Staffers hop between museum, MLB studio, Broadway

Fossils, a wall encompassed by baseball cards, Broadway actors and professional TV sets made up a few of the many sights students on the 2016 Feather trip to New York experienced, March 15.

On their second full day in New York, Feather staffers visited the American Museum of Natural History. The museum stands as one of the largest establishments of natural history in the world with a total of 27 interconnected buildings and 45 permanent exhibition halls.

Feather staffer, Nathan Mount, ‘18, says the structure of the museum impressed him and encouraged him to explore the displays within.

“In New York seeing the design and architecture of the buildings makes me wish that I had the same in Fresno,” Mount said. “ The Natural History Museum was extremely admirable and educational. When I got there just that outside of the building left me in awe and I was immediately excited to see all that was inside.”

In addition the 2006 movie “Night at the Museum” centered around the historic building and though filmed in British Columbia, featured shots of the location’s exterior.

Senior Blog editor Emily Ladd, enjoyed the parallels between the museum and the movie. She says the museum’s interactive app helped her track down the movie’s landmark sites and characters.

“I’m a movie nerd and love to learn new things,” Ladd said. ” Museums have a charm to them, and being able to learn more and explore the building while tracking down familiar sites from the movie was really fun. The building is expansive and beautiful and has awesome exhibits from space to fossils to human history. The best part might be the fact that they know the patrons love Night at the Museum. If you use their navigation app and search ‘dum dum’ it’ll give you directions right to the Moai Head statue.”

For lunch some staffers ate at a nearby Shake Shack . The rest explored the various food trucks located in the area.

Chaperon and parent of Olivia Quebe, ’16, Jane Quebe arranged for The Feather staff to visit MLB (Major League Baseball) studios. After lunch the group gathered themselves and boarded a train to the MLB network headquarters in New Jersey.

I really liked going to the MLB studios. I work more with the writing and editing aspect of journalism, so it was interesting to see the television side and other aspects of it. It really piqued my interest and showed me that the career field is multi-faceted. — Chloe Mueller

Quebe says her connection with the host of the MLB Network show Quick Pitch allowed her to arrange the tour of the station.

“Heidi Watney is the host of the MLB Network television show Quick Pitch,” Quebe said. “I had the opportunity to work with Heidi in the years she competed for Miss California USA and taught her how to talk and walk in heels. Shortly after that my husband and I helped her get an interview with KMPH-FOX-TV in Fresno doing traffic reports and the rest is history. She worked hard and everyone loves her and now she’s a big time network TV show anchor. So I texted her and asked for a favor and she agreed.”

Students received a tour from Studio Coordinator, Nicole Neidlinger through studios 42, 3 and 21 in their facilities.

Co-Editor and Chief, Chloe Mueller, ’16 says the experience revealed the many different forms of journalism active in modern society.

“I really liked going to the MLB studios,” Mueller said. “ I work more with the writing and editing aspect of journalism, so it was interesting to see the television side and other aspects of it. It really piqued my interest and showed me that the career field is multi-faceted.”

In all of the news studios students were permitted to take pictures of themselves and their surroundings. Even adviser Greg Stobbe posed for a picture behind the reporting desk at the NHL (National Hockey League) studio. In studio 42 the MLB network employees allowed students to play wiffle ball and explore the entirety of the set. Students climbed into the crowd seats, ran the bases, pitched, and took a few at bats.

They finished their night with the Broadway production of “Something Rotten”. The 2015 comedic production told the story of a set of brother bards determined to outdo the great playwright Shakespeare in the Renaissance Era.

Senior Timothy Nyberg experienced Broadway for the first time on this trip. He says the production met most expectations in regard to musical numbers and story line. However, he found the theater smaller than he first imagined.

“Something Rotten was a hilarious and entertaining comedy that lived up to my expectations for my first Broadway experience,” Nyberg said. “ The storyline was original and the ensemble numbers were awesome. The choreography was performed all in sync and the music was catchy and lively. There was never a moment that I was bored and the costumes were extravagant and colorful. Although the room was not what I had expected, the smaller size was intimate and made for better viewing.”

Check back tomorrow for the Feather’s review on Something Rotten.

Staffers finished their night off with a meal and dessert at Juniors, a local restaurant renown for cheesecake. Jenny King, ’17, says she enjoyed the cheesecake along with the other desserts she sampled.

“After seeing that Juniors was known for their cheesecake I was excited to try and taste it myself,” King said. “Their red velvet cake and chocolate mousse cheesecake were really good. This place was definitely the place to go if you’re looking for a good cheesecake.They had many other desserts that I had tried to that were also good.”

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Check back tomorrow for the fourth installment of the 2016 New York Trip recap.

To read about Day 2 of the trip, read The Feather Takes NYC 2016, No. 2.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @skylerklee and via Email: Skyler Lee.