By Abigail Campbell
On the morning of April 15th, 2022, 12 students in the Minarets Drama Program and Speech and Debate team headed to the Fresno Yosemite International Airport to depart on a 6 day long trip to New York City.
The first day was spent mostly in the air, as the group went from Denver to Newark. Senior Jolene Anderson explained some of her awkward and nice moments from the flights.
“I sat between two people, each strangers, who looked at me weird during the second flight, it was the longest flight and it was so awkward…the best part, during the second flight, I watched In The Heights.”
After the group landed, they met their tour guide and were taken to the hotel that the group would be staying at for the next few days.
On the second day, the group set off into Manhattan and one of the first things they did was tour some well-known places, including the Soup Kitchen from Seinfeld. Then they spent some time at the Rockefeller Plaza as well as St. Patrick's Cathedral. After that, the group separated and went on their own to go see The Music Man, which starred Hugh Jackman and Sutter Foster.
Junior Katherine Havens shared her thoughts on the show, “I thought that Music Man was incredible. The acting, singing, dancing, costuming, set design, everything was really well done. Hugh Jackman did a wonderful job in his role and it was amazing being able to see him on Broadway alongside Sutton Foster…My favorite part was when their characters were flirting and Hugh began to break character which led to both him and Sutton breaking and they were giggling to each other. It was adorable.”
After the show, the group met back up with the rest of the tour and ate at Mangia, an Italian restaurant. Then after that, they went to the Edge, a skyscraper with an observatory deck that offered views of Manhattan, nearby New Jersey, and Hudson River.
On the third day, the group went to the docks and went on a boat tour of the Hudson to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Junior Noah Sanchez talked about their experience on the boat, “I really liked the boat ride, it was really fun. There was a lot of people and I didn’t really like that but also it’s New York so that's kinda expected. It was cool seeing the Statue of Liberty.”
Afterwards, they walked around downtown Manhattan, seeing many notable sights such as Wall Street and the Charging Bull Statue. After eating lunch, they visited the 9/11 Memorial.
Junior Keana Hokama talked about how it felt seeing the memorial in person for the first time, “That was definitely a special experience, having all the emotions of everyone else around me definitely solidified it for me. And then the fact that they put flowers on the people's plagues who’s birthday it was kinda just..I thought it was a really wonderful thing that they did to memorialize them even further, you know support their existence as a human,but it was definitely really hard, but I’m glad that there was something there to remember so that way we don’t just see everything that's rebuilt and forget all of the pain that happened from it.”
Then the group toured Chinatown and Little Italy and later went to see The Little Prince, which was a choreography and aerial-based musical.
On the fourth day, the group participated in a theater workshop with two Broadway performers, accompanied by an unplanned performance by a 17-year-old in the studio for a callback. After, the group toured Grand Central Station and then headed to the Museum of Modern Art, where each group branched out and explored the city on their own with the three hours of free time given. After regrouping at St. Patrick's Cathedral, we went to dinner and then split up to go see three separate shows. One group went to see Chicago, starring Pamela Anderson as Roxy
Another group went to see Phantom of the Opera. And another to see Six.
On the fifth day, the group went on a bus tour of some famous filming sights in the city, consisting of many scenes from the Spider Man movies as well as Ghostbusters. After having lunch at Chelsea Market, they headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After wandering around the Met for a few hours, the group saw Dear Evan Hansen.
On the last day of the trip, the group took a quick tour of Central Park, which included seeing places such as Shakespeare’s Garden and the highest point in the park.
After a hectic time getting on the plane, the group finally headed home.
Junior Savannah Taylor shared her personal favorite moments from the whole trip, “I think just being with everybody and the experiences were fun.”
Overall, the students who were able to go on the trip felt it was an amazing trip full of lifelong memories and experiences.