Freedom and Citizenship

Today, Freedom and Citizenship had…a water balloon fight! We filled over 700 water bottles and our students used every single one of them — very impressive! Tomorrow our students graduate from the summer program, and this was a really fun way to begin celebrating their accomplishment!

On Friday, Freedom and Citizenship visited the NYPL and toured the Treasures exhibit, which houses the Declaration of Independence as well as lots of other archival material. They also read James Baldwin on the library’s front steps where Baldwin himself wrote about visiting!

Yesterday, Freedom and Citizenship was joined by our friends from Fordham for an afternoon of fun and getting to know each other. Here’s everyone playing a heated (literally, it was hot outside!) game of capture the flag!

Flashback to orientation week, when our students wrote out their expectations for this summer: for themselves, their teachers, and each other. Everyday, F&C students draw on these in the seminar, in the dorms, and in everything else they do!

On Friday, Freedom and Citizenship visited the Fraunces Tavern Museum in lower Manhattan for a guided tour about the building’s history and significance to the revolutionary war. They saw a bust of George Washington (cast on his face while he was alive), a lock of his hair, and, among other things, a chunk of fence from Bowling Green where the statue of King George was toppled!

On Wednesday, Freedom and Citizenship got to meet the other summer program students during the CUPP summer picnic! Everyone enjoyed a cookout, ice cream, lawn games, and a raffle…the prize went to a Freedom and Citizenship student!

To wrap up a busy but fun orientation week, Freedom and Citizenship visited The Met last week before the holiday weekend. Students got to visit the Ancient Greek wing, with lots of ties to the readings for class, and then chose between the new Superfine: Black Style exhibit or the newly re-opened African Art Wing. It was a hot day to walk across the park to the museum, but our students were troopers and the museum was a great start to the long holiday weekend!