By Rebecca Noeske

Every year, the choir and art programs at Central embark on various trips to exciting places. This year, on February 14, members of Central’s choir and visual arts program headed to New York for a four day trip.

After arriving at the Hampton Inn in Times Square, the group headed to St. Paul’s Chapel for an afternoon performance by the choir.

“Our first day in New York was really fun” said senior choir member Caitlin Robbins. “Our performance at St. Paul went well and the show that evening was awesome!”

Following their performance, the students visited the 9/11 Memorial, as well as Chinatown and Little Italy for some shopping. After dinner, they attended the Broadway show, Once.

The following morning, the choir and art students split up with the with the art students taking a tour of the Museum of Modern Art and the choir students attending an open call audition workshop.

“The open call audition workshop was very fun and helpful,” said senior Josh Mandilk. “It was a good learning experience.”

That afternoon, all of the students took a tour of the United Nations and a choir held a small performance there as well. The students again attended another Broadway show after dinner, Nice Work If You Can Get It, before meeting up at Times Square for a group photo.

On Saturday February 16, the students started out their day with a trip to Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty. That afternoon the choir and art students again split up with the choir students attending another workshop and the art students visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

All the students finished off their final night in New York with a final Broadway show, Newsies.

“We had such a good time,” commented senior Mackenzie McIlroy about her final day in New York.

Sunday morning, before boarding their flight back to Michigan, the students were able to make a final stop at the Empire State Building Observation deck to view the beautiful New York skyline.

“It was a great way to finish off our trip,” said Mandilk. “The view was amazing and I will definitely not forget it anytime soon.”