Dwyer's Academy of Finance seniors traveled to New York City on December 6 th for the annual tours of the Financial District and the City.
The journey took off with an early morning plane trip into Newark. The finance students left Florida's tropical temperatures for 25 degree weather. "It was really cold. I was prepared but it was still freezing," Brandon Olaisen said. Matching scarf, hat, and gloves sets were all the rage and the group traded shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops for long underwear, parkas, and boots. However, several students stopped at street venders to purchase mittens and beanies to keep warm in the bitter cold.
The New York excursion kicked off with a tour of the Financial District. Tight security at the Federal Reserve required visitors to lock up all bags and jackets before going down to the gold vault. The fed prohibited cameras and cellular phones. The day continued with a stop at Ground Zero to remember fallen heroes and observe reconstruction. The bus rolled on to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and to ride the elevators 67 floors to the Top of the Rock for a view of NYC at night.
Friday greeted the finance students with slightly warmer temperatures but an overcast atmosphere. The group traveled into the Bronx to tour the historic Yankee Stadium, Robert Long's favorite tour. "I'm a huge Yankee fan. We had a good tour guide who knew his Yankee history." From there, the students continued on to drive through Harlem and stop at Strawberry Fields, a memorial for legendary Beatle John Lennon at Central Park. Next, students had a chance to split up to sightsee in smaller groups. It snowed during the Broadway shopping sprees and Central Park visits. "The best part of the trip was when it snowed," Jessica Alexander said. "We're from Florida." What started as flurries turned into a steadier snowfall, though snow did not accumulate on the ground.
After a long day, the Panthers saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Luckily, the Broadway stagehand strike ended November 28th and the group had the chance to see the play. Many students thoroughly enjoyed the performance. "The energy and challenge that these actors had to go through could only compare to the movie," Taylor Missimer said. "Seeing it live made me appreciate the musical more."
Saturday morning the tour group visited Madison Square Garden to view the basketball arena and locker rooms. Due to a tour guide strike that began Friday, the guided tour of the United Nations was cancelled, leaving students to shop along 5 th Avenue for an extended amount of time. Throngs of people covering the block surrounding the Rockefeller Christmas tree caused confusion when the group met to head to dinner, but the students still arrived on time and even navigated through Manhattan to Times Square as the streets were too crowded for the bus to reach them. After a filling meal at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company where they answered Forrest Gump trivia questions, they traveled back to the hotel to relax.
Sunday morning marked check-out time but the Dwyer students still had a full day of sightseeing. The group took ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. While the temperature was the warmest it had been all trip, being on the water chilled the Panthers. Upon returning to the mainland, the students went to Times Square once again and toured Madame Tussaud's wax museum before heading back into New Jersey to board the plane to fly home.
After the exhilarating though exhausting four-day adventure in New York City, Tyler Elsey reflected on the trip. "It was fun but it was too cold and there were too many people. I would recommend future academy seniors because it's a new experience and it's different than Florida; everything's big."
The annual Academy of Finance vacation provided the seniors with great knowledge. The tours in the Financial District gave the seniors learning experiences beyond the classroom and the wintry weather made the students thankful for Florida's year-round warmth.