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This week, 120 years ago, New York City and Brooklyn were connected for the first time ever by the Brooklyn Bridge. The dedication ceremony for the Brooklyn Bridge was presided over by President Chester Arthur and New York Governor, Grover Cleveland.

Here are some interesting facts about the famous bridge:

• The Brooklyn Bridge was designed by John A. Roebling.
• At the time, the bridge was the largest suspension bridge ever built.
• The two granite foundations were sunk to depths of 44 feet on the Brooklyn side and 78 feet on the New York side.
• The first person to cross the bridge by car was John A. Roebling’s daughter-in-law, Emily. She carried a rooster in her lap during the ride as a sign of victory.
• During the first 24 hours of its opening, more than 250,000 people walked across the bridge, taking advantage of the pedestrian walkway that Roebling had envisioned.

We are thrilled to announce that WorldPass Travel Group has joined with WorldStrides. Founded in 1976, WorldPass has long shared a common mission of providing life-enriching travel experiences to teachers and students domestically and abroad.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome WorldPass to the WorldStrides family of brands. The union of these two outstanding companies will enhance the experience of current and future travelers and offer an even broader range of educational travel opportunities to teachers and students,” said Jim Hall, President and CEO of WorldStrides.

Like WorldStrides, WorldPass has a variety of specialized programs through its multiple divisions: USA Student Travel, MusicAmerica, GET Travel Sports, and Adventures America. Through these unique divisions, WorldPass offers travel programs focused on history, science, music, sports, leadership, drama, dance, and celebration and recognition. Headquartered in California, WorldPass has provided quality travel programs to more than 1.5 million students.

Join us in welcoming WorldPass to the WorldStrides family!

On the hottest day in July of 2012, the new General Manager of the University of Virginia’s radio station, Nathan Moore, found himself standing on top of a mountain using his iPhone to keep the radio station’s signal on the air.

“I forgot to turn on my call forwarding,” Nathan remembers. “Every time I’d get a call, the music would fade out and you’d have to listen to my ringtone for about half a minute.”

Surprisingly, Nathan says this isn’t terribly out-of-the-ordinary at his job, where a “typical” day can be anything from reviewing the station’s budget with University of Virginia (UVa) leadership to hosting a public affairs talk show to soldering wires on equipment when it acts up. In Nathan’s two years in the position and 14 years in public radio, he’s learned that anything can happen.

The University’s radio station, WTJU, has been operating as a non-commercial educational radio station since 1957 and is completely funded by donations and grants. The station’s team consists of approximately 130 volunteer DJs, all of whom are either UVa students or community members (some of whom have been at it for nearly 40 years!), plus four full-time staff. With these volunteers, WTJU produces 168 hours a week of programming. (For you mathematicians out there, that’s 24 hours a day, seven days of the week!)

Nathan first fell in love with radio when he was 16 and saw Christian Slater take over the airwaves from his basement in the classic pirate-radio movie, “Pump Up the Volume.” The first week of his freshman year at West Virginia University, he walked into the college radio station offices and volunteered. His first on-air gig was as a DJ on Tuesday mornings from 3:00 – 6:00 a.m. Exhausted but enthusiastic, he recalls that he became really good at sleeping on benches around campus after his 10:30 a.m. class. His second year of college, he hosted a rock show, co-hosted a talk show, and became the radio news director – and when he went to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Nathan produced a one-hour weekly show with a community host.

Nathan received his undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Sociology, and his Master’s degree in Anthropology. He never studied radio – everything he knows about radio he learned on the job. He says the qualities that can make a successful radio person aren’t necessarily academic qualifications, but rather the ability to think critically and observe, the desire to tell stories about our world, and – perhaps most importantly – curiosity. “Be curious. Give yourself space for that,” Nathan says. “Curiosity is a great qualification.”

If you were on the radio, what would you want to talk about? What would you play? Share your thoughts below!

New York City is internationally known for its rich culture, skylines, shopping, and world-class museums. Among these museums, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, commonly referred to as The Guggenheim. The Guggenheim has established itself in the art world with its organically grown, ever-expanding collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and Contemporary art.

One of the most unique facts about this museum is that there is a special piece of art at this museum that very few visitors have ever seen, even though it has been installed at the foot of the Guggenheim’s iconic spiral ramp since 1967. In 1963, the museum’s curator, Harry F. Guggenheim (Solomon’s nephew), commissioned a painting in honor of his wife, Alicia Patterson Guggenheim, from the Spanish surrealist artist Joan Miro and ceramicist Josep Llorens Artigas. The impressive mural, called Alicia, was made out of 190 hand painted, ceramic tiles – creating a piece that was over 8 feet high and 19 feet wide. It was unveiled in 1967, and was the first thing visitors would see when they entered into the famous museum.

Then two years later, in 1969, the piece was temporarily covered when the curator of the exhibition thought that it distracted and disturbed the aesthetics of the space. Since then, the mural has rarely been on display because other curators agree that it is difficult to exhibit Alicia without it distracting from other art. So, for the time being, the timeless ode to Alicia Guggenheim lives behind a temporary wall at the base of the museum where only the curators can keep an eye on it through a secret window.

Our science programs in Florida and Costa Rica encourage participants to help protect the environment, and now we’re asking teachers and students to make one small change to help further this goal – wear biodegradable sunscreen.

Biodegradable sunscreen may seem unnecessary when you’re spending time in your neighborhood pool, but when you visit the ocean, snorkel along a barrier reef, or swim with dolphins or manatees, it makes a difference. When you swim or snorkel, some of the sunscreen on your skin is washed off into the water or sand and can cause damaging effects on the wildlife of those ecosystems.

We are doing our part by requesting that biodegradable sunscreen be used by participants during certain activities, especially when swimming with dolphins on our Splash into Science or Dive In programs. You may find that these sunscreens are a bit more expensive, but using them can really make a positive impact in the long run. Please join us in helping to protect the animals and ecosystems you’ll encounter on a WorldStrides science program, because helping the environment is what those programs are all about!

Have you made any adjustments to your daily routine that helps protect the environment? Tell us your story below!