Senior members of Jackson Prep’s financial management class went on a trip to New York City January 18th through the 21st. The trip at first was delayed due to weather problems, so all of the seniors took off a day later than planned. All of the seniors and chaperones took flights to Atlanta then New York City. The seniors who were on the earlier flights went to Madison Square Garden to see the New York Rangers hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres, a game that the Rangers won.The group who went to the hockey game then met up that night in Times Square with the seniors who were on the later flight.

The next day the seniors travelled on a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. They got to go inside of the Statue. After seeing the Statue of Liberty, they went to see the bull on Wall Street where there were lines to take pictures with the bull. Then they went to eat lunch at Shake Shack, a chain restaurant, which has delicious burgers, fries, and milkshakes.

After lunch, students went to see the closing bell at NASDAQ and heard from Tim Seymour, the host of CNBC Fast Money. Afterwards they went to the Redeemer Presbyterian Church office building to hear from Prep graduates who live and work in New York City. One of them, Kate Carter works for an ad agency. Alexandra Franklin, who works for a publishing company, also spoke. They heard about their lives and jobs and the differences from living in Jackson, MS to New York City.

Rockefeller Center was the next stop. Here, they ate dinner and ice skated. After ice skating, they went to the Top of the Rock to see beautiful views of New York City at night. That night they took the subway back to the hotel.

The next day the seniors visited the 9/11 Memorial Museum, which had videos and exhibits that showed the events that happened on and after 9/11. After this they went to the One World Observatory, which is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. After going on an elevator ride up 102 stories, there was a video that was shown of the city. Ipads were available for rental, which would tell you the names of the buildings across the New York skyline when you put the ipad in the direction of all the buildings. These views were amazing and unobstructed.

Students had lunch across the street at Brookfield Place which has many restaurants and high-end shopping. The seniors then went to the Oculus to take a subway to Grand Central Station where they had an hour of free time to see everything that was in Grand Central Station. The seniors then had free time in New York City to go shopping or eat on Fifth Avenue. That night they ate dinner at John’s Pizza which was a converted church building to a pizzeria. They then walked to see The Lion King on Broadway. The actors and actresses were so talented and had authentic costumes for all of their characters.

The next day the seniors went to LaGuardia airport to go back to Jackson and arrived home at 7. Senior Jordyn Jefcoat said, “I loved seeing such a different culture than what I am used to seeing. It was also a great way to get to know some of my classmates better.” The trip was an amazing, fun-filled experience.