History

New York Trip

Some of our most profound learning experiences do not happen in the classroom.

New York TripIn May 2011, three history majors, Allie Walker, Maddy McAreavy, and Jennifer Arnold, accompanied Professor Nicolas Proctor and Leadership Coordinator Bobby Nalean to the “Creativity, Play, and the Imagination Across Disciplines Conference” at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, in New York City.

The students assisted Professor Proctor present their work with Reacting to the Past—a series of role-playing history games that are often used at Simpson. Maddy McAreavy is an old hand at Reacting, so she was surprised that the series was not more familiar to conference participants.

Jenn Arnold, another Reacting devotee, thought that one of the best parts of the trip was meeting Mark Carnes, the creator of the original series of Reacting to the Past games. Over the course of her time at Simpson, she played a number of the games he designed. She reflected that, “I was intimidated to meet him, but he turned out to be extremely down-to-earth, friendly, and interested in hearing what I and the other students had to say about Reacting to the Past games.” 

In addition to benefitting from their active participation in the conference, the students explored New York City. They visited Battery Park, Liberty Island, Ellis Island, the WTC site, Chinatown, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and the Upper West Side. Most importantly, they did this on foot and by bus and subway. As Professor Proctor put it, “Until you’ve taken the M60 bus down 125th Street in Harlem during rush hour, you haven’t really been to New York.”

It was a first-time visit to the city for all three students, and they found it more different than they expected. Maddy McAreavy wrote, “The culture was different than what we are used to; the food was different, and just being there was completely different than being in Iowa. There was so much going on all the time.” Experimenting with vindaloo curries, cinnamon ruglash, potato knish, green tea, and a mysterious, untranslatable duck dish in Chinatown, she became a real culinary adventurer.

New York TripAllie Walker quickly developed the ability to navigate the streets and tunnels of Manhattan. At first the subway seemed confusing, but she discovered that “After watching Proctor maneuver his way around, and after acquiring a map, I found that they weren’t as confusing as I’d thought. In fact, the first night he gave me the map, and told me to get the group back to the hotel. And I did…eventually.”

In addition to Teacher’s College, students visited Columbia University, Pace University and New York University. This broadened the students’ outlook on their possible futures. Allie Walker wrote, “I want to go to graduate school, and haven’t really considered an east coast school, so I really liked walking around these universities. … This made me think of the application process, and what types of things I need to do to get accepted to grad school.” They also had the opportunity to talk with graduate students at Teacher’s College about how highly selective programs function. Importantly, they found that their college work compared very favorably to students who attended elite east coast universities.

After five days in NYC the students evolved from novices to capable cosmopolitans. The “urban classroom” of the city provided them with an unparalleled learning opportunity. As Allie Walker put it, “I think the most important thing I learned from this trip was that I am able to explore, competently, a giant city and feel at ease doing it. I think that, of the group, I was the most inexperienced with travel and large cities. When we first came to Manhattan, I was extremely uncomfortable with the large press of people and seemingly endless streets. But, by the time we left I couldn’t get enough of it. What had scared me in the beginning became almost second nature.”

Every evening the whole group gathered in their hotel’s rooftop garden for debriefing and reflection. As a result of these conversations, Professor Proctor commented, “It’s obvious that a Simpson education teaches critical thinking and cultural literacy, but I sometimes forget that it also develops qualities like resilience, independence, and confidence. These students proved that to me every day.”

 

Last Updated: 11/18/11