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The Classic
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May 2005
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Harrisites top New York City w·ith hig,h est Regents by Maria Wojakowski known as a Humanities high Huge charts displaying New school, excelled not only in EnYork City schools' Regents glish and history, but also in scores proudly occupy a special math and science. "Our high place in nearly every office. Regents passing percentage is The yellow highlighting draws a reflection of our students ' attention to the school's out- hard work and mastery of a substanding performance, coming j~ct that is not necessarily their in first in New York City with favorite;· nor comes easily to I 00% of its students meeting . them," said Assistant Principal Regents standards . of Mathematics Ellen Fee. "The scores suggest that Senior Chantal Bruno bewhen talented teachers are lieves that achievement in the matched with gifted students, science Regents could not have everything is possible," said been attained without some English teacher Peter help . ''We have a group of the Wamsteker. best science teachers. They are Townsend Harris, which is outgoing and always willing to
listen and help," sht< said. Like Chantal, many students were not shocked by the news. Junior Karin Firoza exclaimed, "Whoa, that is absolutely amazing' I'm not surprised, though, since our school is collectively the best school in the state." "They [the teachers] make us work so hard . I would have been surprised if we didn't get the highest overall Regents grades," said sophomore Anita Sonawane. Fellow sophomore Amy Feng suggested that the students' own motivation and study led to the success . "I think it's the high standards stu-
dents in Townsend Harris set College Counselor Antoinette Teague . for themselves ," she said. These high standards may Seniors showed their combe the recipe for college admis- petitive side and pride upon sions success as well. "Regents hearing that their own perforexamination scores of 85 or bet- mance on the Regents surter demonstrate that a student passed that of students at other has achieved mastery of the academically prestigious high academic content in that disci- schools, especially Stuyvesant pline. _When coupled with ex- Sadia Bhuyan, senior, asked, cellent grades and good SAT "Why is it that Harris shines scores, this expresses to college -and Stuy hogs up the Ii meadmissions counselors that a light?" Senior Iman Ahmed student is working to ....fullest said, "Though many people bepotential and is therefore an at- lieve Stuy to be the best school tractive candidate for admis- in New York City, it is now obsion to their institution," said vious that THHS is the best!" ·
Science honors society inducts over 200 members at ceremony by Shruti Karnawat mesters of high school or col- a first-year inductee, said the Over two hundred inductees lege science. Inductees also had performances were "great, as to the New York State Science to commit to tutoring their usual. All the performers s~mg Honors Society (NYSSHS) cel- peers in any subject of science. or played really well." ebrated their achievements on Science and Technology After the Pledge of AlleMarch I 0 from 6 to 8 pm . giance was recited, seniors Assistant Principal Susan The ceremony was a recog- Devana Singh and Sherleen Brustein declared 2004 - 2005 nition of the hard work of the Gandham led th~ National An- as "The Year of Science at inductees, who had to have a them . Next came performances Townsend Harris ." minimum average of 90% in by junior Lara Torgovnik, who She described the addition science and math, and a mini- sang Au fJord de l'eau by - of new electives such as Biomal overall average of 90%. · Gabriel Faure, and senior medical Ethics and Forensic They also had to be recom- Sharon Lim, who played Science, and the I Oth place mended for membership . by at Partita II, and Gigue by J.S. citywide victory of the newly least two members of the Sci- Bach on the violin . Sharon also formed Science Olympiad. ence Department Sophomores played piano accompaniments Additionally, she congratuand juniors were required to to the singing performances. lated the two semifinalists for have successfully completed at The ceremony ended with Intel, 38 semifinalists for The least five semesters of high Devana's rendition of the Alma New York City Science and schoo"l science, or be a science Mater, accompanied by senior Engineering Fair, and the three research student. Seniors Windell Cadelina on the piano . semifinalists for the Nobel Launeeded a minimum of seven seSophomore Sonia Mohabir, reate Competition .
Anam, Talebpour place in NYC Brain Bee
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by Jocelyn Wright Seniors Anika An am and Tanaz Talebpour triumphed at the 2005 NYC Brain Bee this year, earning second and third place, respectively. The competition took place on Thursday, February 17 at Rockefeller University. The Brain Bee is a yearly competition held as a part of Brain Awareness Week in which students from 27 New York City high schools compete about their knowledge of the brain, and how it relates to such things as memory and emotions. The Brain Bee peak$!d Anika's interest when AP Psychology teacher Shibing Shen mentioned it at the beginning of the school year. "I was into it anyway because I really like psychology and neuroscience," she said. Tanaz first got involved with the Brain Bee last year wheri "Ms. Shen told the class that she was looking for two representatives and that anyone interested should come a certain day after school to hold a school Brain Bee," she explained. Because only a senior and Tanaz showed up, they automatically qualified. This year, Tanaz was asked to participate again because of her previous experience, taking third place last year. "I jumped at the opportunity to participate again," she said. Anika and Tanaz put a lot of work into the competition. Ms. Shen provided Anika with preparation materials about two weeks before the actual competition, soAnika found it hard to find time to study for it. "I had a lot of stuff going on and a lot of homework so I didn ' t get to study as much as I wanted to," said Anika. She did, however, do an Intel project on neuroscience and is taking AP Psychology, both of'which helped her in the competition since she was familiar with much of the information already. Tanaz, having the advantage of competing in last year's Bee, already had all the materials. She started early and used "a series of mnemonics to try to make the information stick." Though they were nervous about competing, both Anika and Tanaz enjoyed participating in the Brain Bee. "Throughout most of the competition I was really nervous and my heart was racing . But by the end I was really relieved ," said Tanaz. Although Anika was worried about not being able to live up to Townsend's previous wins, she ad~itted to having fun . "This is going to sound really ridiculous but I loved writing down the answers on colored papers with Sharpie markers," she said .
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Juniors Jane Kim and Vivian Shibata enjoy their slices of pizza "pi" on Pi Day at the Mu Alpha Theta induction.
Mu .Alpha Theta throws 1t party for inductees by Gloria Chen The induction ceremony for Mu Alpha Theta, the mathematics honor society, took place on March 14 (3/ 14) or "Pi Day," in the cafeteria from 2 to 3 pm. It was coordinated by . Assistant Principal of Mathematics Ellen Fee. The ceremony featured musical interludes about pi, such as "3.14259" and "Oh, Number Pi," the latter of which was sung by second-year member, Devana Singh, a senior. They also had a feast of pizza "pi" and apple "pi" while participating in a trivia contest about pi. The winner, Nalin Kashyap, won a $15 gift certificate for iTunes, an online music store. Later a raffle was held in which students could win stress balls, a Texas Instruments keyboard for their graphing calculators, a flash drive, and elevator passes. New member Donna Mordente, junior, commented, "Mu Alpha Theta was very creative because rather than hosting a formal evening ceremony, the teachers incorporated math songs and trivia with pizza and pie that could easily be enjoyed · after school." Mu Alpha Theta is a national organization dedicated to inspiring keen interest in mathematics, developing strong scholarship in the subject, and promoting its enjoyment, as indicated by its mission statement "It's an honor. It's really rewarding to be able to help others in math," said senior Emily Tam, the only third-year member. To qualify for Mu Alpha Theta, students must have at least a 93 current math average and maintain an overall 90 in all mathematics courses that were taken. They must also have completed Math B. Members have the opportunity to "attend special events that are still unplanned," said Ms . Fee, as well as tutor other students once a week in the math office during lunch bands, before school, and after schooL