Page 7 - NJC Newsletter Spring 2016

of the city, so, of course, they headed off to try their luck. Most were successful, but it was clear that the border guards were still uncertain what their daily orders were regarding who could pass and who couldn’t. While our students were able to convince guards to let them cross over to the other side of the city, the staff were not.
Twenty-five years later, I had the opportunity to re-visit Berlin with NJC students in November 2014 when we participated in the annual Model United Nations conference, BERMUN, at the John F. Kennedy School. The city is a jewel, all these years later, and I found it fascinating to be back in this historic place. Most of the Berlin Wall is gone and what remains is behind a protective fence for tourists to take pictures but not to touch. (My eight year old twin boys
were each given a small piece of the wall by a security guard back
in 1990!) Checkpoint Charlie is a historic tourist site, no longer
an American sector border security crossing. The city’s museums, palaces and other sites are magnificent. Our 1990 hotel is now the Berlin Park Hotel. Potsdamer Platz is vibrant and exciting. The East German and West German marks have been replaced by the Euro. The line between east and west is no longer distinguishable. However, the changes which took place in this city were not without lingering problems. Some unfortunate consequences are the city’s massive debt and the lack of an international airport. The local government has spent a great deal of money refurbishing its monuments and the city’s infrastructure, but although there has been a promise of a new airport since 1997 to accommodate jumbo jets, the city remains without a true international airport (both East and West Berlin each built airports years ago but neither has the ability to receive large, modern planes).
Berlin, in my estimation, is one of Europe’s (if not the world’s) most interesting cities and I am so thankful to have experienced it in two different eras with two different generations of NJC students.
William S. Boyer
Head of School
Ich bin ein Berliner
U.S. President, John F. Kennedy, June 26, 1963
“Tear down this wall!”
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, June 12, 1987
news and souvenirs for alumni, families and friends 5