On Tuesday, May 19 students of Mr. John DiLonardo’s Media Arts III Honors class and Mr. Kevin Johnson’s Broadcasting classes took a private tour of NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. For several years, Mr. DiLonardo would take his students on the NBC Experience Tour which was open to the public, but after the changing of executives at NBC, the public Experience Tour was closed resulting in Mr. DiLonardo not being able to take his students for the past two years.

Strangely enough, Hawthorne High’s new broadcasting teacher Mr. Johnson just so happened to know an engineer at NBC that was able to connect Mr. Johnson to an NBC executive to request a private tour. After some back and forth discussions, Mr. Johnson’s request was accepted to bring 20 students on something that very few get to do today–have a  private tour of NBC Studios.

On the tour, the group was guided by two NBC pages throughout various sets like The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live, NBC Nightly News, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. As students were taken through each set, they got to learn a brief history about NBC, the shows it has produced, and the iconic people that have walked down the same halls as them like Johnny Carson and Frank Sinatra.

Overall, the trip and tour was nothing short of enjoyable and inspirational for all students involved. Many thanks to Mr. DiLonardo and Mr. Johnson for making such a rare trip possible.