NYC tour open to Madison students, parents

Madison students in advanced-placement Studio Art attended National Portfolio Day in New Orleans with a tour organized by James Clemens art teacher Liz Vaughn. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Have you wished for a dream vacation but thought you didn’t have any options? Liz Vaughn is working to give Madison students and parents those travel options.

“I’m trying to get a regular travel opportunity for kids in the works,” Vaughn said. She teaches art classes at James Clemens High School.

“Currently, I’m enrolling students on a trip to New York for March 2017,” she said. On Day One, their walking tour of midtown will cover Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park and Empire State Building. A guided tour will go to Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chinatown and Little Italy.

“We’ll visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and enjoy free time to explore Manhattan’s art galleries. We’ll visit Times Square and attend a Broadway show,” Vaughn said.

The Madison tourists will go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, take a guided tour of the Guggenheim Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art and participate in a studio workshop, Vaughn said. The group will make a photo stop in Central Park.

The NYC trip is limited to 35 spots. “If we get enough students, we have options about changing our itinerary to suit students’ interests. We could attend more Broadway shows because numerous theatre students are coming,” Vaughn said.

In January, Madison students in advanced-placement Studio Art attended National Portfolio Day in New Orleans with a tour that Vaughn organized. “Art colleges from around the nation and globe gave feedback to students about their portfolios and even recruited,” Vaughn said. “We also ate good food, visited many art galleries on Decatur and listened to tons of live jazz.”

Another group will fly to London on May 29. Their walking tours will visit Big Ben, Parliament, Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

In addition, the group will see Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Oxford University and Stratford upon Avon, along with cruising the Thames River.

EF Tours is the tour company for London and NYC trips. “EF Tours offers optional education credits for completing assignments associated with the tours,” Vaughn said.

For more information, visit efexploreamerica.com/1854596DC.