Members of the Financial Literacy for Youth (F.L.Y.) Program took a trip to the concrete jungle on Saturday, May 21, 2022.

Members of the NJHS were able to sign up for the The F.L.Y program at the beginning of the year which teaches students about financial literacy. This program is run by Camden Center for Youth Development (C.C.Y.D.), and for the month of May, the program was able to take the students in the program, and in other schools, to New York City.

“When we were in the building [of one of the locations we visited on the trip], and we saw through the glass window there were those theaters. I guess where they do plays,” Christina Munford, an eighth grade student, stated. “But there was this Harry Potter thing and there was like this owl inside a nest that looked kind of real. It was cool.”

Once everyone arrived at the C.C.Y.D. in Camden, NJ, at around 8 A.M., the first location that the students traveled to was Wall Street. During this time, the students received a tour.

“I learned a lot about historical Wall Street,” stated Anthony Parlow, another eighth grader. “Like the old money capital back in New York before they moved to Washington D.C.”

After having lunch at the Applebee’s next door, the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum was the next stop on the trip. Students and chaperones traveled through 9 floors filled with wax figures of famous actors, singers, artists, scientists, and other established individuals, along with a 4D Marvel film with special effects.

“I think the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum was pretty memorable because they had a lot of cool statue figures,” Anthony said. “They had Dwayne Johnson and a bunch of different people, and I thought that was really cool.”

The final stop was Times Square. Students were able to browse gift shops for souvenirs, and one group of students even went to the Target in the plaza, before meeting up on the bus to go home. After a long ride filled with New York traffic, the group arrived at the youth center at around 8:30 P.M.

“Times Square. It was very hot and other than that it was cool to look at certain things,” Christina claimed. “I got a magnet as a souvenir. It was a bear. It was white and it had a shirt that said ‘New York’ on it. Then I got a regular shirt. It was like “NYC” embroidered on it and then in the front it white letters it was spelled out completely. ‘New York City.’”