The Beauty Within Brooklyn
“Everyday I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad.” ~ Claude Monet
December 17, 2019
Lying in the soft, green grass, walking through the enclosure of beautiful flowers, and taking in the sweet aroma of nature that fills the air with every breath; admiring the array of art, traveling through time with every step, and being inspired by every piece more and more with every blink. Students enrolled in the Humanities course at EBHS touch upon aesthetic and beauty with their first of many field trips to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Museum.
Stepping off the bus, students immediately feel the cool, crisp September breeze that ever so slightly blows them towards the beauty that is Brooklyn.
At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, students see beauty within the 52 acres of nature that encompasses them. They enter a room lined with plants, immediately fascinated; they are able to do more than just admire them – they can interact with them, touch them, and learn about them. The plants lead back outside and students are astonished by the gorgeous greenery sparkling in the sunlight. They follow a path through the garden, colorful flowers at every turn, and even a koi pond that brings good fortune. Hunter Nevin, 12, shares that “Walking around the botanical garden with [her] friends was so interesting because all the flowers were [so] beautiful and almost made you forget that you were actually in the city.”
Following this first destination, Humanities students continue tapping into the topic of aesthetic and beauty at the Brooklyn Museum. Walking into the museum, students are in awe at the art that leads them full circle. Art hangs from the ceilings, fills the walls, and some even take up entire rooms. Each step leads a journey through time from Ancient Egyptian sculptures to works by Picasso, timeless paintings by Monet, to photography in color by Garry Winogrand. Each floor was a unique experience, all aesthetically pleasing in their own ways. “Although some of the exhibits were closed off, the art that we were able to see in the museum was very cool and pretty different from anything I’ve seen before.” Jon Diaz, 12, recalls.
In essence, it is certain that EBHS Humanities students truly discovered the meaning of aesthetic and beauty through their adventures on the Brooklyn Trip. From the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to the Brooklyn Museum, students were inspired by all in sight. “Easily one of the best field trips this year,” says Jon Diaz, 12.
