Traveling to NYC for CSPA

Walking the streets of NYC at CSPA

Yes, I am that crazy teacher who organized a four-day-field trip with 37 students (four from our rival school, Patriot, of course), 4 parents and 5 teachers, to....the busiest city in the country. I love New York. But being in New York with 46 people, all on my schedule, my plan and my watch was a bit unnerving.

Luckily the bus successfully picked up on Wednesday evening, about a half-hour after school let out. Mind you, when I took my first group of students, teachers and parents five years ago, the bus never showed up at the 4:30 appointed time..that threw a wrinkle into our day. Back to this year, my first panic was that I had over-booked out trip. We had fluid numbers until the very last day, with students thinking about cancelling, last minute additions and two amazing yearbook reps who couldn't come (injuries suck the fun out of life). By the time everyone had loaded the bus, we had one extra seat; let me tell you I was sweating it...recounting the numbers and people, hoping I hadn't miscounted...being an English teacher and all. Although kids are used to sharing seats, we adults are not, and we were crammed into seats built for small teenagers, not large adults. Despite the close quarters, the ride was easy and we had WiFi and bathrooms for our comfort, making everything just perfect. Even if we did have to eat Wendy's and Burger King for dinner.

Thank goodness by the time we arrived to the Days Inn on Broadway and 96th on Wednesday evening, every adult on the bus was in agreement that as soon as we had our room assignments, We would do bed checks and get ready for the next day's events, which included breakfast at 6:45, a 1.2 mile walk to Columbia University from our hotel, sessions from 9 am until 4 p,m., dinner reservations at 5:30 and a Broadway show at 7:30. The biggest challenge in all this was the transportation of 37 children between the ages of 14 and 18 through the city of New York, knowing that each one of those students was someone's precious baby. Yep, no pressure at all. Oh, did I mention that I had two presentations to make as well. Yep. no pressure. at. all.

By 11:30 the first night the other teachers and I taped all the students in, after doing bed checks. That means that we knocked on the 15 doors and made sure each student was accounted for, and then placing tape on the outside of the door so that we could verify that no one left their rooms during the night time hours. While doing bed checks, we were astonished by the noise and freedom that the other students in the building were taking. Not only were they running through the halls, there was a strong smell of pot in the halls above and below our rooms. Thank goodness out students made us proud and were happily taped in, and I knew my group of kids would not risk their trip, or reputation by choosing to leave their rooms or causing disruption in the halls. (Side note: if you've ever stayed in old NYC hotels, you know that this hotel was like...long, narrow ringleader hallways that meander to dead=end one random room, room numbers making no sense at all, and all the hallways being strangely claustrophobic..,)

The next morning, we ate at the very sweet little place, the EuroPan Cafe across the street. The hotel actually arranged this for us after I learned that this Days Inn actually didn't offer a continental breakfast. These sweet little men organized breakfast for the 46 of us each morning in shifts..that being said by Saturday morning our kids were done with scrambled eggs, potatoes and toast.

The best part of the trip was just about to begin. CSPA is one of the best organized and most adventurous conferences I have taken students too. The best part of the conference is that it take place at Columbia University, in their lecture halls. 

Columbia University

For many students, it is the first exposure they have had to a true college campus, and for many the only Ivy League experience they will ever have. The campus is located right off Broadway, so we were able to walk straight to the campus. This is exciting for the kids... a real experience, where they walk around the campus in pairs or groups, unsupervised and attend lectures on writing, design, photography, marketing, business and leadership. A teacher's nightmare! How did I make sure kids were where they said they would be? Photo check-ins! So, every hour I would get a flood of photos through our GroupMe Ap, letting me know where each kid was. This isn't my first rodeo folks. My favorite was the "fake" check-in four years ago, when kids posted a photo to the group..but then posted photos of themselves on Instagram posing at the cupcake shop across the street. I share with all my students that my full time job on this trip is to stalk their social media like I am their mom. I will find them. Ironically, on this first day in NYC I presented on using social media to manage your publications! The irony was not lost on me, or anyone in my audience, as I pulled up our GroupMe account and showed everyone where all my kiddos were (bless their hearts most of them were in my session..as if they don't hear me lecture enough at school!).

The best part of Thursday was our trip to dinner and the Broadway show. We had all planned on walking the 2.4 miles there, but many of the kids and parents decided that the walk would be too long. I have complete subway phobia, for good reason (imagine transporting 22 kids on my first trip to NYC four years ago), and I wanted to avoid it any cost. We tried booking a bus for the five mile round trip. In true New York style, it would have cost us $1200...the brave adults took the subway, one adult Uber cabbed it, and I walked with 9 kids. We arrived with bloody feet, wind swept hair...and rain soaked....and smiles on our faces.

After a fabulous dinner, we saw the best Broadway show I've been too (ok, I've only been to four)...Finding Neverland. It was amazing and magical.

Students Kirsten DeZeeuw, Jessie and Lauren Kronzer and Shelby Cesario pose outside of the Finding Neverland Show.

The rest of the trip became easier and more routine, walking to Columbia, and breaking into smaller, more manageable groups to sight see. On Saturday we ended out trip with an incredible experience. We went on a tour with a retired captain of the NYC Police Department. He spoke to us about what it was like to be a first-responder that day, and what it was like to lose colleagues and neighbors. All the pressures, concerns, expectations and dreams we all feel each day were put into perspective. We were brought to tears, remembering that day. For some of the kids on the trip, who had no real memories themselves; this was their first real experience and hearing it first-hand, standing there seeing the memorial was life-changing in the sense that they realized that there were people out there who were willing to give their lives for the security of others.

The group in front of Ladder Company 10 at Ground Zero

What I have learned over the last seven years of teaching is that the most important moments of teaching are not in the classroom, and they often have little to do with curriculum, but they are the life lessons they learn from you, and from themselves as they push themselves beyond their own boundaries, stepping outside of their safety zone and into the adventures that life can and will bring them. Love my kids.

Along the Garden Path is out!

My new novel is out. This is a young adult contemporary fictional piece. I think it appeals to more than just young adults. If you've ever been a teen, parent a teen, or know a teen...you will connect!

Available at Amazon 

This is a story about Addison Erhard, an affluent young 17 year old growing up in McLean, Virginia who feels pressured to be successful. She wants to be a journalist who makes an impact on the world, and wants to attend Columbia University. Her family is split in their support, the pressure in the community and from her father is to attend an Ivy League school, to become a successful lawyer, doctor, politician or banker; her father would like her to become a banker. Her mother, an artist who does not fit in with the McLean society as well as her father, supports her desire to follow her dreams. While pursuing her dream to write, she also is striving to break the state record in track for the 800 meter run.

She meets a young man, Mason Gentry, who wants to buck high society McLean by following his family’s legacy and become a farmer. While investigating her story about kids who pursue non-traditional college and career paths, the young journalist falls in love with Mason.

In March a student at Chain Bridge High School and friend of both Mason and Addison, Jamison Randall, is struck down during a hit-and-run accident early one morning. The driver of the car has fled and Jamison is in a coma. Addison, who works for the news magazine decides to investigate the accident on her own, and what she find is more than she can handle.

http://amzn.com/B01CXKEY0G

How @4410 Changed our Journalism Program

My son, Willem Drescher performing at Open Miic Night in October

@4410 changed my news magazine program, Inside 15000. Yes, I know, it’s a music space, and what does that have to do with a news magazine? The owner of Contemporary Music Center (CMC) and @4410, Menzie Pittman visited my class in October of 2015 to speak to my students about how their skills as journalists can take them to amazing places. After his talk, he walked around the classroom and talked to the kids, saw what they were working on, and asked us how we made our money to run the magazine. My then-business manager, Lauren Ainslie, explained that we held Open Mic Nights in our cafeteria once a month, but that it wasn’t all that great because we didn’t know what we were doing with the sound system and things sounded bad, and the work it took to set everything up and take it down barely made it worth the while. We just weren’t making out numbers.

The idea of Open Mic Nights at @4410 was born. Menzie offered to host our Open Mic Nights; we would benefit from their incredible sound system, stage with light, and seating for a crowd of over 100 kids. I have never felt more relieved, I would be able to offer a cozy Open Mic environment with all the benefits of a professional setting, without having to pay for it, or set it up and take it down.

The arrangement benefited @4410 and Inside 15000: we charged $7 per ticket for attending the otherwise free Open Mic Nights. Menzie got a fee ad, but more importantly, kids were attending @4410 and word was getting out this amazing space. Our first Open Mic Night gave us a 130 student turn-out. We raised enough money to pay for our next edition, in just two hours’ time! The arrangement continues to be a win-win situation for both CMC and the community.

The best part of the entire experience is watching students, parents and teachers performing, not only for each other, but with each other. My favorite experience in this regard was watching a student of mine perform; she was a shy student in class, she wore her hair so that I couldn’t see her eyes, she was soft spoken and vey nearly never voiced her opinions in our many class discussions. She hated my class so much that she tried to transfer out. I offered extra credit for students to perform at @4410. This quiet, shy girl got up on stage and, with her family and classmates watching, belted out a song with such a rich, deep and emotional voice that it brought tears to my eyes. When she finished I embraced her, and told her how her music moved me. That changed our entire year. She began speaking up in class, she formed a group of friends to work with, and she and I developed a much stronger teacher-student relationship. It is incredible to see how music can change the way we view those around us.

MaryBeth Starkey and John Crocker belt out some old country tunes.

Not only have students come out of their shells on stage, teachers have as well. We’ve seen a teacher and student duet, with Mary Beth Starkey and John Crocker performing a country music set. Students in the crowd cheered as this unusual duo performed together. We’ve hear Mr. Dittmer sing old fashioned Frank Sinatra ballads, we’ve had Ms. Thorpe, a new Spanish teacher at the school sing, after being part of the school for just one month.

Because @4410 has such a family-friendly environment, we see family performances as well. Teacher’s children have performed, we’ve watched the Young family with father and son performing, and the youngest Young belting out in a voice that amazed the crowd. We’ve had the Thistle family perform, not only with father and son but father and sons!

After each event, we leave not only with our hearts filled, but our coffers as well. @4410 has helped us publish our $610-a-month issue for the past year-and-a-half. @4410 has also benefited from our combined events, because the students who attend our BHS Open Mic Nights love it so much, they attend it every Friday when it is a community Open Mic Night (and free).

If you haven’t visited the Open Mic Nights yet, visit the next one! Visit their website for upcoming events.

Andrew Young Rocks out