On Saturday, January 13th, 2018 NYCICO volunteers took a group of 30+ girls from The Young Womens Leadership School of the Bronx to Bear Mountain State Park in Upstate New York. The temperatures dropped from mid 30° F to 14° F the windchill made it feel like it was in the negative temperatures. 

 

The agenda for the day was ice skating, zoo tour, carousel, lunch and a short hike. Unfortunately, the ice skating rink was closed due to a mechanical problem related to the ice. The girls took the bad news rather well. They seemed grateful to be away from home and in the outdoors. After visiting the zoo we took a lunch break at the carousel. We improvised and incorporated team building and icebreaker games to keep them warm and use up the spare time. Finally, we took a 2.5-mile hike on Major Welch Trail. For many of these young women, it was their first ever hike, and they handled it like pros!  A fun-filled day in the outdoors.

 

We are so lucky to have this new partner agency and the girls were already asking to sign up for the next trip in February (hopefully, we can find them an open ice skating rink this time!).