Live from New York (Part I)

The team of students Jaclyn Sirc, Ryan Romack, Fitz Doyle and Callie Corcoran defeated a four-time defending championship team from North Allegheny High School and won a regional round of the 2011 Euro Challenge competition, held at the University of Pittsburgh on March 29.

As such, Sirc, Romack, Doyle and Corcoran have advanced to the semifinals-and-final-rounds portion of the national competition, being held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from April 26-28.

The Euro Challenge is a national competition for ninth- and 10th-graders that tests their knowledge and understanding of the European economy and the euro.

This week, Baldwin High's Gifted Program Coordinator Debbie Reynolds is providing the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch with nightly updates on how Baldwin's team is doing in New York City.

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By Debbie Reynolds (Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 10:59 p.m.)

Live from New York ... It's Euro Challenge ... featuring Callie Corcoran, Jackie Sirc, Fitz Doyle and Ryan Romack.

Today has been a long but wonderful day. All of us were up at 3 a.m. in order to meet at the airport by 4:45. It was an exciting day for Ryan because this was her first time to fly, and equally exciting for Fitz because neither he nor Ryan had ever been to New York City before.

Our plane ride into JFK Airport was uneventful, and in fact, we landed early. The morning started off with a great shuttle ride to Downtown Manhattan. Our driver, Sam, decided to play "Cash Cab" with us. Of course, we knew none of the answers to any of the questions that he asked. He did, however, provide the kids with some great ideas of places to visit and pointed out all of the landmarks as we traveled.

Once we checked into our hotel, we hit the ground running. After a quick bite to eat, we headed over to the Financial District. Our first stop was Trinity Church. It is a beautiful historic building filled with stained glass windows and located right at Wall Street.

Our next stop was the New York Stock Exchange. The kids really enjoyed getting to see in person what they have always seen in the movies or on TV. We then made a quick stop to Federal Hall, where George Washington took his oath as the first president of the United States.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York was our next destination. The Fed offers a tour of the gold vault as well as the coin exhibit that is located on the main level. One of the things that really struck the kids was the fact that the vault is built all the way down as far as the rock level is. Because the gold is so heavy, they can't build it at street level. In fact, the subway could be heard rolling over as we were in the vault. The students also learned that most of the gold stored in the vault in New York is being stored from other countries.

From the Federal Reserve, we headed over to Battery Park and caught the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Did you know that the Statue of Liberty is NOT located on Ellis Island?? None of us did, and apparently neither do most Americans. They mistakenly think that the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island go together at the same place. The Statue of Liberty is located on Liberty Island, and Ellis Island is home to the Immigration Museum. Just a little piece of information for you.

Once we left Battery Park, it was time to introduce Ryan and Fitz to the subway!! We did pretty well, and except for one little glitch at the end of the day, we did MUCH better this year navigating the subway than we did last year. By the time we leave here on Thursday, they will all be old pros at this.

The next visit on our itinerary was the Empire State Building. That was by far the longest line we had today. We spent about two hours traveling through line queues and elevators and stairs to make it up to the 86th-floor observation deck.

I have to say it was not quite as speedy to get up to the top as Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan made it look in Sleepless in Seattle, but once we made it, the view was absolutely stunning. Today was a perfect day, and it was incredible to see the whole city.

Our next-to-last stop was for a little fun as we headed over to Madame Tussauds wax museum. The kids had so much fun taking pictures of and with all of the famous celebrities, athletes, musician and politicians. Some of the likenesses were so uncanny that you almost expected some of them to just start talking to you.

Our last stop for the night was in Little Italy. Sitting outside at a little café enjoying pizza Margherita and gelato was the perfect way to end the day.

We finished off the evening with a meeting of all of the teams who traveled in from other states for the competition tomorrow. The kids were briefed on what the day will be like tomorrow and were given a few suggestions to calm their nerves.

Our team is definitely ready, and they are excited about giving their presentation tomorrow. Twenty-five teams will be presenting tomorrow between 9 and 11:30 a.m. with the hopes of advancing to the final round in the afternoon.

Stay tuned ... we'll let you know how we do.

From,

BHS Gifted teacher, Euro Challenge sponsor and one tired girl!!!