Fourteen students and two teachers chose to spend their exciting week in Boston, Massachusetts. “We never had downtime, and there’s still so much more we could have seen in Boston!” Mrs. Haurani, one of the chaperones, remarked. Let us take you through our trip to brilliant Boston!
On day one, Monday, after our plane landed and we got checked into our hotel, we took ‘The T’ (underground subway train that runs throughout Boston) over to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, where we enjoyed our first views of the city and an amazing lunch. “I remember Faneuil Hall. The first time I looked up and saw a lobster roll was $40, that was a shocker moment for me.” Mr. McKellar, the other chaperone exclaimed. After lunch, we got an amazing walking tour along The Freedom Trail, where we saw many historical sites in Boston, including the site of the Boston Massacre. Once we finished the walking tour we visited The Old South Meeting House. The Old South Meeting House is known for being a church that in 1773, 5,000 people crowded into to debate the British tea tax. Afterwards, we visited a museum called ‘Revolutionary Spaces’, where there were multiple exhibits on the American Revolution. Take it from Lou Porter-Acee, a tenth grader who attended the Boston trip “I think the most unexpected thing for me was going to so many museums. We went to three museums in one day. It was crazy!”. Finally to end day one, we visited ‘Elephant & Castle’, a traditional English restaurant.
We were up bright and early on Tuesday, day two for a tour of
The Old North Church, where lanterns told Paul Revere that the British were coming. We then took a detour to Mike’s pastries, where we got iconic Boston treats. After our sugar pitstop, it was time to head to Paul Revere’s house. “I learned a lot more about Paul Revere than I thought I would’ve. He’s related to Post Malone!” Indy Morrison, a ninth grader, said shocked. After an interesting trip to Paul Revere’s house, we got to walk around Harvard Square, a part of Harvard’s campus. Then it was time for our tour of MIT, which Mr. McKellar especially enjoyed “One of the biggest surprises for me was MIT. Everyone told me that MIT was going to be boring. But they took us inside and we saw that crazy stuff, [MIT ‘Hacks’, highly suggest looking them up] and I definitely thought that place was cool. I felt like it the Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory of colleges”. To finish up day two, we had an exciting night of bowling.
For day three, Wednesday, we were up and at ’em again, starting with a trip to the New England Aquarium where we saw all sorts of sea
animals ranging from huge turtles to impressive sea lions. We then made a trip to the USS Constitution Museum, where we got to do plenty of hands-on activities and exhibits based on the warship. Then came the fan-favorite of the trip, seeing the production of Hamilton at the Boston Opera House. “My favorite part of the trip was definitely seeing Hamilton! I was already a huge Hamilton lover, and watching it live made me fall in love with the show even more!” Lou marveled. “I absolutely loved going to see Hamilton,” Indy added. Even the teachers loved it, as Mrs. Haurani said “I thought the cast for Hamilton was amazing. It was my fourth time seeing it live and I think this was one of my favorite casts, they did a great job.” Even Mr. McKellar added, “Hamilton was definitely an incredible experience”.
On Thursday, day four, first thing we took a train to Salem, Massachusetts. When we arrived, we had a walking tour based on the witch trials of the 17th century. After an educational morning in Salem, we headed back to Boston to go to The Museum of Science. At the Museum of Science, there were so many interesting exhibits. Multiple students even mention that they wish that we had more time there. But like with everything on this trip, there was always somewhere to be next, in this case it was Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox’s. At Fenway Park, we got an exclusive tour of all of the VIP areas, as well as history on the stadium and the team. After the tour of the park, it was time for our last dinner in Boston, which we spent at the Yard House.
At dinner, we hit a bump in the road. Our flight back to Raleigh had been canceled. “Thursday night I was looking just to double check what time we should leave for the airport, and I saw that our flight had been canceled. At first, I couldn’t get a hold of someone to talk to, so I made the decision to go back to the airport that night. Luckily, everything worked out though.” Mrs. Haurani explained. “It was a long, long day of trying to get back. It was an exhausting experience, but I’m grateful that we all got back safely.” Mr. McKellar recounted.
Because our flight got canceled, we ended up missing Halloween. Everyone was bummed about that, but especially one person in particular, Rodrigo Jimeno, our 10th grade exchange student from Spain. On Thursday night, as we were getting ready for bed, we received a bag of candy and a trick-or-treating bucket from one of the hotel staff as we were just chatting with her about our flights being canceled. She came up with a brilliant idea to throw Rodrigo an American Halloween using our hotel rooms. Without letting Rodrigo know, we went around to all of the Oakwood people’s hotel rooms and headed out candy so that when Rodrigo came to the doors, he could trick-or-treating. “It was actually so sweet, thank you guys. I will tell my Grandkids about this someday” Rodrigo said after he was done trick-or-treating. “I thought it was a really cool and unique Oakwood moment that Rodrigo got to experience” Mr. McKellar said with a smile.
Our trip to Boston was a week none of us will forget. Everyone made such great memories, as well as some unexpected ones too. But the biggest thing was the friendships that were formed along the way. “My favorite part was for sure getting to know all of you kids outside of a classroom and school setting” Mrs. Haurani said confidently. After a great trips week, this is the Boston 2025 crew signing off!
