Hearing the staccato rhythm of Leonard Bernstein’s  “America” played by the Rutland High School string orchestra through an open stage door was all it took to put the wheels in motion for an in-house mini field trip. The new American Voices class is an interdisciplinary course combining English and U.S. History.  Taught by English teacher Stephen French and Social Studies teacher John Peterson, students are half-way through the second unit, “Coming to America,” which highlights the immigrant experience.  The idea came to have students listen to this piece being rehearsed by the orchestra for their fall concert. “America,” from the musical West Side Story, is a lively anthem about the joys and heartbreaks experienced by Puerto Rican immigrants in New York City. American Voices students had already learned about the fighting between nativist and immigrant street gangs in New York during the nineteenth century. Orchestra leader Peter Miller updated the lesson by telling students that West Side Story revolved around the conflict between native-born youths and newly emigrated Puerto Rican youths in New York in the 1950s.