Schools
Students Head to NYC on Thursday
Forget the Red Sox, New York City has to get ready for a visit from seventh graders from the Swampscott Middle School.
After a three-game sweep by the Red Sox over the Evil Empire, New Yorkers just have four days to get ready for 140 seventh graders from the Middle School, who’ll be descending on the Big Apple Thursday.
Sixteen educators from the Middle School, including principal Ralph Watson and the school nurse will be on the busses at 6 a.m. Thursday morning when they head off to New York City.
“This is the first trip of it’s kind, we started planning it a year or so ago” Watson said from his office Monday morning. “The teachers are excited, the kids are excited, we have a lot of things planned when we get to New York City.
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The Swampscott contingent will arrive in NYC between 8 p.m. and midnight on Thursday, check into their hotel, get some rest, and get ready for a full day of plays, exhibits and historic destinations.
On the itinerary: The Museum of Natural History, The Tenement Museum, The United Nations, The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and The Addams Family on Broadway.
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The revolving cast of The Addams Family has included Bebe Nuewirth, Nathan Lane and later this summer; Brooke Shields will play Morticia Addams. Many children know Lane from his role as Timon in the Lion King.
The students will also visit Ground Zero, and be given a tour by people who were in the towers, or who lost family members on 9/11. This September will mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, many of the children just two and three years old on that tragic day.
“There will be a tour of the site, a video presentation and a discussion after the tour,” Watson said “It should be a very memorable experience for everyone.”
The students will be staying three and four to a room, for many the first time in New York City and their first time in a hotel.
Watson said he’s not worried about the lengthy bus ride, the school ran several trips to Washington, D. C. in the past.
The kids will be back Friday night, and there will be two days of an alternative education program at the Middle School for students who don’t go to New York City.
As for the role the Red Sox played as unpleasant guests over the weekend, Watson said he'll be sure to have the kids wear their Red Sox caps on the trip.
