
Throughout the unit, s
Last Thursday evening, we were pleased to host our first PAC meeting of the year. Our PAC President, Ms. Amanda Graver, set the stage by reviewing the agenda, comprised of parent questions and suggestions. Mr. Orders then shared a Google Slides presentation that addressed these items and provided a few other updates. If you missed this meeting, or you would like to review the information that was shared, you can access the 
Yesterday evening, we got together with over 60 families at Black Hill Park to celebrate the start of the school year. Incoming 6th grade magnet students were greeted by our magnet teachers, two Mr. Browns (!), parent reps from our PTSA and PAC groups, returning parents and students, and even some magnet student alumni. Around mouthfuls of pizza, chips, cookies, and even some fruits & veggies, students made new friends and learned more about the magnet experience at RCMS. Parents got to meet and talk to teachers, administrators, and other parents, and kids of all ages found time to play some ball and explore the nearby playground.
We want to extend a special “Thank You” to all our parent and student volunteers for helping making this event run so smoothly. Here’s to a great kickoff and a great school year! We hope to see our incoming families tonight (8/28) at the 6th & 8th Grade Parent Info Night, and our teachers can’t wait to see new students at our “Mini-Day” tomorrow morning (8/29). And, of course, we want to make sure everyone makes it to Back to School Night next Wednesday (9/4). See you soon!
