This year, the annual tradition strikes once again—the students of Early College Experience (ECE) English class will go to visit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in New York City (NYC) on Monday December 8th. 

The trip is part of their overall theme of the class, beauty. They take to the streets of New York in search of inspiration for their “beauty” project. Throughout the day students will have the opportunity to go around and take photos of things that inspire them. These students have the freedom to explore NYC in a new way, where they’ll have a couple of hours before they have to return to go to the MoMA. 

“UCONN requires us to do a field research experience,” explained Anna Muharem, ECE English teacher. “We get to go out into the real world and find a variety of images that represent beauty, and New York is the perfect place to do that.” 

NYC is the quintessential image for a variety of beautiful things because there is such a wide spread of what you will see when you are there. You could be in an expensive store with tons of items, when just outside there are people who are freezing and homeless. 

“You could be on Fifth Avenue looking into one of the wealthiest stores in the world, and there could be a homeless person camped out in front of it,” Muharem said. “There’s such an image of dichotomy that kids are exposed to.” 

All the images that they take of beauty will go towards their final projects for the unit. This is where the students will be connecting their images to readings that they have done in class. In addition they will also get to pick a theme for how they want to present their projects. 

“I think it’s really valuable for kids to have cultural experiences like this,” said Muharem. “We’re so close to the city, why not take advantage of it for these projects.” 

PHOTO CREDIT: T-mizo