New Heights’ Philly Field Trip!

Last month, we took our middle school student-athletes on a day trip to Philadelphia for a tour of Villanova University, a visit to the Rocky steps for some motivation, an interactive science experience at the Franklin Institute, and finally a stop on the way home to support our current high school student-athletes at their playoff game!

After a quick bus ride to campus, student-athletes began their day with a tour of Villanova University, a D1 college program that is home not only to the Wildcats, but to New Heights alum and Villanova starting point guard Mark Armstrong. The tour consisted of a walkthrough of the university's beautiful campus, an explanation of where and how college students like to study, and a break for lunch that consisted of none other than Philly cheesesteaks!

New Heights student-athletes touring Villanova University’s campus.

Two New Heights student-athletes seeing how a knee works at the Franklin Institute.

After lunch, another brief bus ride took everyone to the Rocky Steps for some much needed leg-stretching and sight-seeing! Student-athletes got to see a bit of the city from the high vantage point, check out the Rocky statue at the base of the steps, and pause for some group photos at the top of the stairs!

Once everyone got a chance to document the moment with some photos, we took our student-athletes to the Franklin Institute in the heart of Philadelphia. The science museum was right up the children's alley, filled with interactive exhibits and games tailored around sports, the human body, and space.

Student-athletes had a lot of fun checking out all the cool things to do within the museum. Some of the highlights were finding out how muscles and bones work together to keep the human body functional (see above), and, of course, testing out our vertical jumps (see below)!

Student-athletes gathered around to watch each other test their vertical jump.

On our way back to Brooklyn, we made one last stop to support two current New Heights high school student-athletes—Deron Rippey Jr. and Noah Johnson—in their head-to-head matchup to qualify for the Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship game (as well as fit in a quick pizza dinner for everyone). The navy blue, red, and white was out in full force and made their presence known, cheering on both boys from tip off to the final whistle.

Despite a great effort from Noah and his Pennington School teammates, it was Deron and the Blair Academy Bucs who came out victorious. Regardless, we were happy to come out and support both boys and their teams in a great game!

Student-athletes intensely watching Deron Rippey Jr. & Noah Johnson—two 10th grade New Heights players—go at it in their playoff matchup.

And after a jam-packed day of tours, learning, and fun, we returned safely to our Brooklyn facility in the evening!

Each year we take our middle school student-athletes on a field trip outside of New York City so they can experience and learn more about opportunities available to them outside of their respective circles. Showing our young people what is possible for them to achieve and giving them guidance on how they can reach their goals is one of many ways we work to fulfill our mission of educating and empowering promising underserved youth to be leaders, champions and student-athletes by developing necessary skills as they progress through school.

We’re thrilled that everyone had a good time, and we can’t wait for next year’s field trip!