This fall, the sophomore class embarked on the annual Boston Trip. During the two-day adventure, students traversed the (extremely inclined) Boston streets while stepping into New England’s history.
In the weeks before the trip, students prepared historical presentations and read relevant books in their English and Humanities classes. For students in Ms. Stoller or Ms. Stabenau’s English classes, the preparation involved reading “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau wrote the novel, a meditation on living and thinking about nature while living in a cabin at Walden Pond just outside Boston, which students would soon visit.
Other students learned about writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who lived in Concord’s The Old Manse in their English and Humanities classes.
Students also built on their previous study of Indigenous resistance during their visit to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Connecticut. They separated into groups and toured the museum, drawing connections between the exhibits and their studies.
Some highlights of the tour were the diorama of a Caribou hunt scene and the life-scale model of a Pequot village that the students could explore. These experiences gave students additional insight into the Pequot people’s lifestyle.
Views from the Pequot Museum in Connecticut
Source: Rebecca Flisser
Shaan Daly (Form IV) emphasized the trip’s focus on “making connections between the city and the stuff we studied in English and History.”
“We visited The Old Manse house,” explained Daly. “It basically housed a lot of writers who we were learning about in English, so to see the place where those writers actually lived and then reading about those writers in English was quite fascinating.”
Students visited places they learned about in their History, English and Humanities classes
Sources: Left, Rebecca Flisser. Right, Abigail Kaufman
The trip also included time absorbing nature and reflecting in a Thoreuvian manner. Monica Nikolova (Form IV) described Walden Pond: “It was gorgeous, and we really were able to live out Thoreau’s ideas and…see how his surrounding environment affected his thinking.”
Views from Walden Pond in Concord, MA
Sources: Left, Jenna Rose Right, Rebecca Flisser
To cap off the day, the Form IV students stopped in Concord, Massachusetts to explore the town and grab dinner.
When the buses arrived at 5:30 pm in Concord, most of the town’s shops had already closed. Students quickly populated the Concord streets and rushed to secure tables at the handful of restaurants within walking distance. It was nearly impossible to avoid seeing fellow Fieldston students, and in some cases, teachers, while wandering around.
One group of Form IV students had a particularly educational encounter. After 10 minutes of tireless phone calls and Google Maps searches, they decided to eat at the Liberty at the Colonial Inn. As the students approached the hostesses’ desk, they looked to their right and saw their teacher chaperones eating in the Thoreau Room. The students sat down at their table and decided, hoping to thank their teachers for a wonderful trip, to send a single extra large slice of cheesecake to the table (it was all they could afford).
To this day, it is unknown whether the teachers received the cheesecake or not.
After dinner, teachers handed students room keys and corralled them into the community room for a “game night.” The school provided entertainment in the form of snacks, candy, card games and coloring books.
The next day, the sophomores awoke promptly at 6:30 and readied themselves for history presentations. According to Matthew Burke (IV), the most difficult part of the day was not performing presentations but “waking up.”
Before the trip, students crafted history-based presentations about sites along the Freedom or Black Heritage Trail. The range of sites was expansive; locations included the Old State House, the Boston Commons and Underground Railroad stops like the Lewis and Harriet Hayden House.
Students performing their Creative Responses at their respective sites in Boston
Source: Rose Posternak
Presentations included a written summary that invited exploration of the site’s “underground” history through an “ethnic studies” lens: an expansive way of looking at historical events that emphasizes frequently silenced voices (typically those of minority groups) and provides critical insight into the present. Each group also prepared a creative response to be performed on the second day of the Boston Trip. This year’s creative responses ranged from faux telecasts and emotional poems to song parodies and well-crafted puppet shows.
Nikolova said she “felt empowered by having everyone’s full, undivided attention” during her presentation and was “very proud of [her] group.”
Form IV Dean John Reyes said of the presentations, “[the students] were so into it, so thoughtful. The presentations were great, it seems like everyone is having a lot of fun.”
After two long days exploring Greater Boston, the sophomores stopped briefly at Natick Mall before heading onto the buses for another multi-hour bus ride. There, students slept, partook in high-stakes Game Pigeon battles and reflected on the eventful trip.
Many pinpointed their favorite aspect of the Boston Trip as the freedom granted to them between historical sites and during meals
Students, such as Daly, enjoyed “being able to go around Boston and explore the different localities and offerings with [their] friends and eat at different restaurants, look at different shops and observe the historical significance of the city.”
Students could choose most of their meals at places like Quincy Market and Natick Mall
Sources: Left, Jenna Rose. Right, Megan Orsuwan
Abigail Kaufman (Form IV) said, “Because we’ve had the freedom to get, like, 90% of our meals, [the food has] been great.” Fellow Form IV student Jenna Rose added, “Even the hotel breakfast was really good.”
As for complaints, many sophomores felt the trip included too much time sitting on buses instead of exploring the city’s landmarks and memorials, echoing concerns from previous years.
Liv Kunzer (Form IV) said, “The bus rides… dragged on for a really long time, especially on the way back.”
Despite the lengthy rides, the Boston Trip has exceeded expectations from this year’s Form IV class. “I thought it was all going to be… all willy-nilly, everyone just does what they want,” said Nikolova. “There was actually a lot of learning [and] thought-provoking questions being asked.”
