Poetry at Smith College, dancing at the Apollo: field trips excite and inspire!

While students have access to lots of interesting content in school, there’s nothing like a field trip to combine the opportunity to learn something new with relaxation, community building, and fun off school grounds. 

Two field trips this spring did just that–an English field trip to meet poet Hanif Abdurraquib and a People of Color United trip to Harlem.

Many teachers focus on the coursework laid out in the framework and past manners of teaching a class, but one teacher decided to use social media. English teacher Matthew Despresh as been a teacher here at ARHS for six years. And he discovered poet Hanif Abdurraquib on Twitter. “I was attracted to his views on poetry, music, and culture,” said Despres. 

Abdurraqib is an American poet, essayist, and writer from Columbus Ohio. His essays and works have been published in major publications such as The New York Times, The FADER, The New Yorker, Buzzfeed, NPR, and many more. In 2021, he released his book A Devil in America,  which earned him the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Despres taught A Devil in America in his 11th grade American Literature class. 

Last year, Despres took a year of family leave to take care of his new baby, and in the meantime, he dove into Abdurraquib’s works. “He feels like a different person, and narrator to what I normally teach in my class.,  he said.

Despres’s English class, along with Poetry Hub, an after-school club advised by English teacher Kate Kuhn, went to Smith College for one of Abdurraquib’s readings of A Devil in America and took the time to visit Smith’s Botanic Garden as well. 

“It was nice to have my students read his book, watch him in person, then go back to finish reading,” said Despres. “It’s not common for opportunities like this in this class, as most of our readings are from people who are not alive anymore.” 

Another great field trip this fall took place when People of Color United and Latinos Unidos took a trip farther away–to Harlem.  

Some educators might worry about taking a big group of high school students to a city like New York, but not POCU advisor, Mary Custard, who is also ARHS’s Dean of Students. She has been to Harlem’s Apollo Theater numerous times with students. 

 “So many of our Black icons and Legends have performed there along with a diversity of other entertainers,” she said.

Students had the amazing chance to take a tour with the man that has been at the Apollo since the beginning. Billy Mitchell, otherwise known as “Mr. Mitchell,” started his work at the Apollo as an errand boy for artists like Ella Fitzgerald and James Brown. 

His presence in the Apollo has been grand, as he most likely has “met all of your favorite celebrities.” “It’s no surprise that they call him Mr. Apollo!” said Custard. 

During the trip, members toured the Apollo’s famous lobby, which contains walls full of artists who have performed there. Students later toured the theater and stage, and some students got to perform a mock “Amateur Night.” Students performed spoken word and sang on the big stage, and then got words of wisdom from Mr. Mitchell, some even being invited to come back to perform at the Apollo for a real show. 

Mitchell then took students on a tour on the famous signature wall, which contains the signature of many artists, musicians, and actors, from Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Stevie Wonder to Jamie Foxx, Kim Kardashian, and Machine Gun Kelly. “He really made the tour something cooler than I thought it would be,” said senior and co-president of POCU, Fatma Abdel-Maksoud.

The group then toured Harlem, checking out different shops and centers, and they visited the burial site of Langston Hughes in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. For dinner, students then walked to the United House of Prayer for All People, to enjoy some soul food. “The cornbread was so good, and the church just felt cozy,” said senior, and co-president of POCU, Joel Blandon. 

Students then ended the night by attending a real “Amateur Night” show at the Apollo. Using “Yass” and “Boo” signs, the crowd controls whether contestants move on to the next round, or if they get eliminated. “Everyone was really good, and I liked being allowed to boo at people,’ said Junior, and future co-president of POCU, Talvin Dhingra. “I would definitely go back to another ‘Amateur Night’ show, even after high school,” said Dhingra.

The overall trip gave this group, mostly full of BIPOC students, a different perspective on representation. 

“Just walking around Harlem gave me a different feeling of walking in Amherst,” said senior, and member of POCU’s social media team Janita Varela. “The Apollo was a great experience, as it showed us where stars that look like us first started,” Varela said.