Several Baker students traded in classrooms and textbooks for a whirlwind interterm trip to New York City.

Athletic director Dan Harris, Peggy Harris, dean of the School of Education, and a group of their friends took 14 students to New York from Jan. 12 to Jan. 18.

“We had a well-planned itinerary, and we just wore (the students) out,” Dan Harris said.

The group visited several museums, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and went to three Broadway musicals: “Wicked,” “In the Heights” and “Jersey Boys.”

Dan Harris said one of the greatest experiences came after the students made their annual visit to the “Today Show” when Baker alumnus Charles Agrow contacted him after seeing the Baker University banner on the show.

Agrow worked as a port authority and the Directing Officer of Emergency Management during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Agrow gave the group a guided tour of ground zero inside the gates.  <br/>Junior Marcia Hillman said the tour of ground zero was very emotional. Agrow told the students he worked in the World Trade Center but was late on the morning of Sept. 11.  Junior Marcia Hillman said the tour of ground zero was very emotional. Agrow told the students he worked in the World Trade Center but was late on the morning of Sept. 11.  
Junior Marcia Hillman said the tour of ground zero was very emotional. Agrow told the students he worked in the World Trade Center but was late on the morning of Sept. 11.  

“Just listening to his experience – it really hit you,” Hillman said. “Standing there made you feel really good about your country and see how far we have come.”

Senior Taylor Glessner said the tour of ground zero was a really neat experience. She said Agrow told the group about his secretary having to make it down 42 flights of stairs.

“(Ground zero) was one of the places I wanted to see while I was in New York,” Glessner said. “I had no idea it was going to affect me the way it did.”

Freshman Stephanie Colwell said even though this was her first visit to New York, she loved the city so much that she could live there. 

Colwell said the tour of ground zero was amazing, and she was surprised how much the experience affected her.

“It changed the way I look at 9/11,” she said. “It helped me see how it affected New York City.”