Mr. Valenti brings back NYC field trip for Class of 2023

On April 24, 50 Archbishop Carroll seniors chaperoned by five teachers visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in a trip planned by senior theology teacher Mr. Louis Valenti.

“I had not been doing field trips since before the pandemic,” Mr. Valenti said.  “As this group of seniors is the best group of students in my 24 years of teaching, I felt that I had to bring this trip back for them before they graduated. It was the least I could do for kids that have done so much for me this year.”

The trip began with a three-hour bus ride to the city. Luckily, Mr. Valenti had snacks and drinks for the passengers. Students entertained themselves by sleeping, watching movies, and playing “highway games.”

“My favorite part of the bus ride to New York City was beating Mr. Valenti in the eye-spy alphabet game,” said senior Samantha Rock. 

The Met is three stories high and divided into 17 different departments.

“The ‘Met,’ in my opinion, is the best museum in the country,” Mr. Valenti said.

According to gocity.com, it can take up to five hours to walk through the entire museum, but two Carroll students saw the entire museum in just three hours. Twins Brooke and Paige Quigley made it their mission to see every part of the museum and succeeded. 

“It was my first time going to the MET and I will definitely be going back,” Brooke Quigley said. “It was cool to see so many of the pieces that I have studied in real life. Having free time afterward also allowed me to try the best gluten-free doughnut ever.”  

With the Met being over two million square feet, many students found themselves lost.

“I got lost like 50 times in the MET, but I had a lot of fun on the trip,” said Katrina Trimble. “It was also fun playing car games with Mr. Valenti.”

From about 2:00 to 3:45 p.m., everyone had some free time to eat lunch and shop around New York City. Some students shopped at unique stores in New York City, such as a small bookshop and the Met store, and others shopped at Target.

“Between extremely overpriced pizza and a naked man in Target, I’d say the experience was a pretty average shopping day in NYC,” said Damon Cagliola. 

Other students enjoyed their free time in New York as a preview of what the independence of college life will look like in a few months. 

“One of my favorite things about the New York trip was the free time we had to explore around the city,” said Gabe Petrecz. “Being able to walk around a city with my friends was liberating and made me feel independent because we got to do whatever we liked on our own. [The trip was]  a small taste of how college will be next year.”

The teacher chaperones also explored the Met. Afterward, they had lunch at a local pizza shop. 

“Mr. Valenti organized a great trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” said science department chair Mrs. Judith Owens. “It was memorable to see works from some of the great artists like Renoir and Cezanne. I also enjoyed the Egyptian art and burial exhibits.”