Written by Maggie Samples // Photo by Macy Cox
Over Christmas break, multiple Harding groups spent time in New York City as part of an educational trip. The groups all found different things to do in the city that were applicable to their departments.
Junior Mason Smith was a part of the Department of Theatre group. They spent time attending Broadway shows and getting a better look at the way professional theatre works.
“I’m an actor, and I really want to know the industry I’m moving myself into,” Smith said. “Last year when I went on the trip, we got a lot of behind-the-scenes and interpersonal [experience] talking to professionals in the business in New York actively working on Broadway.”
Smith saw 10 Broadway shows in the course of the six days he spent in New York.
“I think some of my favorite memories are watching those shows and learning what makes a show good and successful on and off Broadway,” Smith said.
Smith said the trip is a deceptive amount of work, especially when watching shows for educational purposes rather than for entertainment.
“New York is a really tough place to live,” Smith said. “So, lots of dreams and ambitions can be dulled in a sense by seeing the reality of it, but that also leads you to whole new ideas and whole new doors that you’ve never expected to see.”
Senior Bailey Coffman spent time in New York with the Department of Communication. “We had the opportunity to see a lot of awesome things in New York, including the U.N., [a] tour of the city and we even got to sit down and talk with some representatives of a nonprofit organization called Children’s Village,” Coffman said. “We also took a trip by train to Philadelphia to tour the First Amendment Museum, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.”
Coffman said she enjoyed spending time in New York and living the typical New York lifestyle for a few days.
“New York City is an incredible opportunity for the people of the communication department because of all the outlets for communication that are available to the people living in New York, including different medias of journalism, public relations, films etc.,” Coffman said.
Senior Natalie Denham, who visited the city with a group of students in the social work program, spent time doing some typical tourist activities like seeing the Statue of Liberty and going to the top of the One World Trade Center. They visited the Children’s Village in Harlem, met with the social workers there and met the co-founder of a nonprofit called The Adventure Project. They also toured the U.N. and met with an advocate who works in the Church Center there.
“When we arrived in Times Square on the first day of the trip, we were asked to consider, ‘What if we cared as much about humans as we do about marketing?’” Denham said. “This question really resonated the whole week as we encountered so many people struggling to even survive in the city.”
