By Lilith ’26 and Tonya ’25
Editor’s Note: A key part of Morgan Park Academy’s global curriculum is a week of school-wide global explorations each March, which this year included an Upper School trip to New York City.
SEE MORE PHOTOS: PROJECT WEEK NYC
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Lilith:
On our Project Week to New York City, we started our trip by meeting at the airport in the early morning. It was a struggle to stay awake, but necessary when traveling with a large group of people. After checking our bags and getting our tickets, we went through security and bought food before boarding the plane. Once we landed, we met with our tour guide, Bruce. Followed by a bus ride to our hotel, we dropped off our luggage and headed over to a park.
We were not expecting it to be as chilly as it was, but we made it through. The park was beautiful with many interactive features. One of my favorites was a set of 9 tiles that you could step on to play varying notes. They sounded like church bells or a xylophone. Most of the other students enjoyed these blue chairs that spun around on a point like a dreidel.
After, we visited what used to be working train tracks that went through buildings. Now it is filled with sculptures by local artists and a trail that goes through the neighborhood. We then went to Madame Tussauds, a wax museum of famous celebrities and characters. They had everything from sports to music to movies. My favorite section was the horror one because they added so much detail.
We then had free time in Times Square to walk around and shop. We ended our night at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp House for a tasty seafood meal! I ended up getting pretty sick after the long day and had to rest, so day 2 is narrated by Tonya!
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Tonya:
Our second day in New York began with a train ride and a walk to the Empire State Building! We took two different elevators to get to the 86th floor where we were able to go outside on a balcony and see the beautiful view of the city. We didn’t spend too much time up there because it was really cold and windy, but we took lots of cool photos. Afterwards, we walked around midtown manhattan and ate lunch at Sbarros where we tried New York Style pizza for the first time. Many of us thought it was better than deep dish pizza!
After lunch, we took another train to Central Park where we walked throughout the entire park. We saw statues, the Bethesda fountain, and the bow bridge, where we saw a couple getting married! We then walked to the NYU campus park where we hung out and relaxed from all of the walking. Our last destination of the day was a restaurant called Puglias in Little Italy where we had dinner and were reunited with Lilith. The restaurant was extremely lively with singing, dancing and delicious food. After we finished eating, we walked back to the hotel to rest for Day 3 of New York City!
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Lilith:
After a day’s rest, I was ready to join the group again! We took the train to Madison Square Garden and saw a pretty Alice in Wonderland themed mosaic on the way. At Madison Square Garden, we toured the arena and got to see the floor from various seating, from the nosebleeds to the suites.
We broke off into groups to find lunch. My group went to Urban Hawker, which had much Asian and Indian food. After lunch, we visited Radio City Music Hall, my personal favorite of the tours. We didn’t only go into the theater, but also to backstage areas where celebrities and Rockettes would often be. The tour ended with a surprise; meeting a Rockette! We then shopped around in Times Square again after the tour.
We ate dinner at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, where the waiters perform live while you eat. Other than the food being fairly bland, the waiters made it worth while! Finally, we walked to go see “Hell’s Kitchen,” a new musical by Alicia Keys. I thought it was pretty good! Some of the songs that weren’t written specifically for the show felt out of place, but overall was a great experience. We returned to the hotel to rest for tomorrow!
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Starting our last full day, we took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. I thought it was cool to see it up close, but ironically the view from the boat was better than on the island. We looked through the museum, where they had copies of various parts of the statue including the ear, feet, and face. It also was home to the original torch it was holding that they later had to switch out.
We took another ferry to Ellis Island, which was another favorite of mine. We ate lunch here as well, which sadly took away from our time there. I had hoped to stay for longer, as many of my ancestors came to America through Ellis Island. But we soon wrapped it up and headed to Chinatown. We had some free time to shop. My friend Asha and I got scammed when trying to buy some figurines. Luckily they weren’t expensive. We all started bargaining with the shopkeepers, which was fun in itself. Ending the night and final full day, we had a family style dinner in Chinatown.
We then took the subway back to our hotel to pack up for our flight home!
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After packing up and leaving the hotel, we had one final tour, which was NBC Studios. This was a very in depth tour where we got to see various sets from “Saturday Night Live,” “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” and more! There were so many photographs from previous skits and episodes in the halls. We even got to make our own mini SNL episode with a pre-written script and ad-libs.
We then got our luggage and took a bus to the airport. I got to see one of my friends from theater when we were checking bags! We said goodbye to Bruce and after several delays, we boarded the plane.
We arrived at the airport and went home one by one.
I can’t wait to see what next year’s Project Week trips are!
Lilith and Tonya are students at Morgan Park Academy.
Want more from Global Week? Check out stories and photos from our other trips.
