Somerset High School DECA Students Visit New York City
By: Keaton Eberly
New York is America’s largest city, where the streets make you feel brand new, and the
lights will inspire you – as said by Jay Z and Alicia Keys – is a grand, imposing, behemoth of a
metropolis. The streets that surround the city are truly a gorgeous sight. Every detail about the
city, including the streets, the bridges, the parks, the monuments, and the attractions, make
New York “the city that never sleeps.” And this is what the atmosphere was when our local
Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) chapters, both from Somerset and Pulaski,
visited the “Big Apple.”
This trip lasted from Tuesday, November 12th to Sunday, November 17th. The week that
my fellow DECA members and I would eventually experience by far made the 14-hour bus ride
up to the Empire State well worth it. Overall, we visited many tourist sites and attractions
during that week. These sites and attractions included the Rockefeller Center, NBC Studios,
Time Square, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and many other wonderful
locations. Going through the tour around New York, visiting these incredibly majestic sites, was
definitely an experience I am going to retell for years to come.
My favorite attraction that our group took part of during the trip was going to Broadway
to see a performance for Wicked. While entering the theater, I must say that I was a skeptic on
how the play would turn out, but I am inclined to say that I was pleasantly surprise by the
performance when the curtains closed for the final time. Everybody involved, including the
actors, the dancers, the extras, the writers, etc., did a magnificent job. In general, the play was
very enjoyable. I would recommend this play to any person, whether you are a theater lover or
not.
In my opinion, the most important and more personal tourist attraction that we visited
was the 9/11 Memorial Site and the new World Trade Center. It was a long, fortuitous process
to just enter the landscape of the new facility, which is still currently under construction, due to
extensive security. After finally passing security, our group entered the remembrance area,
which included the freedom tree and the memorial fountains. The fountains have the names of
the victims from that tragic day listed on the sides of the walls. We as a group were
thunderstruck by the setting. To actually go to Ground Zero itself, where it was originally a sign
of violence, destruction, and terrorism, and to see it evolve into a symbol of hope, courage, and
heroism, was truly a remarkable feeling.
I want to speak for the rest of my club members by saying, for all of us; this trip was not
only meaningful, but also very educational in so many ways. We were all in an empire state of
mind, and in some ways, we still are. From the flashing lights of New York City, to the
shimmering lights of Broadway, to the glimmering lights of hopefulness surrounding the new
World Trade Center, it was a wonderful and memorable trip that I will always be grateful for
taking, and I know the other 52 Somerset High School DECA members will agree with me.
Some comments from the DECA students who attended the New York trip:
“I learned so much about history from The Museum of Natural History. The museum was very
fun and super educational. The experience was once in a lifetime.”
“On the upper and lower Manhattan tour, I learned a lot about the city that I never knew existed.
A lot of history is in the city that we got to learn about. For example, George Washington was
inaugurated in NYC. On Wall Street there is a statue in his honor. Also, experiencing the 9/11
memorial was breathtaking.”
“This trip showed me a completely new culture and life. While in New York, I learned so many
facts about the city as well as the people’s way of life.”
“I learned so much from going to The Museum of Natural History. This trip showed me so much
about the different cultures around the nation.”
“I learned so much history on this trip from the 9/11 Memorial to the Museum of Natural
History. Trip of a lifetime, no one will forget.”
“Experiencing the Broadway play, Wicked, made me develop a new appreciation for theater that
I didn’t have before.”
“NYC is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. Everyone should have the opportunity
to go. It was interesting to see their unique ways of marketing.”
“From the NY trip I learned a lot about how Macy’s uses marketing strategies to set up their
store and applied it to others. I also learned the questions immigrants were asked at Ellis Island
during their interview.”
“New York was by far the best trip I have ever been on. I learned more on this trip than I ever
will in a classroom. You learn so much from the cultural diversities and urban atmosphere. It was
definitely the trip of a lifetime.”
“New York was such an amazing learning experience. You couldn’t ask for a better education on
fashion, the arts, etc. Going to New York will be a trip I will always remember. I wouldn’t have
wanted to go anywhere else.”
“New York was one of the most educational and amazing trips I’ve ever been on. I learned a lot
of things just by being on the streets from the museum to the 9/11 Memorial and all the different
people it was just a blast.”