As the ferry stopped at the Liberty Island dock, my students asked if we could slip through the boat's window so we would not have to wait as long to exit. I replied with “I’m fine waiting, but you go for it,” to which they replied, “Oh, because you are old and can’t climb through, huh?”

That was all it took. Suddenly, I was halfway through the window and pausing for my publicity chair to snap a picture when the captain of the boat began to yell at me…

“Is there a problem?!?”

“No, sir, I am fine.”

“No, is there a problem? What are you doing?!?”

“My mistake, I apologize…” cue my embarrassed red face!

I remember touring New York City in 2019 when we rounded a corner and found ourselves viewing the 9/11 memorial. Our guide asked who was born after 2001, and every student on the trip raised their hand. It hit me in that moment that, while they respected and appreciated the memorial, they just didn’t connect with it the same way the adults on the trip did. They were missing a personal connection.

 

 

In 2023, I was privileged to be paired with Robert Fields as a guide. I remember heading toward the 9/11 memorial and fully expecting the “this is a beautiful memorial with an impressive water feature” reaction from the kids that I had become used to. Just before we exited Battery Park, Robert stopped us and began to tell the story of how the schools around the World Trade Center were evacuated to Battery Park on 9/11. He told of how they waited there, and once the realization that any hope of contacting the students’ parents by phone was gone, the students, like my own high school students and even younger, were released to walk home. Robert went on with a personal story about how, on 9/11, he could hear his neighbors, avid soccer fans, cheering in their apartment. Robert thought they were cheering their team scoring a goal, but he learned weeks later that the cheer erupted when their eighth-grader walked through the door.

 

This time, as we rounded that corner and saw the memorial pools, I watched the reactions of my students who suddenly had a very real connection to the tragedy of 9/11. Through the power of storytelling, they felt empathy and experienced the memorial in a way that others before had not.

 

When we travel with School Tours of America, we have the opportunity to expose our students to many amazing events, exhibits, and locations. We watch their eyes light up the first time they see the Lincoln Memorial or the Liberty Bell, we hear them gasp as the overture starts to play and the curtain goes up for their first Broadway show, and, with just the right amount of storytelling, we get to help them make real connections with the past!