IB Classes in New York City

IB+Classes+in+New+York+City

In October, a group of 30 juniors taking IB Global Politics, Theater, and Business Management visited New York City to improve our understanding of topics we learned about in class. We toured the United Nations, had a discussion with Sister Amarachi Grace Ezeonu, took a tour of Wall Street, and saw the Broadway production Come from Away at the Schoenfeld Theater.

The United Nations tour gave an up-close look at how the organs of the organization function on an average day. The building is filled with symbolic art gifted to the UN by its member countries, many pieces highlighting the lasting effects of war versus peace. We were able to see this artwork up close, as well as walk into conference rooms where meetings were being held.

After our tour of the UN, we walked across the street to Sister Amarachi’s office. As the Sisters of Notre Dame’s representative at the United Nations, Sister Amarachi works closely with other NGOs and focuses on human rights and the education of women. It was clear through our talk how passionate she is about her work and how much she values young women like us receiving a quality education and learning about social justice. At the end of the talk, she even offered us internship positions in college if any of us were to be interested in NGO work!

Wednesday night we walked from the UN to Schoenfeld Theater to watch Come from Away, a musical about the aftermath of 9/11 in a small town in Newfoundland called Gander. They play tells the story of a pilot named Beverley Bass who made an emergency landing in Gander, and how the small town pulled together to help the “plane people” during a national tragedy. The script brought humor to an otherwise devastating event in American history, and it provided a different perspective into the events that took place around the world on 9/11, not just in New York City. We all loved the show and couldn’t stop singing the songs afterward!

On Thursday morning we took the train to Wall Street for an insider tour of the stock exchange as the Business Management component of the trip. As someone who doesn’t take business, I figured this would be a boring part of the trip, but our tour guide was very lively and made it exciting. Some of our stops on the tour were Alexander Hamilton’s grave, the Charging Bull and the Fearless Girl statues, and at the end, we played a game in the basement of Federal Hall which involved trading chips to win Starbucks gift cards.

After our Wall Street tour it was time to get back on the buses to return to Boston, and though we were tired and our feet hurt from walking, none of us wanted to leave. We’re hoping that next year we can go back and do it all again!