The Cypress Christian School art, theatre and music departments spent the end of their Spring Break in the Big Apple! Twenty-one CCS high school students, five parents, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Ward and Mr. Williamson spent four days of their spring break in New York City. The field trip focused on experiencing great art!
On the first night, the group spent time in Times Square and then headed to “The Play that Went Wrong”. It is a silly, laugh-out-loud, high-energy comedy. One of the students exclaimed, “It was great! An easy 10 out of 10!”
Friday was a day of learning about the history of New York and America. The group started the day visiting Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, better understanding what America stands for and why it is a beacon of hope to so many people. In the afternoon, they visited Trinity Church founded in 1697, Federal Hall – the site where George Washington was inaugurated President in 1789, the 9/11 Memorial and the 9/11 Museum.
On Saturday, they first visited the United States Museum of Natural History. The consensus was two hours is not even close to enough time to see all the exhibits. In the afternoon, they traversed 70 floors to the top of Rockefeller Plaza, known as Top of the Rock. What a spectacular view! The highlight of the trip for most of the students was attending the brand-new musical, “Back to the Future”. The entertainment value and special effects were of the highest quality, but it became even better after the show. The entire audience was dismissed from the theater, and our group was able to move down front and have a talkback with eight of the actors and actresses along with the stage manager. Our students were able to have 30 minutes of Q&A time with them. Even Marty McFly and Biff stayed after the show to interact with our students. The students asked well-thought-out and deep questions. We all learned so much from them.
The last day was beautiful! The group worshipped at Central Presbyterian Church on Park Avenue. Twelve of our students who are in the CCS choir joined the church’s choir in leading worship and were able to sing the offertory, which they had prepared in advance. We are so grateful for the talents God has placed in our students and for the beautiful art they were able to share. After church, they spent the afternoon at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. And again, there was not nearly enough time to see all of the beauty the museum has to offer.
The excursion was the trip of a lifetime! Students look forward to future trips to New York City and have been blessed by God’s handiwork, made even more evident by this experience. A huge thank you to Forge Tours, and Greg “Papi” St. Jacques for putting this trip together, to the parents and chaperones that made this dream trip a reality for our students and finally, to Mrs. Amber Ward for her connections to arrange a talkback with professionals on Broadway. We look forward to many trips to come!
