After last night’s rainy walk home from Wicked, we were more than a little trepidatious about the weather for today’s completely outdoor docket. As it turned out, we were blessed with one of the most beautiful days of the year. We rode the busses out to Brooklyn, disembarking in Cadman Plaza Park to take in the view and practice walking in a tight line of pairs. 
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.
Next, we crossed the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, stopping in the middle for selfies and an appreciation of the incredible view between boroughs. Ask your children to show you the amazing shots they captured from the bridge… and ask what the walk sounded and felt like.
After having crossed back into Manhattan, we gathered in City Hall Park for some personal reflections, emergency bathroom breaks, and a group photo at the Jacob Wrey Mould fountain. 
From there, groups splintered off to explore different local landmarks, including Trinity Church, St. Paul’s Chapel (where students and chaperones assisted Brown Bag Lunch in packaging meals for those in need), Federal Hall, and the African Burial Ground National Monument. Among the important questions students grappled with at the Burial Grounds Monument (and continued discussing on the subsequent walk together): Who records/illustrates history, through what lens, and with what purpose/vision/agenda?
All eight groups came back together at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza, built around the footprints of the WTC Twin Towers. Considering that our young people were born several years after 2001, it was incredibly moving to see them connect to the site, the memorial, and the experiences of those whose lives were forever altered by the tragedy we remember as 9/11.
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.
Julie shared how her husband lost his life when his plane (Flight 175) was hijacked and crashed into Tower Two, how New York City responded and recovered, and how she’s experienced the impact over the years since.
As Julie unspooled her personal story, more and more of our students gathered around her, straining to hear her unamplified voice amidst the crowd of visitors. Ultimately, our entire 8th grade Humanities family (teachers as well as students) ended up in a tight emotional huddle around her with pursed lips,hitching breath, and quiet tears. When we reluctantly moved away toward the busses, many grateful supportive hugs punctuated our departure.
One thing students asked Julie about was the white roses placed on the memorial. She spoke to it in person with them, and then we looked it up on the bus; here’s an excellent article about the local movement of placing flowers, each Tuesday, on the names of victims who would otherwise be celebrating a birthday that week.
After a somber bus ride uptown, we entered Central Park at 72nd Street to visit the Strawberry Fields Memorial and Imagine mosaic, appreciating the musical offerings of local singer/songwriter Alex Martin.
Students sang along with Martin’s renditions of “Imagine,” “Yellow Submarine,” and other favorites, in memory of John Lennon, who was murdered outside his nearby home at The Dakota.
Students also viewed, learned about, and explored Belvedere Castle, The Obelisk (Cleopatra’s Needle), and the Polish King Jagiello’s monument. We rounded out this amazing day of culture, learning, and reflection with a communal dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square.
After dinner, 
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.
Note: Both photos of the 9/11 Memorial are borrowed from online; photography did not feel like the appropriate focus for that part of the day.
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!
