It’s not everyday you get to see your classmate’s head on a platter. 

Students who competed in VASE (Visual Arts Scholastic Event) had the opportunity to leave school at 8 a.m. April 1 to spend the day in Austin and visit the Museum of Illusions with art teacher Judith Brown. 

“I’m always trying to find experiences that are creative in some way,” Brown said. “I don’t want to just go to a trampoline park or go out to eat. Also, I think there’s a lot of kids that don’t get to go to Austin or places that are a little bit more metropolitan.”

First, students visited Summer Moon, a Texas-based coffee shop. Afterward, they explored the Domain for a while. 

“I like that we went to Austin and got to walk around and kind of do whatever we wanted,” junior Claire Seneca said. 

After exploring for a bit, students had lunch at the Culinary Dropout.

“What I always liked about that place is usually the waiters are all very Metro and hip,” Brown said. “It’s just kind of a different, funky little place.”

Junior Rico Sanchez said his favorite part of the trip was eating and talking to his friends. 

“I really enjoyed my burger,” he said. 

Brown enjoyed sitting down and catching up with students. 

“I love getting to just chit chat with everybody and see where they are going, and what they are going to do with their life,” she said. “Everybody is telling me their life stories, which is always fun.”

Once students were done eating, they went to the Museum of Illusions. 

Sanchez said at first, he wasn’t impressed , but by the end he grew to enjoy the experience and would even visit again. 

“I was a bit underwhelmed in the first room,” he said. “They definitely saved the best exhibits for last. My favorite was the hallway one because I like feeling disoriented.”

The hallway exhibit, called the vortex tunnel, made to give the illusion of the walls spinning, was also Seneca’s favorite exhibit. 

“I like the one that made [me] feel like [I was] spinning around,” she said. 

Most of all, Seneca enjoyed taking photos and interacting with the exhibits. 

“I saw a bunch of pictures online about [the museum], and I like to recreate them,” she said. “[The photos] are funny.”

Brown said she chose this location so students could see ways art can be interactive. 

“Each one of those exhibits, takes the person and puts them in the artwork, and then everybody’s taking photos, and then they’re able to share that with other people,” she said. “It’s pretty genius, if you think about it.”

Most of all, Brown said the trip was to celebrate the students and their hard work.

“I would say this field trip is one of the top three highlights of the whole year for me,” she said. “It’s fun and I get to celebrate [the students]. I love just laughing with everybody and not really being on a tight schedule, just having some fun.”