For those students who have stuck with Spanish all the way up to the Advanced Placement level, their hard work is being rewarded in the form of a field trip to New York. The one-day round trip is brand new this year and was proposed by Spanish teacher Evan Glasier.
“I’ve gone up to the Spanish-speaking parts of New York on my own before and thought it would be interesting to take students to see a place that is so historically important to Spanish-speaking peoples,” said Glasier.
If one happened to jog by the school at five in the morning on November 12, he or she would notice a crowd of exhausted students boarding a bus to New York. The trip took place over the course of one very long day, which included two guided tours of museums, lunch at a Latin restaurant and a walk through Central Park. Although it may have an early start and a late finish, the students unanimously agree that a day in the Big Apple is completely worth their lack of sleep.
“I’m most excited to learn about a unique aspect of New York’s culture and to get to know my classmates better,” said junior Kiely Westhoff.
While the trip will undoubtedly be a lot of fun, Glasier hopes that his students can connect the experience to AP Spanish class.
“Since we’re going to areas where a lot of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans live, there’s a direct cultural connection to our studies of the Spanish language,” said Glasier.
Hopefully, each student will be able to discover that connection for themselves. They spent the day completely immersed in Spanish culture, and they were expected to communicate in Spanish the whole time. It will be a tremendous opportunity for students to test their skill in the real world.
“I want the students to take away from this experience that we’re a lot more diverse as a country than a lot of people think,” said Glasier.
The field trip will gave students a brand new perspective on the lives of people from different cultural backgrounds. Glasier looked forward to seeing his students get excited about Spanish and hopes that the experience was rewarding.
