Owensville DECA Goes to New York City

Owensville DECA Goes to New York City
Cody Goggin
12-17-2013  1:05 pm

OWENSVILLE, MO-This November, some DECA students, myself included, had the opportunity for an experience of a lifetime. Owensville High DECA students traveled to New York City for five days between November 20^th and November 24^th. Along the way we saw some pretty amazing sights and places filled with history. This trip was filled with fun, but also educational as the DECA students received some tips and a look into how the business industry works from Planet Hollywood, Madam Tussaud’s, and in the SoHo Fashion District. In all, 11 people went on this trip from Owensville: Mrs. Whelan, Mrs. Moritz, Cody Goggin, Nathan Smith, Ben Angell, Dakota Souders, Kristen Bauer, Maddie Havelka, Ariel Walsh, Kayla Woemmel, and Kymberlyn Borgmann.

Madison Square Garden is one of the most historic venues in the world and has even been dubbed as “the World’s Most Famous Arena.” It has hosted events such as WrestleMania I, the Ali-Frazier “Fight of the Century”, Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration, and the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. Opened in 1968, Madison Square Garden is the home of the NHL’s New York Rangers, the NBA’s New York Knicks, and the WNBA’s New York Liberty. There are also a number of concerts held here. Some of the most historical musical artists ever have performed here, such as Elvis Presley, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, and all four of the Beatles performed there solo at different times. MSG is the most active sporting facility in the New York City area and is third busiest music arena in the world. Our group had the opportunity to explore “The Mecca” this past week. We got to see the basketball court and all of the new renovations to the arena. We also had the opportunity to see the locker rooms for the Rangers and Knicks and the most expensive suite in the building. Seeing an arena with this much history was definitely a great experience. 

Kymberlyn Borgmann was asked to share her thoughts on the Empire State Building and this is what she said: “While in New York, one place we visited was the Empire State Building. This was once the tallest building in all of New York…The Empire State Building stands an incredible 1,454 feet tall. It took almost no time at all to get there, since it was right behind our hotel. When we arrived at the building we had go through security. After passing through all of that, we got on an elevator and had to go up 86 stories to reach the top. Me, being completely scared of heights, was having a bit of a hard time looking out the windows and going out on the observation deck. Although I almost passed out, it was an extremely cool experience”

When asked to talk about the Statue of Liberty, Kayla Woemmel described, “The Statue of Liberty has been around since 1886. It was given to The United States as a gift from France, symbolizing freedom and democracy. While on my trip to New York with my DECA sponsors and some of my fellow DECA members, we had the opportunity to visit this historic statue. Visiting The Statue of Liberty was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. We took a Ferry to Liberty Island to see Lady Liberty. From the Ferry we had a great view of Manhattan and of The Statue. From far away she looked so small, but when we got up close it was clear that she was giant and beautiful. Once inside The Statue, we got to go as far up as the pedestal. From the pedestal we could see Ellis Island and also more of Manhattan. The view was absolutely breath-taking, Going to visit The Statue of Liberty is something that I believe everyone should experience at least once in their life.”

The last person that was asked about the trip was Nathan Smith. He was told to describe the trip to the 9/11 Memorial and he told me, “Ground Zero is a memorial in remembrance to the heroes who lost their lives in the attack on the twin towers on September 11, 2001. We went to visit and saw exactly where the two towers were before the attack and just how big they were. Looking around the reflective pools was incredible because of how many people were killed in terrorist attack. Also, we talked to a lady who told us all about the survivor tree.  The survivor tree is the only plant that survived the attacks and is still living today. It survived under hundreds of feet of rubble from the buildings, plane, and everything else [that fell on it]. Ground Zero is a must-see attraction. It is very sad because of how many lives were lost, but it also shows the strength that our nation has to get through these attacks. 

Just from the words of these students one can tell how great of an experience this trip was for the students who attended. Next year’s seniors may get the chance to go to New York, however, they may also have the chance to vote on going to somewhere else; such as Chicago or Orlando. The “DECA Experience” was an amazing thing and New York City is a city that everyone should go to at least once in their lifetime.