How many activities can you pack into five days? Turns out, a lot if you start Day 1 at 3:45am. That’s what time the group of 14 sixth and seventh graders met math teacher Mme Banchet and me, so we could catch our 7am flight to New Orleans for our annual service learning trip there.
Day One
As soon as we arrived in New Orleans, it was off to the Basehouse Residence where we dropped off our bags before grabbing lunch at Liberty’s Kitchen, a non-profit whose mission is to train young adults facing extraordinary life challenges to become self-sufficient. After that, we volunteered at Second Harvest Food Bank, where students made sure that only fruit in good condition would be donated to those in need.
Mardi Gras World was the last stop for the day. Students learned the history of Mardi Gras and the special place it has in New Orleans. We saw floats and statues that will be used this year being made before our eyes.
Day Two
Friday, wake up time was 6:30am so we could be at the Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans (LFNO), a bilingual public charter school, for (a second!) breakfast at 8:15am. LFNO’s Student Council led the way with a presentation of their school, then accompanied us to the Audubon Nature Institute, where Lycée and LFNO students did a joint service activity making toys for the zoo’s animals.
We then drove to the Whitney Plantation, a historic site devoted to documenting slavery in the South, returned to the French Quarter for dinner at Maison, a French restaurant/jazz club and dessert at Café du Monde.
Day Three
Saturday, students participated in a scavenger hunt at the Hurricane Katrina Museum, learning as many facts as they could during their visit. Then, onto the French Quarter and Jackson Square accompanied by a brief history lesson on the city and the Crescent area.
Later, we met with with France’s Attaché Culturel, sat on the grass for an outdoor jazz concert with Kermit Ruffins, then went to the historic Preservation Hall for another jazz concert, where the musicians were literally feet away from our students!
Day Four
Sunday was spent doing service at a local community garden, an airboat ride along New Orleans bayous and marshes and eating Po-boys for dinner.
Day Five
Monday, we returned back to New York amid groans and pleas to stay ” just a little longer!”. Back at the Lycée, two 6emes who went on the trip stopped by my office with big smiles on their faces. They both said the trip “felt like a dream,” and that they were still processing everything they experienced. No better compliment!
Students report back on a few favorite moments:
This year, we had a great time in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was a very fun trip and we experienced many different things. Something I really enjoyed and thought was very interesting was our visit to the Whitney Plantation. The Whitney Plantation was a place where slaves were brought to work on the sugar cane plantation. We learned and saw different historical spots, monuments and learned facts, we saw the slave’s houses, their church, where they cooked and worked. Our tour guide was very nice and knew many things about this plantation. They had a wall with the names of the slaves and their story, age, how many kids they had, etc. This was one of the more eye-opening parts of the trip.
-Joséphine W. 5e4
Since we were already in New Orleans, we thought, “Why not go to Café du Monde?”, which might just have the best beignets in North America. Café du Monde is smack in the middle of the French Quarter of New Orleans, a very historic part of this culturally beautiful city. Café du Monde is open 364 days a year, as it is closed on Christmas Day. The only other time it was ever closed for more than one day, was in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, for which it was closed for 3 weeks. Beignets are basically fried bread dough with a bunch of powdered sugar. It also traditionally comes with a beverage, such as coffee, milk or hot chocolate. The floor was covered with powdered sugar so much that your feet would stick to the floor. We ate so many beignets, we were all completely covered in powdered sugar.
-Chloé C. 5ème4
Café du Monde, is a great place for tourists or residents of New Orleans to go eat a nice fresh beignet. Beignet, whose name comes from France, is a sweet bread/baguette with powdered sugar on it. Though it is a great place for people who aren’t allergic to it, but for people like me it is a hazardous place to stay in. I am highly allergic to gluten, and in the closed space area of the restaurant or the outdoor patio gives a small (or severe allergic reaction). Luckily, Café du Monde is in a great area, so while your friends or family are eating beignets, you could go and look around the neighborhood.
-Emily G. 5ème4
About the Author :
A Lycée alumna, Vivianne Kurzweil has a bachelor’s in applied sciences from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s in education from Bank Street College. Following 9/11, she created a program for community service at the Lycée. She is now director of Service Learning, and works with colleagues to promoste community service. Thanks to various volunteering projects, Lycée students have learned to make themselves useful in New York and around the world.