New York

New York City is a global crossroads where sport, culture, innovation, and activism collide. From neighborhood courts and nonprofit hubs to Broadway stages and skyline landmarks, the city offers students a powerful lens into how public space shapes leadership, equity, and belonging.

Through hands-on experiences rooted in sport, performance, food, and civic life, students explore how New York functions as both a testing ground and a catalyst for social change—examining who gets access, whose voices are amplified, and how communities organize to build opportunity.

Learning through the SDGs

Click an SDG below to see examples of how select SDGs are explored on our programs.

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Gender Equality

New York offers a dynamic context for examining gender equity through sport, leadership, and representation. Students explore Title IX, women’s professional athletics, and nonprofit initiatives working to dismantle barriers in participation and leadership, examining how gender justice is pursued both on and off the field.

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Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

From world-class stadiums and transit systems to food incubators, performance venues, and community-based sport organizations, New York demonstrates how infrastructure shapes access and opportunity. Students explore how social, cultural, and economic innovation can strengthen cities when it is designed with equity in mind.

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Partnerships For The Goals

Complex challenges require collaboration. In New York, students engage with nonprofits, community organizations, and cultural institutions to see how partnerships across sectors use sport, arts, and entrepreneurship to advance youth development, health, and social change.

The City as a Stage

In New York, sport and performance are never just entertainment. They reflect struggles over race, gender, access, and power, and serve as platforms for leadership, protest, and community-building. From basketball courts and stadiums to rehearsal rooms and Broadway stages, students examine how public-facing spaces shape cultural narratives and civic identity.

By pairing sport-based learning with arts immersion and nonprofit engagement, this program invites students to explore how cities create opportunity, and how partnerships can drive more equitable systems.

Sample itinerary

At Insight, our programs are designed to reflect the unique interests, goals, and needs of your students. Each itinerary is thoughtfully customized in collaboration with schools, ensuring meaningful alignment with your learning objectives.

Arrive in New York and settle into Midtown Manhattan. Begin with an orientation walk through Times Square, introducing students to the scale, energy, and symbolism of one of the world’s most recognizable public spaces. Enjoy time for souvenir shopping before a shared dinner and program orientation focused on navigating public space, community agreements, and the themes of equity, culture, and civic life.

Explore sport’s role in social change through a museum experience examining race, leadership, and access. Attend a professional baseball game, using the stadium as a case study for urban infrastructure, labor, and fandom. 

Close the day at a national memorial site, reflecting on memory, resilience, and collective responsibility.

Engage with a sport-based nonprofit working at the intersection of healing, youth development, and justice. Through dialogue and gameplay, students examine how sport builds confidence, belonging, and opportunity. 

In the evening, attend a professional women’s basketball game, exploring gender equity and representation in elite athletics.

Participate in a Broadway or off-Broadway workshop led by professional performers, focusing on storytelling, movement, collaboration, and presence. Students examine how performance functions as both art and advocacy in public life.

In the evening, attend a Broadway or off-Broadway show, connecting the day’s workshop to a live performance and reflecting on whose stories are centered on New York’s stages.

Go behind the scenes at major sports venues to explore how infrastructure, design, and investment shape access to opportunity. 

Later, visit the Empire State Building and experience sunset views over the city, using the skyline as a lens to discuss urban density, ambition, and the symbolic power of place.

Explore immigration and national identity through Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, examining how migration has shaped New York’s neighborhoods and institutions. 

Attend a professional soccer match to compare global sport cultures, community identity, and transnational exchange.

Meet with social impact leaders using sport and culture to address mental health, youth opportunity, and systems change. 

Spend a final afternoon in Central Park, using public green space as a lens into wellbeing, access, and urban life. Conclude with a closing debrief before departing New York.

Highlights

Sport and Performance as Social Mirrors

Explore how athletics and the arts reflect struggles over equity, representation, and power—from courts and stadiums to rehearsal rooms and Broadway stages.

Iconic New York, Critically Experienced

Move through Times Square, Central Park, and the Empire State Building while examining how iconic spaces shape identity, tourism, and public memory.

Partnerships that Build Opportunity

Learn alongside nonprofits, artists, and educators using sport and performance to expand youth opportunity—demonstrating how collaboration fuels more inclusive and resilient cities.

What’s included

  • All accommodations
  • All meals and water
  • All programs activities and experiences
  • All teacher chaperone costs at an 8:1 ratio
  • Comprehensive travel insurance (medical, travel and cancellation)
  • Curriculum units to accompany program themes
  • Global and locally-based facilitators
  • Pre-program orientations and post-program debriefing

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