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Schools

VIDEO: Seventh Graders Have a Memorable Trip to New York City

Four busses filled with students and teachers from the Swampscott Middle School arrived back in town Friday night with loads of memories from the field trip to New York City.

Well they proved that they can make it there, so like the song goes, they can make it anywhere, those seventh graders from the Swampscott Middle School.

The 12- and 13-year-olds piled into four busses at the crack of dawn Thursday and headed off to Manhattan, the Big Apple. Over 140 students and 16 staff members made the trip to New York City, a trip that was over a year in the making.

“It was great, we had a lot of fun,” Pat Bartholomew said.  “We were on the bus for over nine hours to go down and to come back, but it really didn’t seem that long at all.”

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The students stayed at the Days Inn in New Jersey, for many the first time they had been to the City That Never Sleeps, and their first time in a hotel.

“It was cool,” seventh grader Chris Murphy said. “We tried to sleep, but we didn’t sleep that much, we had a pillow fight in the room and we did a lot of other cool stuff.”

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The play (The Addams Family) was really good, it was very funny, especially Grandmama,” Jake Cooper said.

Jackie Hoffman, a Broadway veteran who has performed in Xanadu and Hairspray, stars as Grandmama in the musical. Hoffman has also had recurring roles on 30 Rock, One Life to Live and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Edith MacDonald played Grandmama on the 1960’s TV show, which was based on the cartoons of Charles Addams that appeared in the New Yorker magazine.

The students visited the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and The American Museum of Natural History, the United Nations, Broadway, Times Square and Planet Hollywood.

The students were also given a tour of Ground Zero on Friday afternoon. September 11, 2011 is the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

“There are so many people there, it’s amazing how many people are in New York City,” Bartholomew said. “I’ve never been to New York City before, and I’ll never forget this trip, that’s for sure.”

The students arrived at the middle school at 9:30 Friday night, they have the weekend to get some rest and be ready for classes Monday morning at 8:10.

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