NEW YORK, Ny. – New York City was the destination for the LEAP Organization’s 5th Annual Education Excursion.
Youth from Clarksville along with chaperones and community members embarked on a four day journey to New York to educate LEAP youth by exposing them to other cities, their cultural differences and historical landmarks.
Places that were visited included the 911 Tribute Center and Memorial Center, Rockefeller Center/Top of the Rock, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Luna Park Coney Island, Madison Square Garden, and Madame Tussauds Celebrity Wax Museum in addition to several museums and sight-seeing cruises.
On the way to New York the LEAP group had another adventure, the bus broke down. This unplanned adventure taught the group how to remain calm, and what to do when things happen that were not in the original plan. After a minor setback, the trip continued as planned.
“Although we missed day one of activities because of the bus issue, I still had a good time. The down time gave us an opportunity to get to know each other better and I think that helped us enjoy all the fun moments of the trip even more. I definitely made some good friends!” commented LEAP participant Rebecca Corbin.
As with all LEAP educational excursions, students participated in break out mentoring sessions where the boys and girls were separated in to groups to discuss relevant issues. Many topics were covered and several of the youth expressed what they learned.
“I have a whole new respect for Mr. Reason. He kept it real with us on the consequences for living in the moment and wouldn’t accept excuses for why we couldn’t start today with creating short term goals while figuring out what we want to do later in life,” expressed Tyler Johnson.
“What stood out to me was Mr. Reason saying ‘Take the word TRY out of your vocabulary because Trying is just an excuse for failure. His sister, Ruby even came in the middle of the session and really challenged us,” added Jordan Thompson.
“I learned that minimum experience plus minimal education equals minimum wage. I want so much more out of life for myself than that. As a high school senior I wish I would have prepared more. I’m determined though to use my time wisely,” shared Andrew Abren.
One of the things LEAP did differently this year was open the Educational Excursion up to adults in the community wishing to take advantage of the affordable get away. This enabled LEAP to offset the cost to make it affordable for over 30 youth to participate.
For more information about LEAP call 931-614-0440 or visit www.leaporg.net.