Pre-NYC Trip Blog: Ethan

Hello, my name is Ethan Hoppe-Cruz and I am going with my NPAC peers and our chaperones to New York City. We will be on a seven day trip, July 11 through the 18! And in that time we will do a Broadway workshop, a lot of sightseeing and exploring of New York…goodbye Aloha state... hello Empire state!

I am going on this trip to learn and experience new things. I hope to learn more about New York as it is one of the original thirteen states and I am very interested in colonial history. I also hope to get more experience in the acting field as well as singing and dancing. My goal is to get better at characterization. The trip will boost my confidence in the things I know and it will teach me new things.

I am very excited yet very nervous at the same time. I am bubbling over with thrill at the fact that we are seeing three broadway shows. “Miss Saigon,” is a favorite of Mr. Kitsu’s, which means it will probably be good. The plot sounds intense yet I am sure it will be great. I am also very excited to meet the cast and talk to them as they are Broadway performers and are definitely completely amazing in the acting and performing arts.

“Kinky Boots” is another play we will be seeing. A friend in NPAC absolutely loves “Kinky Boots”. They won two Tony awards which is very impressive. “Waitress” sounds like a very playful and happy musical that looks awesome. I think that all of these productions will exceed what I thought they would be. I really am excited about all of the shows: three Broadway shows in a week! Even if I didn’t like them...to see THREE Broadway shows in a week...what an opportunity and one that does not occur often.

I am also nervous. Yes the trip is going to be awesome yet there are a lot of things that could go wrong. I think and hope we will be fine.

I hope that we learn a lot about the colonial history and parts that New York played in the American Revolution. I was a “Hamilton” (The Broadway Musical) fan before and after it became cool! So I am looking forward to learning about the place, Alexander Hamilton moved to after his life in the Caribbean: New York City.

I am excited about gaining more experiences, singing, dancing and acting in the Broadway workshop. These new experiences, I feel will improve my awareness of diverse people. New York City has 8,537,673 people living there. I cannot wait to learn more about New York just by being there!

I feel like the two college going tours, NYU and Columbia University, will inspire me and I may consider going to them. When I grow up I want to become a hydro or nuclear chemist. Columbia University is ranked number five in the nation and has a great science program. I think that these opportunities to explore these colleges is one of the best parts of the trip. Animation is another interest of mine this could be one of the career options I will further look into while in New York. Going to the Sony Wonder Tech Lab will be awesome to help me check out this tech animation museum.

Not only will the trip itself be a helpful learning experience, I think the process of funding for the trip was helpful too. Fundraising for the trip helped my work ethic and made me understand profit and budgeting a little bit better. For all I know this trip could inspire me to become an entrepreneur.

I really am excited and overjoyed at the thought of this trip. Two and a half more weeks till take off...I can hardly wait!