Deerfield High School - New Orleans, LA
March 20-25, 2012
Teacher List
Robin Apold, Choir Director
Angie Bazan, History Teacher
Deb Kohlwey, English Teacher
Ryan Petersen, Band Director
Suzanne Thuecks, Science Teacher
Click on the following for information about the trip
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Wednesday - New Orleans Day 1 |
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Short description tonight - more later - finally inhotel and need rest! :-)
We left Deerfield on Tuesday evening, pulling out of the High School parking lot around 6:00 pm. After driving all night, we hit some major rain in southern Mississippi and Louisiana area (3+ inches of rain in just a few hours!). After stops for breakfast (personally, I ate two southern classics - Pecan Waffles and Grits!) and lunch, we -finally- made it to downtown New Orleans around 2:00 pm. We got to spend a little time walking around Jackson Square and exploring some fo the shops nearby. We then made our way over to tour Mardi Gras World where they make almost all of the floats for the Mardi Gras Parades. . We got to learn about the history of the parades in New Orleans, and then we went into the warehouse. We got to see most of the ones used in the spring's parades, and we also got to see artisits and craftsmen designing and starting to build next year's floats (yes, they start already!). Then it was dinner time. We ate a Mulate's - and had some Cajun classics - Shrimp and Jumbablia, among other things. The best part of dinner was that we had the "Hot Sauce Band" play traditional cajun music for us for an hour and a half. After we ate, many of us got to try our hand at traditional cajun dancing. The band tried their best to teach us two traditional dances - a cajun waltz and a two-step. All the participants had a great time! Lastly, we went back to St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square for our Haunted Tour of the French Quarter. He had great guides who took us all around one of the oldest parts of the city, telling us the spooky folk stories that go along with that history. Finally, we made it to the hotel for showers, and an early bed. Tomorrow's going to be an exciting day, with more history, our service project, and our performances. Stay tuned!
Mr. Petersen
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New Orleans Trip – Day 2 – Thursday, March 22
After a good night sleep (any sleep after a night on a bus is a good night!), we were up and out bright and early this morning. At 7:45, we left for our plantation tour. After about a 40-minute drive up the Mississippi River, we arrived at the famous Oak Alley Plantation. The plantation gets its name from the row of 28 Oak Trees that line the walk up to the house from the River. This property, originally consisting of around 1,600 acres, features a huge Greek Revival Style Plantation House, has many other relics of 19th Century Plantation Life. The house was built by Frenchman Jacques Roman in the 1830s, though the trees were planted in their rows by a French soldier over 100 years before! We were given tours of the house, examining the lifestyle of plantation life – both for the plantation owners and their slaves. After our tour, we were able to explore the grounds on our own, looking at the gardens, talking to a Civil War re-enactor, and a practicing blacksmith.
After lunch at the plantation, we then traveled back into the city for our community service project. We spent about an hour and a half at ARC of Greater New Orleans. This is part of the United Way and a group that provides work experience and skills for mentally challenged individuals. Among other things (apparently great soups made from vegetables that they grow in their own garden), they have started a Mardi Gras bead recycling service. During the Mardi Gras season, the Krewes (groups – pronounced just like “crew”) through out millions of beaded necklaces. ARC collects as many of these that they can, sorts them, and sells them back to the krewes, individuals, even artists. Each year they estimate that they recycle 25 TONS of beads. After learning more about the 6 mains types of necklace (who knew!), we started sorting. We would take a pile of beads our of 4’x4’ boxes, put them on a table, and sort into smaller boxes. Those beads were then bagged in 30 lb. bags. With the help of some of the workers, our kids really kicked it in to gear and sorted about 1,000 lbs. of beads!
After a quick stop at the hotel to change, we were off to the Concert Band and Concert Choir’s performance in downtown New Orleans at the dock for the Steamboat Sanchez, right along the Mississippi river. Both groups performed beautifully, and the performances attracted some pretty large crowds of people who came and watched/listened to the performances. The kids were very pleased with how they played and sang.
After packing all of our equipment back on to the busses, we then boarded the Steamboat Sanchez for dinner and a cruise on the Mississippi. The boat is a fully working steam-powered paddleboat. We wee treated to some more great live music tonight – this time it was Dixieland Jazz – featuring music from Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong. The jazz band was right in front of our reserved section for eating, so we were front-and-center for a great jazz performance! We then got to walk around the boat for a two-hour cruise up and down the river. We traveled down river past the Lower Ninth Ward (it’s amazing how much lower that land is than the river!) and the older industrial areas of the River. The kids had a great time visiting, seeing the sights, and they didn’t let even more rain dampen their fun! When we returned to the hotel, we spent some time reflecting on what we did and learned today, and then had a little bit of time to relax (and dry off!) before curfew.
Friday the rain is hopefully going to end! We’ll be going on a Swampboat tour, visiting the Aquarium of the Americas, and having a private performance at the famous Jazz Landmark: Preservation Hall. We’re looking forward to another exciting day in the Big Easy!
Mr. Petersen
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New Orleans Trip – Friday – Day 3
After a night filled with more tropical thunderstorms (another 3+ inches of rain between midnight and 8:00 a.m.!), we finally had a dry day today! Our day started with breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards, we drove about 20 minutes south of downtown to some nearby swamps and bayous. After arriving at the Jeanne Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve, we boarded on two tour boats and took a tour hour swamp tour. During the tour, we saw lots of different types of flora and fauna. Se saw cypress trees growing right out of the swamp, among other things. But the highlight was seeing more than a half-dozen alligators in the swamp! Their sizes ranged from 4 feet long to 12 feet long. Our tour guides/boat captains told us a lot biodiversity in the swamps. After learning more about the different plants and different sizes of Alligators, we all had the chance to hold a 2+ foot long alligator (about a 2-year old).
After the swamp tour, we took a short bus tour of both the Upper and the Lower Ninth Ward, the area of New Orleans hit the hardest in 2005 from Hurricane Katrina. While some of the houses and other structures have been fixed up or rebuilt, we saw large amounts of houses that were still destroyed, abandoned, and/or in other various stages of disrepair. The students were shocked about how much damage still remained almost 7 years later.
We then headed to the Audobon Aquarium of the Americas. After a quick lunch, we had a chance to explore the exhibits and animals in Aquarium. The students completed a scavenger hunt they toured, helping them guide their way through the various displays. The hunt was focused around the concept of Biodiversity. Included in the Aquarium were a large variety of fish, some sea otters, tropical birds, jelly fish, and even an albino alligator. Among others, the museum had exhibits comparing the Amazon and the Mississippi Rivers, and what sea life was like in the Golf of Mexico. Students also had a chance to touch sting-rays! Our time at the AAA ended with seeing a 3D IMAX movie.
With the weather being so nice, we did a lot of walking this afternoon. After our IMAX movie, we walked through the French Quarter to the famous Preservation Hall for a private New Orleans Jazz Concert. Preservation Hall was founded 50 years ago with the mission to help preserve the tradition New Orleans Jazz style from the first part of the last century (as almost a counter to the British Invasion). We then had a one hour private performance (besides for the 5 musicians, our group was the only people in the entire building! What a concert! All the musicians were virtuosos on their instruments and gave on heck of a concert. The band played music from various styles of early Jazz – from ragtimes, to one-steps, to dixiland, to jazz funerals. The band took time between songs to teach us about earlier jazz music and composers. They also took questions from the kids in our group about their musical careers and musical talents. I know I personally (and noticed this with most of the kid) could not keep from tapping my toes during the entire set! (as a note, almost all photographs are not allowed to be taken Preservation Hall, so there are not a lot of pictures from this part.
After the AMAZING concert, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and walked around the French Quarter some more, exploring restaurants and shops. With the weather finally being nice (and it being a Friday), there were lots of people to entertain us on the street – from single-player to multiple person jazz performances, other street musicians, and magicians. We then had a dinner at the Hard Rock Café, and then even walked the 1.5 miles back to our hotel (through the warehouse/convention center district). When we got back to the hotel, we asked the kids to reflect on their day and tell the teachers/chaperones what their favorite thing was that they did today and what was the most interesting thing that you learned.
Tomorrow (Saturday) we will spend one more day in New Orleans, but then head home after dinner (so there will not be post of Saturday’s activities until after we get home. I’m also going to work on a way to get larger/better resolution copies of the picture up aon the website when we get back to WI in case anyone is interested. Tomorrow we’ll be spending the morning at the zoo, return to the French Quarter one last time for lunch (so the kids can have one more taste of the great food down here), and our trip will end with a tour of the National WWI museum followed by dinner. Then it’s back on the bus for 17 hours of driving.
Many kids were commenting tonight about how fast the last 4 days have gone by! The adults were saying the same thing, too. Everyone has been having a great time and enjoying lots of new experiences.
Mr. Petersen
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