The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper
Volume 105 No. 13
April 17, 2015
New York Times Columnist Addresses College Admissions Mania
Two groups of sophomores in the Urban Barcode Project, mentored by biology teachers Jessica Quenzer and Dr. Jeffrey Horenstein, have been accepted to enter their research concerning urban biodiversity into a competition at the American Museum of Natural History in June. The guidance staff hosted an all-day event on April 15 to help students organize their school materials, offering organization advice and free school supplies. The string orchestra, jazz band, and beginning, intermediate and advanced bands performed for parents and students in the Murray Kahn Theater on April 1. A guest speaker from Credit Suisse visited economics teacher Catherine McRoyMendell’s class to lend insight into different methods for savings, especially those relevant to students. The Stuyvesant chess team, led by junior Alex Spinnel, competed in the National High School Chess Championships, and placed ninth in the nation. Stuyvesant’s Junior Statesman of America (JSA) club hosted the JSA Spring One Day Convention at Stuyvesant High School. Two Stuyvesant students won Best Speaker awards. Senior Maisha Kamal won the Creative Communication Essay Contest. Her work will be published in the magazine National Anthology. In the most meta promposal ever, former editor in chief Lev Akabas asked his former co editor in chief Teresa Chen, in The Spectator: will you go to prom with me?
FEATURES Arts and Entertainment
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By Anne george and Blythe Zadrozny Frank Bruni, a columnist for The New York Times, visited Stuyvesant on Tuesday, March 3, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Murray Khan Theater to speak about the growing belief that a student’s future starts and ends with an Ivy League education. The talk was organized by the Stuyvesant Parent’s Association and hosted by co-presidents David Venderbush and Lynn Chen During the lecture, Bruni used excerpts from his book “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be,” as well as anecdotes about successful men and women, to convey his belief that our society places too much emphasis on the college admissions process. Bruni, a graduate of both the University of North Carolina and Columbia University, has worked
in various positions for The New York Times and has written books about topics including cuisine and politics. “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be” was released on March 15, 2015, and currently resides on The New York Times Best Sellers list in Hardcover Non- Fiction. Bruni began his talk by reading an email he had received from a high school senior who was going through the college process at that time. The email showed an example of a student who felt a great amount of pressure about how the college she would attend would determine her life, introducing Bruni’s point that college is incorrectly perceived as a deciding factor in making or breaking someone’s entire career. Bruni went on to say that the “system is broken” and asked the audience whether the process is helping or harming to a child. “We
are sending an extremely dangerous message that once you get into a good college you’re home free,” Bruni said in the lecture. Bruni incorporated both statistics and stories about wellknown people such as author John Green and Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks Howard Schultz, who exemplify the concept that it is possible to reach high levels of success in ways other than attending Ivy League universities. One point mentioned was that a large number of people listed as MacArthur Genius Grant Award winners, a highly regarded competition for excellence in different academic backgrounds, attended colleges such as Louisiana State University and the University of Maryland, schools that are not as widely praised in the general media. These successful people were able to use their colleges to gain skills such as better communication and confidence that eventually led to more opportunities in their individual fields. These examples support Bruni’s assertion that the discourse surrounding college is incorrect. “We should not have conversations about how to get into college, but how to use college,” Bruni said. Many parents found the lecture to be a refreshing and eye-opening experience. “I think it’s a wonderful relief that the idea is being presented that we should go back to placing our kids in schools that are the right fit for them. He is debunking the false marketing of colleges, as elite schools are manufacturing these ratios of acceptance,”
stuyspec.com
Stuyvesant parent Terry Rosen said. Others believe this lecture was only the beginning of a long battle against tradition. “I think this lecture will have a very small effect because we are up against a huge tradition of pressure to go to name brand schools and by having one talk on one evening with only 400 people in the audience will have a tiny effect. The pressure to go to the most exclusive schools you can go to which has been built up over 20 or 30 years is not going to change very much in one night, but it’s a start,” Venderbush said. After the lecture, a question and answer session took place between the audience and Bruni, questioning some of the ideas presented in Bruni’s argument. In one case, junior Roz Joyce asked Bruni whether there was a difference in the caliber of peers in elite and non-elite universities. Bruni responded by stating that in many cases less regarded colleges have a more diverse population, creating a better environment for a student. Bruni went on to say that because students at these elite universities have become so accustomed to receiving opportunities, the level of their interest and appreciation of certain academic benefits is not as prominent. Despite the controversy, Bruni stood by his point that although college is important, it is not a deciding factor in a person’s career. “We’re defining best in one way. Were completely equating exclusivity with quality. And that’s just nuts,” Bruni said.
Freshman Caucus Holds Alumnus Visits Stuyvesant for Chess Exhibition First Freshmen-Only Dance By Julia Ingram and Selina Zou Strings of lights, paper flowers, and pastel colors decorated the fifth floor cafeteria on Thursday, April 2 for the Spring Fling, the first ever Stuyvesant dance open exclusively to freshmen. Planned almost entirely by the Freshman Caucus, the dance brought over 200 freshmen together to bond and relax on the last day before spring break. “The Big Sib-Little Sib Dance as well as Soph-Frosh Semi-formal involve other grades, so we thought that it would be easier to bond as a grade with a freshmen-only dance,” Freshman Caucus Vice President Tahseen Chowdhury said, who immediately jumped on board with the dance when Freshman Caucus President Pallab Saha suggested it to him. “[Through the Spring Fling], we can form bonds that last until senior year,” Saha said. The Spring Fling is the first freshmen-only dance in Stuyvesant that has ever been carried out. Although the idea for a freshmenonly dance was suggested last year, the Student Union (SU) calendar wasn’t as open as this year. The cost of the dance, roughly $1000, was covered by ticket sales: each
ticket sold for $5, and profits were put into a fund for future dances. Saha and Chowdhury were able to bring the idea to life with the help of the Freshman Advisory Council. The Advisory Council, composed of a representative from each freshman homeroom, was broken up into committees that worked on specific aspects of the dance, including advertising, budgeting, decorating, and purchasing food. The committee also coordinated a performance by Stuy Flow and a photo booth. The Sophomore Caucus and SU Vice President Jonathan Aung also played important roles, working alongside the Freshman Caucus to provide administrative help The Freshman Caucus ran into an issue however, when they tried to obtain a permit from Battery Park City (which owned the Stuyvesant High School building) for the event. In order to obtain such a permit, they needed the assistance of a Coordinator of Student Affairs (COSA) Matthew Polazzo, who was not instated until shortly before the dance. The Freshman Caucus was able to obtain the permit a week before the dance took place.
Adder-all or Nothing An investigation into the way Adderall has shaped the lives of select Stuyvesant students.
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Courtesy of lubbockonline.com
Stuyvesant’s Muslim Student Association’s (MSA) team Noor Al-Stuy competed at the Muslim Interscholastic Tournament (MIST) from April 3 to April 5. The team received second place and many members qualified for the national tournament this summer.
Courtesy of Patheos.com
Newsbeat
WHAT’S INSIDE?
“The Pulse of the Student Body”
By Sharon Chao Alumnus Eigen Wang (‘11) visited Stuyvesant on March 30 to give a simultaneous exhibition in chess, an event where a high-ranking chess player competes against multiple people at the same time. Eighteen Stuyvesant students participated in the exhibition, with other students intermittently dropping by and walking around to watch the individual games. Economics teacher and faculty advisor of the chess team William Boericke arranged Wang’s visit back in January. “I normally invite a top [alumnus] from the chess team to come back once a year to hold a [simultaneous exhibition.] It’s fun
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and it stirs up interest,” Boericke said. “I just wanted to give students an opportunity to play against a top player and see what it’s like.” Wang started playing chess competitively when he was in eighth grade, and his U.S. Chess Federation rating improved to the point where it was over 2200, which qualified him to be a National Master in his junior year at Stuyvesant. Less than one percent of rated chess players in the country hold that title, which was part of the reason that Boericke asked Wang to host an exhibition. Wang was later captain of the Stuyvesant chess team his senior year.
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The World of Extreme Happiness Arts and Entertainment editor Danielle Eisenman follows the Asian-American Literature class on their expedition to see “The World of Extreme Happiness.”