May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

May/June 2016

1

TOWNSEND HARRIS HIGH SCHOOL AT QUEENS COLLEGE

THE CLASSIC THE CLASSIC

May/June 2016 - Volume 32 No. 7

THE RED paint is peeling. The brakes are out of

order. But until he buys himself a Raleigh mountain bike in college years later, the ‘80s Schwinn is sixteen-year-old Rafal Olechowski’s most viable mode of transportation.

“It wasn’t as if I could get myself a driver’s license,” he says.

Assistant Principal of Humanities Mr. Olechowski has been a legal citizen of the United States for most of his adult life, but his late adolescent years are largely

shadowed by the restrictions he experienced as an undocumented teenager. Immigrating from the small town of Sierpc, Poland just shy of his sixteenth birthday, Mr. Olechowski moved to Rego Park with his sister and her husband, attending Forest Hills High School as a ninth grade ESL student, a year behind peers his age.

“I lived [each] day not knowing what would happen [the next]... I was filled with constant anxiety about being found out. I’d wake up in the middle of the night disoriented, in my head going through all the places I could pos-

w w w.thhsclassic.com

sibly be—Queens? Poland? A detention center? Without papers, I could get arrested at any moment.”

The National Immigration Law Center defines undocumented citizens as foreign nationals who “enter the U.S. without inspection, fraudulent documents, or legally as nonimmigrants who violate the terms of their statuses by letting their Visas expire.” Mr. Olechowski entered school as a foreign student (F-1), which meant that his student Visa expired after a year. After the twelve-month period elapsed, he remained; his legal residency did not.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

2 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

NEWS

Second annual humanities research symposium promotes senior work

Holman Guaman and

Kr i stin

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s

i

sta na k

AP Calculus exam to the symposium. Freshman Alexandra Rosca commented, “Especially for those who have AP exams, [it’s important] to make sure that they’re going to finish their exam and have time for their presentations rather than having to come late or not present at all.” This issue was also recognized by Mr. Olechowski who next year hopes to “do this (the symposium) earlier so we don’t have the AP exams in conflict.”

Seniors who presented at the symposium seemed to cherish the experience as well. Jason Lalljee, who presented “The Camusian Crusaders: The Absurdist Commentary and Qualification of Alan Moore’s Watchmen” along with Noah Silversmith, added, “I loved the symposium, it was great, especially for someone whose favorite subjects are in the realm of humanities. It was a culmination of the most academically fulfilling thing I’ve done all year.”

Senior Kristine Guillaume acknowledged that the symposium helped her be “no longer afraid to write a massive research paper or speak in front of over a hundred people.”

Ze

thought it was going to be boring SENIORS AT Townsend Harin the beginning, and I watched ris presented their research papers two and I thought it was kind of at Queens College this past May interesting.” The diverse topics at the second annual Humanities represented in the symposium Symposium. The Humanities showed how humanities is not Symposium has set a yearly stage only literature, but can directly be on which seniors, as a part of the associated with Bridge Year Humanities Colloquihe Noble Savag hise.” l- E as t l a W um present papers written nt “ e s re throughout the year, ep m culminating in an au awards reception.

Throughout the day, there was a total of twelve presentations with themes e mph as i z ing feminist lenses on classic texts and research re garding dystopian and post-apocalyptic literature.

During the second semester, Mr. Rafal Olechowski, Assistant Principal of Humanities, and tory and Professor Robin Hizme, Director modern culture. Freshmen Chrisof the College Preparatory Protopher Thomas added he “looked gram at Queens College, sent out through the pamphlet and wished the call for papers. [he] was able to watch more preStudents from all grades were sentations.” invited to watch the symposium However, conflicts arose as during their humanities classes. seniors were rushed from their Sophomore Angela Gao stated, “I

a Rada and K ellie Liann

by Pridha Kumar, Staff Writer

eation in Science F icti rocr on t “P n .” e es r p

The seminar ended off with an an awards ceremony in Rosenthal Library. Kellie Zestanakis, Lianna Rada, Kristine Guillaume and Holman Guaman won awards

“ The ultimate goal of the symposium is to prepare students for... college. ” for most engaging presentations, Jason Lalljee, Noah Silversmith and Rafa Sattar won awards for best original research, and Grace Ko, Joanna Huo, Amanda Chan, and Jenny Shi won awards for best overall presentation.

In the upcoming years, seniors can expect to see some changes in the symposium.

In an attempt to better this experience for the seniors, Mr. Olechowski and Professor Hizme will try to include the research students from the Honors Program at Queens College to compete with the seniors at THHS. It is also possible students from York College and Stuyvesant High School will participate in the seminar as well. Mr. Olechowski would also like to offer expand research opportunities for all seminar classes in the spring semester, which would allow for adequate time for extensive research with the aid from libraries, databases and archives.

“The humanities symposium is an opportunity for us to showcase your work during seminar.

The culminating experience for THHS is the seminar, the colloquium,” Mr. Olechowski explained. He added, “We wanted really to showcase the amazing work that you guys do in some of these classes and replicate the college experience.”

Veni, vidi, vici: Townsend tops world in NLE awards

Sherin Shibu wins Milken Scholarship

THIS YEAR, the National Latin Exam committee has informed Townsend Harris that it has received the highest number of gold medals of any school in the world.

In total, 425 Harrisites sat for the 2016 National Latin Exam early this March, and out of these students, 410 received an award.

There were 292 Gold Summa Cum Laude Awards, 84 Silver Maxima Cum Laude Awards, 24 Magna Cum Laude Award, and nine Cum Laude Awards. In the midst of these marks were 48 perfect scores.

According to statistics from previous years, in 2014, 284 students received Gold Summa Cum Laude, 137 Silver Maxima Cum Laude, 48 Magna Cum Laude, and 27 Cum Laude. In total 497 students received accolades out of the 528 students who took the exam.

While the cutoff scores for the different awards vary slightly each year, they mostly remain consistent. The awards depend on the number of questions that the students get incorrect.

This year, in order to receive a gold medal, students taking the Latin I test were allowed a maximum of four questions wrong,

THE MILKEN Institute recently honored senior Sherin Shibu, Student Union President, with their esteemed Milken scholarship.

This scholars program was founded by Lori and Michael Milken in 1989. Their mission statement was to celebrate extraordinary young adults, who have put their all in “academic performance, community service, [and] leadership activities.”

Sherin was nominated by Social Studies teacher Franco Sardino to compete with students of all different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds, from over 100 high schools in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. Sherin explained how extensive the selection process for this scholarship was: “I was invited to an interview after being notified of my finalist standing, and 15 other students were finalists as well. Out of 16, from a pool of hundreds and hundreds of students, 8 were finally selected as Scholars.”

Once a student becomes a Milken scholar, he or she will receive career advice, as well as help in obtaining once in a lifetime internships and opportuni-

by Sarah Mafroud, Staff Writer

while the students taking the Latin II test were allowed five. For a silver medal, the Latin I exam permitted five to seven incorrect answers, and the Latin II permitted six to nine. Lastly, for the Magna Cum Laude award, the Latin I test allowed for eight to nine wrong answers and the Latin II allowed for twelve to thirteen. Those who do not meet these cutoff scores received a certificate of participation.

The Latin teachers were astonished and proud by the news they received from the NLE regarding the gold medals.

Latin teacher Sara Laderoute said, “This was the first year actually that we have had the highest number of gold medals in the world; that has not happened before.” The NLE is international and students in New Zealand, Switzerland, Zimbabwe, Guam take the exam. Ms. Laderoute encourages students to take it because it measures how much the students know nationally.

“I am excited and proud, and not at all surprised,” Latin teacher Jonathan Owens remarked. “There are always one or two questions which are mean, but this year’s

test was comparable and on par with previous exams,” he continued.

The Latin students were pleased with the record as well and for the most part not surprised. “The students in this school seem to work really hard, so I’m not that amazed by the news. I think we deserve it,” stated sophomore Halima Tokhi.

“We don’t have to take the exam, [but] it is in your favor. We make it mandatory so you can see how well you’re doing,” Ms. Laderoute commented. Although students don’t take a regent for classical languages, Ms. Laderoute commented that it “shows that you’re not afraid to challenge and willing to take risks to test yourself.”

Junior and Greek student Michal Davydov added, “I think it’s important to take because you figure out where you stand and how much you’ve learned throughout the year. “ Ms. Laderoute concluded, “I know the worth of my students.

I’m greedy I expected even better.

Dr. Largman used to say, ‘We don’t demand excellence, we expect it.’

I’m not surprised I expected it.”

by Rabia Hasan, Staff Writer

ties. Furthermore, scholars receive funding that allows them to comfortably transition from college, graduate school, and to life after.

Sherin adds, “each Scholar gets a total of $10,000 over the course of 4 years: $2,000 per year and an additional $2,000 to be drawn on when needed.”

One aspect of this opportunity is the annual summit in Los Angeles. At the summit, different speakers, panels and activities will be set out for scholars to help them explore potential professional, personal and academic choices. The institute intends for this extensive outlet of resources to help scholars find their passion and allow them to explore this passion.

Sherin, who is being flown out by the program, is “excited to meet the other scholars.”

Ultimately, the Milken Scholars program exists to help the youth excel in their future careers. Sherin said, “career wise, I can associate with people within this expansive network of scholars who are in professions I’m considering.”

May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

3

NEWS

Drug possession derails junior Six Flags trip

by Mehrose Ahmad, Olivia Chan, and Sumaita Hasan, Managing Editor, News Editor, and Editor-in-Chief ON THE annual physics trip to Six Flags Great Adventure, teachers stopped bus one en route to the theme park in order to investigate possible drug use by students. Students immediately began sharing pictures, videos, and information about the incident on various social media platforms, which led to a debate over how and when they should be able to use social media on trips and at school-sponsored events.

According to several students on the bus when the incident occurred, the back of the bus smelled strongly of marijuana. Once teachers became aware of the scent, they stopped the bus and asked the student responsible to confess and walk to the front of the bus, otherwise threatening to return to school.

A junior admitted to possessing a brownie containing marijuana and discarding it in the bathroom. Since there was no physical evidence of the substance, teachers began investigating to make sure no one else carried it. “[A teacher] started sniffing people like the area around each seat; it was ridiculous. At this point everyone was confused because we all were under the impression that [the student] had confessed and that it was over but the teachers were still asking for the weed,” describes a student.

Students were kept waiting on bus one after they arrived at Six Flags, although students on other buses were let off. The passengers quickly took to social media, posting under the tag “#freebusone.”

A number of students interviewed said that the riders on the bus were told to stop posting the tag to their Snapchat stories and that the bus remained outside of

the park until teachers finished investigating.

One student said, “Everyone was upset because we paid a lot and the tickets were nonrefundable. Some people on the bus even started crying.”

The incident provoked debate about proper usage of social media, particularly after teachers began telling students to stop posting about the issue with their smartphones.

A student expresses, “They told us that it was an external problem now that spread it on social media and that we needed to delete everything…[prior to the trip] they [teachers] never explicitly said we couldn’t post anything or tell our parents or friends what was going on.”

In regard to the issue, Physics teacher Joel Heitman states, “The people who posted on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat...they had just as poor judgement [as the student who confessed]. That [situation] has no purpose being public when it is a private matter. There is something wrong about putting it up on Facebook because it could jeopardize many people.”

He continues, “Students feel that they have all these rights; they’re not rights, they’re privileges. [Limiting students’ use of social media] sets a precedent and it’s easier to police everyone than one person. Is it fair? No, it’s not fair. Life isn’t fair. Students need to know that on school trips, all THHS and DOE rules and regulations apply.”

The THHS school trip form states, “students who violate the school’s discipline code may be excluded by the school from participating in the trip.” However, nowhere in the DOE policy do the

by Rabian Hasan and Ashley Zhao, Staff Writers

PHOTO BY ILYSSA DELOS REYES

A bus of students was stopped from entering the park. rules blatantly prohibit use of social media during school trips.

Dean Robin Figelman addressed the policy at THHS, stating, “It is under the discretion of advisors whether you are allowed to use your phone.”

In regards to banning phone use in school, Principal Anthony Barbetta says, “I don’t want to have to take that measure, but we have the right to stop using cell-phones on school trips.” He continues, “It is hard to control what people post on social media. If we had to we would have a strict policy on it.

However, we want cellphones to be used as educational tools, but students just have to be responsible when they use it.”

Nonetheless, some students believe they were justified in posting on social media and that the school should not impose limitations.

“In my opinion, it [restricting social media rights] was hypocritical considering how we had no warning to keep the affair an internal matter and even a teacher posted a Snapchat story about the event,” claims another student.

On the other hand, one student argues, “the students who went on social media to spread the news were being immature. If they were mature, then they would

have handled the situation better.

I feel the way the teachers reacted was justified.”

The issue also sparked controversy inside the classroom, as one student secretly recorded a physics teacher discussing the issue in class and posted the video. This pushed teachers to emphasize limiting social media rights even further.

Primarily, students reacted strongly to suggestions from teachers that the class of 2017 should collectively be punished for the social media postings.

Some suggested that prom itself should be canceled.

One student said, “Punishing the entire grade is meaningless — prom is one of the only reasons seniors behave so that they don’t rack up demerits and if you take that away, you take away the main reason to not misbehave.”

Someone else remarks, “In this era, social media is very influential and a huge part of everyday life, and I don’t think the junior grade should be held accountable.”

“The teachers are failing to acknowledge the root of the situation which is not social media, but the offender,” says another student.

Additional reporting by Rabia Hasan and Ilyssa Delos Reyes

Promposal raises alarm among students, faculty

by Poonam Dass, News Editor

PROM SEASON took over during the past month, with seniors staking claim to their dresses and planning after-parties. The preliminary excitement to this rite of passage is the heartwarming, if not nauseating, promposal. Recently, a senior promposed to his girlfriend by asking for a fire drill to occur 10th band, the band right after school reserved for clubs, teams, and tutoring.

Assistant Principal of Organization, Health, and Physical Education, Ms. Ellen Fee, described the fire drill as a rapid dismissal. She explained that, “It is practiced regularly in most schools. We rarely have the chance to evacuate after school and it was the perfect occasion to have one.”

Hector the custodian added, “No matter what you have to follow protocol. My heart won’t allow you to be in danger. Safety is our priority.”

However, a wide range of

mixed reactions enveloped the student body and faculty. Many, including most staff members, were not aware of the evacuation drill and were left concerned and confused. Numerous members of the faculty who did not approve of the drill declined to comment for this article.

Senior Michaela Chum described, “The fire alarm definitely offset the environment after school. Everybody just started rushing out so it caused others to panic as well.”

Junior Fatema Haidery added that there was a crowd of students blocking the main entrance, making it harder for people to leave.

She expressed, “I don’t particularly care about promposals. I think they can be cute even if they are a little over the top, but the only problem is when you disrupt others.”

Junior Flora Kwok said, “The consequences could have received a little more thought because the

PSAT trials end with DOE

purpose of a fire alarm is to alert everyone in the building that there’s a fire. Especially because it was after school, many people thought there was no way it could have been one. A promposal is a

“ I think [promposals] can be cute... the only problem is when you disrupt others. ” once-in-a-lifetime experience, but instilling fear into everyone in the building is messed up.”

However, U.S History teacher Dr. Linda Steinmann noted the possible safety concerns that can occur during any fire drill. She stated, “I am wondering what

might have happened that constituted an unsafe situation. No one else knew about it, that is my concern,” but felt assured that, “Ms. Fee had it under control.”

Ms. Fee concluded that, “Most students and teachers evacuate our building in great organization and order. But also it is important for our community to use common sense during the sounding of a fire alarm, when there may not be an adult to give directions. That is the purpose of a rapid dismissal. We haven’t done that in years- the drill was [I believe] a success in evacuating the students and the staff quickly and safely. No one got hurt.”

As for the promposer senior Adomas Hassan had this to say, “I meant no harm and it wasn’t meant to cause any trouble. I just wanted to pull something big, and now there is a Classic article being written about it so I guess it worked.”

JUNIOR YEAR is often labeled as the most standardized test-laden year of high school, if not the most difficult, the SAT and ACT standards of the academic year.

Every year in October, a day is designated for all sophomores and juniors as PSAT day. For the past two years, this test has been free to all students taking it. However, starting next year, students will be paying for the exam. The idea is that juniors will pay a small fee for the PSAT in October, which would also allow them to be able to take a free practice SAT in the spring semester.

The DOE decided this would be the best for schools “in which 80% or more of their juniors took the SAT in 2014-15.” It also presented two options to choose from, the first being that sophomores and juniors to take the PSAT in October 19, 2016 and then only the juniors take the practice SAT on April 5, 2017. Meanwhile, the second option was for the sophomores to take the PSAT between March 27 to April 7, 2017 and the juniors to take the practice SAT on April 5, 2017. Mr. Barbetta and the other administration at Townsend Harris High School decided to choose the first option.

Many rising juniors were very pleased with the school’s decision to allow the juniors to take the PSAT and the practice SAT. Sophomore Veronica Dolega said, “I think this is a great idea. If we take the PSAT in the fall, we will kind of know what topics will be on the SAT in the spring. This way we can prepare ourselves, both mentally and studiously.”

Sophomore Alicia Balchand had a similar response, stating, “I like the idea of take both the PSAT and the practice SAT. Everyone wants to get a good score on the SAT they take. If they have double the practice by taking both the PSAT in October and then the SAT in April, then they will do better.”

Meanwhile, junior Shirley Mai remarked, “My only complain is that the practice SAT will be too late. In my opinion, it should be given in March, to ensure enough time for preparation.”

Another concern is the cost of the October PSAT. Even though the DOE will not be providing funds for the PSAT, it will still be of a very small cost for the students. Current seniors, who did have to pay for their PSAT exam, only paid about $16-$20. In addition, fee waivers will be offered to students who are eligible.

4 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

2016 SAT/ ACT/ PSAT/ TACHS/ SHSAT/ HUNTER/ BACCALAUREATE

Summer Camp

Start Date: Saturday, June 25, 2016 – Sunday, August 21, 2016 Class 1: Test 1 (June 25) Class 2: Review 1 (June 26) *NO CLASS Saturday July 2* *NO CLASS Saturday July 3* Class 3: Test 2 (July 9) Class 4: Review 2 (July 10) Class 5: Test 3 (July 16) Class 6: Review 3 (July 17) Class 7: Test 4 (July 23)

Class 8: Review 4 (July 24) Class 9: Test 5 (July 30) Class 10: Review 5 (July 31) Class 11: Test 6 (August 6) Class 12: Review 6 (August 7) Class 13: Test 7 (August 13) Class 14: Review 7 (August 14) Class 15: Test 8 (August 20) Class 16: Review 8 (Aug 21)

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© Kweller Prep Tutoring and Educational Services – www.KwellerPrep.com

May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

2016 SAT/ ACT/ PSAT/ TACHS/ SHSAT/ HUNTER/ BACCALAUREATE

Summer Camp

Start Date: Wed, June 29, 2016 – Thursday, August 18, 2016 Class 1: Test 1 (*Wed*)

Class 10: Test 4

Class 21: Grammar/ Essay

Class 2: Review 1 (*Thurs*) Class 11: Reading

Class 22: Test 7

NO CLASS JULY 4 (*Mon*) Class 12: Math

Class 23: Reading

Please Do Test 2 for HW

Class 13: Grammar/ Essay Class 24: Math

Class 3: Reading (*Tues*)

Class 14: Test 5

Class 25: Grammar/Essay

Class 4: Math

Class 15: Reading

Class 26: Test 8

Class 5: Grammar/ Essay Class 16: Math

Class 27: Reading

Class 6: Test 3

Class 17: Grammar/Essay

Class 28: Math

Class 7: Reading

Class 18: Test 6

Class 29: Grammar/Essay

Class 8: Math

Class 19: Reading

* Pease note that Class 1

Class 9: Grammar/ Essay Class 20: Math

will start on Wed, June 29

MONDAY TO THURSDAY Session 1: 8:00 am to 12:00 noon Session 2: 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm Session 3: 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm 29 Classes/ 4 hours each day

© Kweller Prep Tutoring and Educational Services – 1 (800) 631-1757

5

6 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

FEATURES

At home and across the country, controversies involving bathrooms took hold this month.

STALL WARS

THE ISSUE over people’s personal comfort in

public bathrooms has been on the forefront of the national conversation, after recent laws passed that limit

the ability of transgender people to use bathrooms they deem fit for them. At home, an issue of vandalism in a girls bathroom raised questions shaming and the private lives of female students. We’ve covered both topics in this special features section.

ART BY BAILEY CHAN

CO N T I N U E D O N N E X T PA G E

May/June 2016

7

FEATURES

Bathroom vandalism targets private lives of female students

by Hiba Sohail, Staff Writer

THE CARVING of a “Thot

cusing them of isn’t true.”

List” on the door of the last stall of

She continued, “People’s opin-

the girls’ fifth floor bathroom has

ions are subjective and purely

caused an uproar amongst the stu-

based on jealousy or the dislike of

dent body, particularly the sopho-

another person.”

mores, for its profane branding of the girls featured.

As soon as the list’s existence was made apparent, people started

Recently the word “thot” (That

lining up to take pictures. Within

Hoe Over There), has found itself

a few hours, the photos made their

alongside “slut” in the adolescent

rounds on Snapchat, Facebook, and

vernacular with some arguing that

Instagram. There was a range of

words such as these aid in dimin-

reactions from girls who were on

ishing a woman’s moral regard.

the list. Some found it petty and

Calling a girl a thot will inevita-

others found it outright disturbing.

bly lead to debates surrounding

A sophomore who was tar-

girls and their “dating habits.” This

geted dismissed the list saying,

isn’t something new to THHS;

“It was kind of irrelevant to me.

two years ago, an op-ed by Ross

It didn’t affect me because a lot of

Cimalga on the frustrations a boy

girls are used to this. It was fun-

faces with unreciprocated feelings

ny that someone took time out of

paired with the dress code contro-

their day to do this and carve it

versy and the mass shooting by

into a bathroom stall because they

Elliot Rodgers came together to

had nothing better to do with

form an unprecedented blowout.

their lives.”

“I do think this is slut-shaming...it’s a bad thing and I think this was meant to be a joke [but] this is something that should have consequences. People shouldn’t take this to heart because this is just somebody trying to shame others for virtually nothing,” she added.

Another student whose name was carved into the door found the list and the use of the word to be “very disrespectful, demeaning,

The list has again opened the topic to discussion.

Sophomore

Andrea

Mirau-

ti explained, “No girl has a right to examine other girls’ social and private lives and they cannot judge one another...both boys and girls feel the need to make others feel bad about themselves in any way possible even if what they are ac-

and offensive.”

She commented, “Girls let jealousy go too far and don’t know how to deal with it. Now everyone who knows of the list...will think of those girls by what they were labeled in a bathroom stall.”

On the dating lives of girls at THHS, sophomore Nicholas Skaliotis commented that girls tend to face more scrutiny when it comes to their romantic relationships, saying, “Guys usually don’t have a

“ No girl has a right to examine other girls’ social and private lives and they cannot judge one another. ” lot of hatred towards [each other] but some girls tend to....hold things against each other. I know it’s not always true... maybe here it is.”

When asked his opinion on the list and the effects it had, he added, “I don’t really think it’s anyone’s business, it’s really messed up to call someone a ‘thot’…[The list] made [the girls] self-conscious.

You could write whatever you

want but there’s so many ways to say things without hurting others.”

French and Spanish teacher Paola Sierra was the first authority figure to whom the list was made known. She asserted, “[Thot] is a pejorative term and what made me more upset was that the girls who informed [me] were also upset.” On the topic of what to do in a situation where one may find herself targeted, she urged, “Always tell an adult first so that we’re able to then take care of it.”

Senior Branco Gamarra questioned the validity of the list calling it “not that big of a deal…

Especially if you don’t meet the standards behind the meaning of the word, it really should not bother you that much.”

Junior Hemma Kilawan disagrees and insists, “I believe this list and the word shows the rising misogyny and the obvious objectification of women. This list should be treated no differently than a case of bullying.”

One of the aforementioned girls on the list agrees, adding, “Girls should respect each other more...at the end of the day we all have the same emotions and feelings that were hurt by this list.”

The Thot List was removed to the best of the custodial staff’s ability a day after Dean Robin Figelman was notified of its presence. Though remnants of the

carvings remain, for the most part, the stall door has been sandpapered to erase the list. Ms. Figelman confirmed, “I went up and looked at it, took a picture of it so that I could have a copy of it…and [I got] the custodians to clean it off the bathroom door.”

Dean Figelman is actively investigating the situation and added that she doesn’t know “much as of now” except that the perpetrator is a sophomore. As for the potential consequences, she disclosed, “I don’t have [consequences] in mind right now, for that I’ll have to talk to the principal, but if I find the person, demerits will be given and we’ll see what else.”

In regards to the nature of the list and the use of the word ‘thot’ she said, “I was kind of appalled and I couldn’t understand why somebody at Townsend Harris would make a list of ‘hoes’…[and people they] know nothing about.”

She finished, “The list was probably created by a sick student who needs a lot of help. I can’t really say that it’s [jealousy or hatred] for sure because anything’s possible.”

Ms. Sierra concluded, “We should always be more concerned about ourselves instead of...others…and make sure that our own behavior and actions transmit positivity and everything else will fall into place.”

TRANSGENDER THHS STUDENTS AND ALUMNI DISCUSS TRANSPHOBIA IN HIGH SCHOOL AND THE BATHROOM QUESTION

BY SARAH GAFUR, STAFF WRITER

PHOTO BY FAHEEMA SYAHBAL

TRANSGENDER PEOPLE across the country are having their right to use the bathroom questioned as bills across numerous states are being proposed to enforce a strictly cisgender policy.

Students within our community who identify as transgender are privy to the discrimination that comes with being transgender.

With this issue saturating the media, it has been a primary nationwide concern in the past weeks.

Legislators hope to make trans people use the bathroom that coincides with their gender at birth, even if they fully transitioned to male or female or even if they will experience violence while doing so.

Junior Nicholas Mohan explained, “Essentially, they [legislators] want trans people to not exist; they don’t want to deal with people who don’t fit their perception of what is normal and they use far fetched, unfounded assumptions and assertions to back up their underlying prejudice and hatred.”

TIME magazine recently cov-

ered the trans bathroom bill controversy, with their front cover donning the rainbow pride flag.

Though this exposes a key issue within the LGBT movement, some feel that this sensationalization has left every other aggression faced by the trans community in the shadows.

Alumni of 2015 Eli Betts continued, “[There is still] discrimination in the workplace. It’s still legal to be fired for being trans or gay in a lot of places.”

On the walls of classrooms, there are stickers and posters deeming the spaces safe for LGBT students, as well as teachers carrying badges attesting to the fact that they’ve undergone sensitivity training for LGBT students.

The school has evolved into a place where students have the opportunity to be out about their sexualities and genders, though some still face the backlash that comes with being an openly LGBT student.

Many students do find THHS to be a safe space, though with its own stipulations.

Junior William Mun com-

mented, “Most of the students in Townsend Harris are accepting, but they’re more so ‘tolerant.’ They don’t all need to get involved in the LGBT+ community if they don’t want to, and that’s completely fine.”

Junior Casey Gabriella Ramos agreed in saying, “As progressive as I like to think this school is, there is still a lot of homophobia and transphobia tucked under its sleeves.”

Alumni of 2015 Ashton Santo shared an incident of transphobia he faced while attending the school. “I wouldn’t go to the bathroom if the nurse’s office wasn’t open. The one time I did dare to go to the men’s room, it was after school had ended and during club hours, and some other student came in and noticed I was in the stall.” The student went on to call him an offensive slur for using the stall rather than the urinal.

Alumni Eli Betts, also of graduating class 2015, shared his own experience of transphobia he faced after SPARKS counselor Mr. Duke was let go and a floating social worker was put in his place.

He explained, “They wanted me to talk to her and someone had told her that I was trans. After that, she refused to refer to me using my pronouns and would only call me ‘she’ because that was what I ‘biologically’ was.”

Cases like this are not hard to find within public school settings, especially with the introduction of current bathroom bills in states across the nation, which call into question the rights of transgender people when using the bathroom.

The Department of Education’s official policy is that students should use whichever bathroom they feel comfortable using.

Some feel that the policy should extend further to designate certain bathrooms in schools as gender neutral.

Ashton went on to make this plea, “Although I’m no longer a student, I plead to the administration of THHS to implement gender neutral bathrooms. There are some students who do not want to be gendered, and there are some students who just want some privacy. More accessible gender neutral bathrooms are so, so, so im-

portant.”

Others feel that these recent events should inspire the school community to be more open in its support of the school’s trans community.

Junior Ian Chen commented, “If the school really wants to stand behind its trans students, it needs to affirm that these laws are not in accordance with the school’s doctrines. It can’t expect to be completely removed from events that have a huge impact on its students.”

Reporting these incidents are not easy for those who have been targeted. Eli commented, “During my years at THHS, I realised that many students don’t believe they have a voice or that their voice would be heard.”

Dean Robin Figelman encourages students to come forward if any issues arise, stating “I have an open door policy.”

Ian went on to say, “people need to understand that the pushback and controversy is necessary for progress.”

8 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

DEFERRED INACTION: UNDOCUMENTED STUD OBSTACLES OF HIGH SCHOOL AND HIGHER ED

by Jason Lalljee, Editor-in-Chief THE CHALLENGES OF BEING UNDOCUMENTED IN AN EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED students, daily school life can be a minefield: although the 1982 Plyer v. Doe decision means that schools must provide an equal education to documented and undocumented K-12 students (the provision of Social Security number forbidden as a prerequisite for enrollment, and a child’s immigration status given protection from individuals, institutions, and even other government agencies), students still operate relatively low-profile, given the constant threat of deportation.

Basic tokens of citizenship that manifest throughout adolescence—a driver’s license, a bank account—are experiences from which undocumented immigrants are largely isolated. “I can’t leave the country or travel,” said an anonymous undocumented Townsend Harris student. “I can’t enter one contest or another, have little hope of ever owning a car or a house, and feel excluded from everyone, pretending that I’ll be able to vote someday when my friends talk about politics and their future goals… I don’t really have much hope for the future.”

“I’m always reminded that I don’t fit in,” one student offered.

Securing employment proves to be a particularly pressing issue among undocumented students; this isn’t surprising, given that one-third of the children of undocumented immigrants and a fifth of adult undocumented immigrants live in poverty, as a 2007 study by the Pew Research Center finds. This is nearly double the poverty rate for children of U.S.-born parents (18%) or for U.S.-born adults (10%).

“I can’t get working papers even though I’m old enough, so I can’t get out of what is a difficult economic situation for me and my family,” said another undocumented student. “It’s hard to find a job without them.” “[In high school], I hopped around from odd job to odd job,” said Mr. Olechowski. “They were all off-the-books, as they had to

be… someone at a butcher shop might recommend me to someone at a luncheonette, and that’s how I would stay employed… they weren’t very good jobs. The work that I could get was demoralizing, the kind of jobs children that age have no business being made to do.”

Rishi Singh, Director of Youth Organization at Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), a community-based activist organization working for social and policy change affecting the rights of South Asian Americans, immigrated undocumented from Trinidad to New York City in 1999, when he was ten-years-old. “As a result [of unreported employment], undocumented folks are often taken advantage of or exploited,” he said. “I used to do jobs that didn’t pay minimum wage— that’s what people like us have to do to survive. There are so many people in our community from retail to domestic workers that are treated unfairly because of their immigration statuses.”

Even the most quotidian of school activities can introduce difficulties. As Assistant Principal of Organization Ms. Ellen Fee describes, “even if you’re undocumented [and not] struggling for money, financial payments can pose problems… things like paying for senior dues or for junior banquet must be done in cash as opposed to checks… Say you were the one that got the chinese ribbons for Festival of Nations. The school can only [reimburse] you in checks but you can’t cash those if you don’t have an account.

Checking places take money from you. Some students use their friends’ parents to cash checks, but that involves awkward questions.”

Proxies as a method of making basic monetary transactions are a common trend among undocumented students. The SATs are payable by credit card, PayPal, check, or money order, the final of which doesn’t require a bank account. As one student said, however, undocumented families don’t necessarily need to resort to that. “We know people who know people who give us debit cards.”

“Being undocumented in high school presented a lot of problems with motivation when it came to schoolwork, especially during my critical junior year,” said Dennise Hernandez, Class of 2013 alumna.

“At my worst, I couldn’t really see the point in working so hard on my academics if there was the very high possibility that it might not pay off not because I didn’t ‘work hard enough’ but because of circumstances that were entirely outside of my control. In retrospect, I recognize that I experienced a form of depression at the time, but I didn’t have the emotional vocabulary to identify it as such back then.”

She added, “Being at an academically-intensive place like THHS also presented its own difficulties…it magnified my legal status for me. Every year The Classic publishes a feature on where all of the graduating seniors will be going to college.

Not a single name draws a blank next to it, but as early as my freshman year I used to wonder what would happen if my name would ever have a college listed next to it. In an educational culture where the question is not ‘will you go to college’ but rather ‘where will you go to college,’ the possibility of not reaching that standard was terrifying. As a result I experienced a lot of self doubt and a feeling that nothing I achieved or accomplished would ever be enough to ‘earn’ what I most needed which was documentation.”

SOCIAL INSECURITY: THE QUESTION OF COLLEGE AND PAYING FOR IT For undocumented students, however, the problem only begins with primary and secondary education, given that the road tends to end beyond that; a College Board report finds that of an estimated 607,000 undocumented K-12 students in the country, only 65,000 graduate, and that only five to ten percent of that number attend college after graduating high school.

Although colleges don’t generally ask for proof of documen-

tation such as a Social Security number, an SSN is required for processing financial aid forms such as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is often the deciding factor for students in the admissions process. It’s make or break, usually the latter in the case of undocumented students.

Almost all private colleges and universities classify undocumented students as international students, considering their financial situations when determining admissions.

Undocumented students in this instance compete with students from throughout the world for a handful of enrollment slots; an undocumented student’s ability to fund his or her entire four years of college is considered in admissions decisions. Because of these policies, thousands of qualified and competitive undocumented students are denied admission to private colleges every year.

“The problem is, they’re not entitled to state or federal financial aid,” said Principal Anthony Barbetta. “The issue, beyond getting into college, is dealing with the cost of it without help.”

Dennise, who immigrated from Mexico, is currently matriculated at Dartmouth College.

Despite that eventual destination, however, that path wasn’t always paved with ivy.

“The most difficulty I had was in trying to figure out how to finance my education,” she said.

The Questbridge scholarship program was what allowed her to apply to many selective schools for free. “I knew that my legal status would limit me from being able to apply for federal aid, and that I wouldn’t be able to apply for loans, so I looked to scholarships… four years ago, I found that I couldn’t apply to about 97% of the scholarships I came across. Many scholarship-granting organizations have changed their application procedures in recent years…

I remember [not being able to] apply to the Gates Millennium scholarship program and being angry and frustrated even though I was a competitive applicant.

“After disclosing my status to my guidance counselor, she offered to reach out to institutions for me and find out [if they were] ‘undocu-friendly’... I [took] it upon myself to [write] to dozens of schools, disclosing my status and asking about how my process would be different. Many schools told me that they could not consider my application, or that I would be considered an international applicant. Most notably, they told me they would not be able to offer me grants or financial aid because of my status. It was disheartening, to say the least.”

“Whether people like it or not, this country is our home too, and we should be able to afford an education,” one undocumented student concluded.

A 2001 New York State law expanded on who can qualify for in-state tuition; that is not the case with most states.

CUNY and SUNY are among the collegiate systems that fall under this umbrella. As Rishi, who attended Hunter College commented, “I had to put it on paper first, saying that I was undocumented, even if I didn’t need an SSN… there was [visibility] there.”

THE GREEN CARD RED LIGHT: APPLYING FOR CITIZENSHIP Since 2012, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has allowed certain undocumented immigrants who enter the country before their 16th birthdays and before June 2010 to receive a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from deportation, permitting many undocumented immigrants to come out of anonymity.

Stephanie Park, Representative and Community Fellow of Immigrant Justice Corps at the MinKwon Center, a Flushing-based organization representing the Korean-American community, commented, “DACA status does not give documented status… [despite allowances], DACA still means undocumented.”

“Receiving my Social Security and work permit was surreal,” commented Dennise, who acquired DACA status in 2012. “My

May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

ENTS ON THE DUCATION

9

THE NINE DETERMINING DIGITS OF IDENTITY

by Anonymous

work permit allowed me to gain employment, get paid, and receive my driver’s permit. I should’ve had access to these things from the ages of 14 to 16, and after waiting years it felt like a weight had been lifted.”

As Guidance Counselor Sara Skoda noted, “a lot of these students are eligible for DACA status and don’t realize it... they should seek assistance from guidance. We’re here to help.”

One current undocumented THHS student is warier of DACA status. “It’s implemented under Executive Orders, so it’s up to the discretion of [whomever] is president to make sure we have rights… it provides kids two years of protection from deportation, working authorization, and an SSN, then a [bi-annual] renewal process, but what about my parents? I still worry about them getting deported, and being left behind.”

“The DREAM Act is great,” he commented. “Well it [would] be. In just six years, you’ll be able to become a citizen.”

The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors), is an oft-discussed legislative proposal for a multiphase process to grant conditional residency to undocumented immigrants, and upon meeting other qualifications, permanent residency; though introduced to the Senate in 2001, and reintroduced several times since, it has consistently failed to pass. Proposed requirements for conditional residential status include garnering a high school degree or GED, demonstrating “good moral character” and passing criminal background checks; proposed requirements for permanent residential status include attending an institution of higher learning or serving in the United States military.

“I think [the DREAM Act] is interesting because it grants opportunities...in a bigger picture sense, however, I question its full efficiency. I feel like it’s kind of a copout that tokenizes “good-acting” immigrants, for those who meet all these sort of checkpoints that say you are worth it and tell other people that they aren’t,” commented Aquib Yacoob, Class of 2011 alumnus and Executive Special

Projects Coordinator at Amnesty International USA. “If you look at people in poor communities with little access to resources, getting a [certain level] of education or employment to qualify under the act is improbable.”

Even upon acquiring a green card, there still exist nuanced but notable differences in daily life from other citizens.

Though Dennise later transitioned from DACA status to having a green card, she commented that “[she] does not feel fully integrated into American society... despite the critical changes to [her] documentation.”

“I am frustrated at my inability to vote,” she said. “I will never get to vote in New Hampshire where my vote is worth more than it would be in New York…

I won’t be able to vote at all until 2020.”

One current student comments, “being undocumented is not a choice. Students like me were brought here young by our parents, who simply wanted better lives for their children.”

As Ms. Skoda comments, there is some hope. “It’s slow progress, but there are increasing opportunities [outside the realm] of legal status. At the end of last month, the NewYork State Board of Regents passed a rule allowing certain undocumented immigrants who immigrated as children to apply for professional teaching certificates in 57 professions, including nursing and social work.

On advice he would give to current undocumented students, Rishi said, “the only way to change things is to stand up and do something… nobody is going to do something for you.”

“Coming to reclaim your identity and break away from the narrative of illegality [perpetuated] by politicians [might] take [you] years… [students] should remember there is no one way to be ‘successful,’ and that there is strength in vulnerability,” offered Dennise.

“Form strong bonds with your friends and your family,” Mr. Olechowski concluded. As an afterthought, he added, “and get yourself a bicycle.”

I AM tired of the false hope.

I am the drug addict, the rapist, the one who steals jobs from others. I am illegal.

Little does everyone know that I am a senior in high school. I was brought to the country at an age when I thought the only papers I ever needed were ones to draw on and make airplanes out of. I grew up “normal”; digging up dirt in the backyard, playing manhunt, and waking up early to watch Saturday morning cartoons were just a few of my top priorities.

It wasn’t until I entered high school did I realize how limited I was because of my lacking a green card and a social security number. Sophomore year, all the teens were applying for jobs and everyone was excited to be independent. I applied for a camp counseling job. After every two weeks we were supposed to get paid—that is everyone else except me.

The main counselor told me that she couldn’t pay me because I didn’t have official documents to prove I could work in the country legally. In other words, I was being used for free labor.

I quit right after and never thought about entering a work force again. I kept quiet because of the typical ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids where officers sworn under law to protect humans ultimately disgrace their own nature by separating families. I didn’t want to put my family through any danger.

Senior year hit me like a truck.

Education was the one thing in my grasp, something I could control—but this time it was different. I ran to my guidance counselor and told them the situation at home. The whole system is crooked; it was no trouble applying, but the hardest thing was receiving financial aid. Colleges themselves don’t see me as a human.

Despite the countless hours studying, writing papers and doing collaterals, I’m denied the right to a higher education. I graduated the top of my class in elementary school and was the salutatorian in middle school. Those accolades

mean nothing to those whose job is to enforce hate, discrimination and injustice— the very same who sworn under the law to promote peace. The face of those in power only want to fabricate and brush over those who look ‘illegal’ as detrimental ‘aliens’ who want to harm the economy. They use me as a scapegoat for a broken political system. A demagogue is running for president, but that of course is all my fault.

I received an email stating it was illegal for me to continue a post-secondary education. I received a scholarship at a specific college, but I was told I could only receive the non-monetary value of the award. What good was a scholarship without money? It is a legal trap. We can attend primary and secondary education, but without a mean to legalize status, we can barely go on to college and work legally in the country.

“ Please stop sending out false hope. ” Under the Obama administration, more than 2.5 million people have been deported. That is $23,482 for each person to be apprehended, detained, processed, and transported out of the country. With current politics, if the U.S were to remove all 11.2 million undocumented immigrants, it would cost the government up to $600 billion and about 20 years (according to the American Action Forum Study).

Instead of wasting money that separates families, the U.S could spend it on providing over five million permanent shelters for the homeless, increasing NASA’s budget for space exploration, and providing funds for college.

According to CollegeBoard, the average cost of a four year public college is roughly $22, 958.

With the amount that goes into deportation, nearly four million students would be able to go to college for free.

In 2012, the Obama administration finally passed DACA, a program that would stop deporting young undocumented individuals. By giving individuals an opportunity to realize their full potential, states will see an increase in income growth and job growth.

However, DACA has its flaws.

Only the young are safe, but what about the parents of twelve year old children? Does the government expect to displace every child whose parents have been deported into a foster home?

If Congress supports DAPA, another deferred program for parents of DACA recipients, families will no longer have to go through heart wrenching separations.

What we need to do as a society is to support these legislations.

It is the only way for those who have pledged to the flag since the moment they stepped into kindergarten, and those who pay in total $14.6 billion a year in state and local taxes, a chance for the protection they deserve—the very justice and tranquility that has been ordained by the Constitution.

My father has an old school way of thought. He believes hard work will always pay off. As much as America denies us opportunities, he serves as a role model for me and this country. He deals with his responsibilities and provides more for my family than we deserve.

I don’t know what the future holds for me, but I would like to make it clear: please stop sending out false hope.

If this country is a place for dreams to come true, where the streets are paved with gold, then give those who are willing to salute and serve a country they call home proper documentation or keep us out entirely. There are so many obstacles that await me, and I am only 18. Of course I am afraid. There are millions of people who hate me because I am considered the drug addict, the rapist, the one who snatches jobs from others. However, the only thing I can do is keep moving forward.

10 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

FEATURES WHEN THE principal walks into a classroom, students’ backs grow straighter; their attention to the board strengthens, and hands raise to participate and engage with the teacher. Although the students themselves are not the focus of the administrator’s visit, there is a noticeable shift in the air, an unspoken agreement to behave as the ideal student.

What seems like a simple observation is actually rooted in the larger “accountability” movement. In past years, there was the notion that teachers and students must meet in the middle; both parties had to try their best, but if a student didn’t put in the work, it was acknowledged that it wasn’t necessarily due to a lack of effort on the teacher’s part.

Today, mentality dictates that we leave no child behind. An admirable objective, in practicality, has spawned a teacher evaluation system based on student outcomes.

Evaluating a teacher’s success with student success has hit many hurdles, as student outcomes are affected by a variety of factors—not just by the effectiveness of a teacher. While intended to improve schools and raise the bar on education in the United States, accountability has added additional stress to schools by not accounting for the complexity of education in New York City.

“My last school was always on the verge of closing,”

Harbor School Principal Jeff Chetirko remembered. “What we did was increase our test scores, decrease our student incidents and gave the city no reason to want to close us. I put my entire life into saving that school. You have to be able to give up your nights, weekends and unfortunately, family time, to make something like that work,” he explained.

In schools in danger of closing, teacher evaluations seem like secondary concerns. Time spent making observations, filling out paperwork, and teaching to a test to nominally determine that a teacher is “effective” seems superficial, especially when such a rating system has been disputed and altered frequently.

Ever since the New York State Education Department (NYSED) introduced a statewide evaluation for principals and teachers in 2010, changes and amendments made to the law every subsequent year reflect the difficulty of homogenizing education standards in a state with 733 school districts of all different sizes and levels of need.

In 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Race to the Top initiative as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The act awarded states with bonus funding for revamping their educational policies, such as performance-based evaluations for educators. In response,

the NYSED re-evaluated their Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR), which is an assessment of teachers to improve the quality of instruction in school in order to improve student performance. The new APPR formulated in 2010, known as Advance, focused on student growth in order to gauge the success of a teacher. Student growth now comprised of 40% of the rating and the remaining 60% is based on classroom observations.

However, the development of Advance was a lengthy process that remains rather incomplete. For two years, Advance was piloted in about 200 schools with over 6,500 teachers. The system was always undergoing changes, specifically in regards to student performance. The tools used to measure student performance were contested, swapping state tests for local tests as a marker of student performance.

As of 2015, state tests will no longer be used in teacher evaluations until 2019 in order to revamp the evaluation system with new Common Core standards.

Despite acknowledgement of the overemphasis in testing and de-linking of exams to evaluations, the evaluation system in place demonstrates deeper complications with measuring teacher success.

NO TEACHER LEFT BEHIND: THE CHANGING EVALUATIONS PROCESS

BY OLIVIA CHAN, NEWS EDITOR & REBECCA KWON, FEATURES EDITOR THE CHALLENGES OF DIVERSITY “Teachers are not recognized for the emotional intelligence required to work with students that are incarcerated, [deal with] mental illness, drugs, etc.” one administrator from a Brooklyn school said. “Data doesn't reflect the outreach. You can never win the race because of sporadic attendance,” he continued, adding that there are students who “have adult concerns. Students [who] need to work to support their families.”

In a school district with over a million students, the diversity of personal issues and learning needs complicate the role of teachers and increase the pressure placed on them as evaluations do not take into account the various roadblocks in students’ lives. Teachers are being held accountable for problems that they have no control over.

“It has been very stressful because we are held responsible for students who stop coming and then show up the last quarter of the year. We have had to move students who have 6th and 7th grade reading levels and got level 1s to low 2s on their 8th grade math test, through the curriculum,” a mathematics teacher from Archimedes Academy remarked.

Teachers in high-performing schools and low-performing schools also find it difficult to fit into the framework of what is deemed an “effective” teacher. While the growth model is used to evaluate the role of teachers in improving students, growth scores in high-performing schools may not work in the benefit of their respective teachers; already high-achieving students may find less room to improve or may succeed despite having an ineffective teacher due to their own hard work.

In trying to ensure that all students achieve at a certain level, lawmakers have failed to account for the variables in New York City that pose challenges to student success.

With an accountability system grounded in proving student growth, teachers are left wondering if the state values the effort teachers put in or other definitions of “teacher success.”

DWINDLING EVALUATION CREDIBILITY “We’re caught in this cycle...we have an existing system that’s been changed so much that there’s not much credibility left,” Harris Beach Attorney Howard Goldsmith said. Each year, each teacher’s score means something subtly different, encapsulating a nuanced change in evaluation rubrics. “It’s difficult to send my teachers and staff a message that seems always to be changing,” Principal Chetirko offered. “Two years ago, we needed to rate teachers on 22 important components, which were decreased to eight the year after. It’s hard for teachers and staff to believe in something that is always changing.”

“Every year or so the evaluation requirements change and administrators do their best to interpret the new mandates and help teachers reach them,” Health and Physical Education teacher Maria Assante added. “Even they, with their experience, may have a hard time understanding what's required and the best way to accomplish these tasks.”

The system once dictated that teachers must be graded on some form of exam and so, subject teachers that did not teach classes with administered state or local exams were graded on the examinations of other subject classes. For example, Health and Physical Education teachers were graded based on the English Regents. Principal Barbetta remarked, “Now at THHS, we’re going to be okay because we have great grades, but that could be a challenge for many schools across the district. If I was a Latin teacher, do I really want to be graded on an English exam?”

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Additionally, while objective measures are an important facet of teacher evaluations, the doubt that exams are an effective way of measuring student success, which is always intertwined with teacher success, and the changing education standards, lead to uncertainty about APPR scores.

Along with complicated formulas to determine student academic growth and the fact that many teachers are rated on test scores for subjects they didn’t teach, teacher evaluation scores and ratings have become byzantine to understand.

According to the NYSED, while APPR plays a “significant factor in employment decisions...promotion, retention, tenure determination, termination, and supplemental compensation...teacher and principal professional development,” it is not the only factor. Teachers with effective or highly effective ratings can be fired for violating laws; those with ineffective or developing ratings can be kept or hired after considering other factors: “[If the teacher is] doing better every year, we see a lot of potential, [and] parents and students love him, the scores are not necessarily aligning well with the teacher’s performance” Mr. Goldsmith said.

While this allows flexibility in how teachers are employed, the confusion remains with the meaning behind APPR scores and how they are to be used in improving schools. This confusion adds additional stress to administrators and teachers as they must be accountable to students and foster a love of learning, yet remember to heed and keep up with state requirements.

RIGHTING EVALUATIONS Many administrators and teachers believe that it’s important to assess teacher success with students in order to improve schools, but feel that it distracts teachers from their goal of engaging with students and making them excited about learning. “In an age of obsessive accountability and having to prove everything we do with superficial data, it seems that the pressure takes away some of the fun,” English teacher Georgia Brandeis expressed. “There's a lot more busy work of trying to make sure we are always using the right language to make things ‘sound’ like Common Core or look like it. There's a feeling of forced proving.”

“If treated strictly as a form of feedback rather than something more punitive as it is currently, it would be better and also serve to build staff morale.” ELA teacher Todd Stein from the Cinema School believed.

The recent de-emphasizing of testing and its relation to teacher evaluations has been supported by both students and teachers, but concerns remain with the difficulty in standardizing evaluations across the state, and many acknowledge the value of leaving it to local control. There are ramifications of a system where we must ensure every student achieves a certain level, which include the stress placed on teachers, administrators, and schools, as well as restrictions on teachers’ freedom in the classroom.

“Just as all students are different, it is the same with school districts,” Mr. Goldsmith asserted. “Each district is unique and different, so expecting one model of change with one set of timelines and deadlines is doomed to failure.”

May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

11

FEATURES

“BRIDGING” DIFFERENCES: A LOOK AT QC/THHS TEACHER COLLABORATION IN THE HUMANITIES COLLOQUIUM

BY REBEKAH JONES, MULTIMEDIA EDITOR AND NOAH SILVERSMITH, SPORTS EDITOR

PHOTO BY FAHEEMA SYAHBAL

AMONG THE benefits select students have in attending academically rigorous high schools such as Townsend Harris lies the advantage of having the opportunity to take advanced classes. For THHS students, the class that has been marked as one of the most beneficial in preparation for college is the senior Humanities Seminar Colloquium.

With this month’s coverage of the seminar’s May symposium, it seemed appropriate to go more in depth about one unique feature of the seminar: it is for many students, the first co-taught course they will encounter.

Overall, the course is known for helping students assimilate into a college work environment, but much of this may stem from the unique dual teaching structure provided by the Queens College — THHS partnership.

Of the two teachers in the seminar, one is a THHS English teacher and the other a Queens College professor. There are a number of benefits to this arrangement that both students and faculty members described.

Such a system allows for greater interaction and attention given

to students. Assistant Principal of the Humanities Rafal Olechowski observed, “Normal seminars are designed to have 10 to 15 students.

Anything below 5 is too few, 15 is too many. Having two teachers in the room breaks it down a little bit for our class size.”

Some students have taken notice of the more careful attention that the structure offers. Senior Fahim Nousad weighed in, saying, “Having two teachers for Humanities helps the students receive more attention and feedback. Also, when one teacher is focusing on some students, the other teacher is able to help you out. It also allows students to take advice and build on ideas from two different viewpoints thus allowing the students to expand on their thinking and writing.”

The course’s syllabus mandates that students conference with one of their instructors, and the grading is divided up between the two, ensuring that students receive different forms of feedback throughout the year.

While many find the opportunities for additional attention beneficial, some students discussed the pitfalls of co-teaching by suggest-

ing that the structure creates potential for conflict between two teaching styles and habits.

Sometimes, students find having multiple perspectives on their work frustrating. Senior Max Lacoma explained one situation: “During my first semester, I received an F on my first essay from my college professor. I went to talk to my THHS teacher about it and she said that she would not have given me an F.” This disparity is sometimes also seen in final grades.

Since the Humanities Seminar is both a college class and high school class, students receive separate grades for the college semester and high school semester with the former receiving a letter grade and the latter receiving a number grade.

In the first semester, for instance, the college grade is finalized in December while the high school one is calculated by the end of January.

Some students find that they receive different grades for each side of the course, a discrepancy many consider unfair.

According to English teacher Raquel Chung, the discrepan-

cies can be attributed to the extra month of grading in conjunction with the differences in the QC and THHS grading rubrics (e.g. 83-86 is a B for QC while an 85 is a B for THHS). She further explained that she could round grades up or down based on the student’s contributions to the class if his or her grade was right between two grades (e.g. round an 83 to an 80 or 85).

Nonetheless, some students find that despite this explanation for the number dichotomy, the disparity in their grades is too great for these to be the only factors taken into account.

Senior Meharin Arzu mentioned, “In the beginning of the year, the syllabus was handed out explaining the number grade and its letter equivalent. But when I received my grade, they didn’t even closely match up. It really confused me.”

“My QC teacher and Humanities teacher don’t give the same grade. People would assume that they would give the same grade based on a rubric, but the report card grade didn’t equal the letter grade for the class,” said senior Billal Almarie.

One student received a B+ for their QC grade and a 95 on their THHS report card. A number reported similar discrepancies.

Despite issues with this aspect of the course, most still generally find the system to work well and find that there are benefits to having two teachers. “I won’t be short changing my kids, cancelling a class, or be absent because there’s another person there,” said seminar teacher Judy Biener.

Due to its unique structure, the Seminar has the ability to offer different points of views to the students in preparation for their college careers. Class of 2015 Alumnus Andy Hua mentioned, “Having two teachers is a great thing. You get all this additional knowledge and guidance that you don’t normally get in a regular classroom especially in college.”

“The immediate benefit is that you guys will have experienced a real life college professor. At least you had a professor for a whole year before going to college,” said Mr. Olechowski. “All of our students come back and tell us one thing: ‘The seminar prepared us like no other class.’”

Dealing with the disease: Diabetic Harrisites on daily life

by Teresa Mettela, Staff Writer HE WALKS into the elevator quickly and avoiding eye contact. He waits for the sixth floor but the elevator seems to be taking its sweet time, the gradual lift being enough to knot the ties in his stomach even tighter. Though he isn’t running a mile or rushing to class, he can feel his blood sugar levels dropping. The stress is getting to him. The elevator doors open and another student walks in.

She wears a bulky cast on her right leg and wears it proudly. With a subtle glance in his direction she looks for his excuse, finding no answer on his physical form. She gets off on the next floor. He takes a swig of his sugary ice tea and feels his blood sugar rise steadily.

There is no denying that Townsend Harris is home to people of various races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Within these many groups, there is one group of people who classify as diabetics. These people may not appear to be any different than a student without diabetes, but they still present a stigma is today’s society.

The life of a diabetic in a school environment obviously differs from that of a student without diabetes as they have different needs and special accommodations throughout the day.

Alumni Rachel Chabin states

that “For most students, rushing across campus to get to their Queens College class or running a mile in gym might not be fun, but it doesn’t require much forethought.” However, as a diabetic, her condition is always are the forefront of her mind. For a diabetic, a few minutes of walking or running results in her being more sensitive to insulin. This, in turn , can cause a shift in the diabetic’s blood sugar levels. Therefore, she is constantly checking her blood sugar and insulin levels.

Sophomore Karolina Marek claims, “It is difficult being a student with diabetes. I feel like I have to be more serious and mature about everything. I always have to make sure that my blood sugars are ok, and check them before taking exams. Low and high blood sugars can affect performance on exams because they cause loss of concentration, blurry vision, anxiety and many more negative symptoms.”

Junior Chris Horton says, “Having diabetes mean that’s I have a little more responsibility when it comes to taking care of myself than many teens and others do. I will always have to carry around certain supplies with me, especially food. Additionally, I look at the nutrition facts of all the food I eat when some students might not even hesitate to just start

PHOTO BY JUSTICE WILLIAMS

Students with diabetes carry around an insulin kit such as junior Chris Horton’s, pictured above. eating.”

Many teachers and staff members take measures to accommodate students with diabetic needs.

Rachel recalls, “The teachers at Townsend, for the most part, were always wonderful in helping when I had any problems. In the overwhelming majority of cases, teachers and staff were understanding, sympathetic, and discreet in letting me go to the nurse, taking a makeup quiz if I had to miss it to deal with a blood sugar problem, or letting me check my blood sugar in class. Gym teachers in particular would be great, checking in with me before and after a run and letting me take a break if my blood sugar was low.”

Students want to clear up misconceptions about diabetes. Chris adds, “I would like students to know that I didn’t get type 1 diabetes as a result of poor nutrition and lack of exercise, but it is an autoimmune disease and is out of my control. Type 2 diabetes is the disease people can get as a result of these habits, and it is mostly in adults, not teenagers like me. It is a common misconception and I’d like others to know because I get asked a lot about how I got it.”

He continues, “Some of my friends have joked about having the disease and I don’t let it bother me, but I wish they could know that having diabetes really isn’t something funny and at times it

can be very frustrating and even make me feel very different from others.”

Rachel explains, “I would want to help everyone understand that even passing comments or glances can make a huge difference in making diabetic students feel included and welcome. Even though there’s no reason diabetics (or any students with medical conditions) should feel embarrassed by their condition, it’s really common for us to feel ashamed or ostracized because we’re different, or because people don’t know how to treat us. We just want to be looked at as regular people, and not be defined by our disease.”

12 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

OPINION

.

black lash

(n.) Backlash from the student body in the event a minority student is admitted to a competitive college. op-ed by kristine guillaume Let’s give it up for Affirmative Action, every black college applicant’s new best friend. Without you, AA, we could never have made it to such great heights.

Yes, we know, we were the ones who sat for college interviews and scored well on standardized exams. But, in the end, it was really you who got us into college, or, at least, that’s what everyone tells us.

It’s become a poisonous social norm to attribute the acceptances of minority students to top colleges to Affirmative Action rather than the actual qualifications of the applicant. Every time a minority student gains admittance to Ivy League or other top tier institutions, his entire academic and extracurricular profile essentially gets blacked out in a sea of negative reactions.

Take a walk through the halls of Townsend Harris and listen to snippets of conversations such as, “She only got in because she’s black” or “He wasn’t even that smart.”

It’s shocking to think that in a school such as THHS, where all students are academically driven and many are instrumental members of clubs, teams, and publications, this mentality still exists. Rather than looking at the hard work of one individual, students judge others superficially, a toxic trend hypocritical to the claim that THHS is different from other cutthroat, academically competitive schools.

What’s even worse is that there are many students from minority backgrounds who keep quiet about their acceptances, just to avoid the imminent blacklash. It’s wrong for a young, accomplished student to feel silenced in the aftermath of his success, no matter his race. It’s wrong for a student who worked just as hard, if not harder, than her peers to feel put down by statements that chip away from her happiness.

As a result, Affirmative Action essentially becomes an excuse for why one student was chosen over another of different race. People tend to speak about Affirmative Action as if it’s a lottery system. Throw a bunch of black students in a hat and pick out one, two, or, if we’re lucky, five to be in the next graduating class. However, Af-

firmative Action is a policy meant to level the playing field across all demographics and socioeconomic classes. Many argue that the playing field is indeed as level as can be. After all, segregation ended in the 1960s. But just because black students can drink from the same water fountains as whites doesn’t mean the damage has been repaired. The racism that pervaded society up until the 1960s stripped opportunities not only from individuals in that time period, but also from future generations of their children.

This, in turn, suggests that racism pervades our society up until today, which is an accurate claim to describe a country built upon the aching backs and feeble knees broken by white supremacy.

In Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Case for Reparations,” an article published in the June 2014 edition of The Atlantic, Coates’ underlying message that today’s American white identity rests on the shoulders of the “plunder” of blacks is hard to stomach. If we, as American citizens, are to squarely face our history, we face a history in which American federal law lended itself to reducing blacks to social pariahs and untouchables.

It is an all too common mentality to leave the past in the past, but it is undeniable that the past threads itself into the present. This is not to cast blame onto the white men who threw us onto boats and shipped us off to the colonies, but to acknowledge that the past has inflicted tremendous, persisting damages unto the black race in America.

For each one of our successes, for each one of us that emerges from the low probability of leaving the ghettos, there are thousands of us left behind, forever stuck in the group still affected by the past.

For those of us that do make it big, we appear to close the “accomplishment gap,” the space between the extent to which whites and blacks have contributed to society, giving off the image that racism is obsolete.

Although the hours our ancestors spent picking cotton

under whip-wielding slave masters are well-past the average accomplishment, the harsh truth is that we have barely begun closing the gap. We still live in a society where blacks must work twice as hard, where women must work twice as hard, and where the poor must work twice as hard as the white man and, still, the fruits of their labor will not be a step in the right direction, but a single, miraculous success story, coming to a theater near you in 2020.

When I was younger, my father used to tell me that I, a black woman, would have to work twice as hard and endure twice as much as my white counterpart to make it to the same place as she.

I did not fully understand what he meant, but as I matured, I began to comprehend the disparity in opportunities between the races. I find my own success, currently perceived as an anomaly, one that could have never been possible without a booster seat that launched my five-foot -one stature above the heads of taller, more qualified men and women; it is perceived as if I waved a tantalizing sign to admissions counselors: “PICK ME, I’M A BLACK GIRL.” Two centuries ago, the pool of college applicants was a sea of white. Social Darwinism is a relatively polite term, but it was essentially white supremacy at its finest, once again. College admissions are not the only clean, uncolored surface of American society. If we turn back the clock, in white neighborhoods across the country, local governments were in fullfledged support of efforts to “keep up the neighborhood.”

This may bring to mind images of picking up stray litter and curbing the wastes of man’s best friend, but careful decoding will reveal the correct translation to be: “keep the blacks out.” In the 1940s, an African-American doctor moved into a house in Chicago’s Park Manor neighborhood, a white area. Soon after he moved in, a housewarming party (read: mob) of white residents greeted him with a classic pelting of rocks and fireworks

show on his garage. The doctor, perhaps wisely, soon moved out.

There is a retreat, even in the allegedly intelligent communities of America, to thinking that it is impossible for someone of color to achieve something significant without the support of government aid.

There will always be a pointing of fingers, a false welcoming, and a hushed whisper that proves disingenuous to the message of democracy and opportunity that America preaches.

As a young American maturing in a society that still sees so much from opposite poles of the wealth gap in a racially divided society, I am concerned about the way in which young, black Americans perceive themselves. I am concerned when I hear the “she only got into Harvard because she’s black” whispers trailing me in the hallways. I am concerned when I hear my black peers talking about their accomplishments quietly in avoidance of the imminent panic that signals the neighborhood is, indeed, not being kept clean.

To use Affirmative Action as an excuse for why students of color earn admittance to top schools speaks volumes not about the applicant, but about the person making the comment. I implore of you, dear assuming peer of ours, to rethink your school of thought and to recognize that we are equally capable of finishing first.

Your comments, no matter how lighthearted they were, are all part of the reason for which the problem still exists.

Recognize that students of color can be captains of sports teams, Student Union presidents, directors of school productions, or Editors-in-Chief of publications, and recognize that we (spoiler alert) worked incredibly hard to get there.

Against all odds, from backgrounds plagued by oppression, we can indeed write killer college essays or even win prestigious academic awards.

Our skin may not be the color of porcelain dolls, but there is something beautiful and not so miraculous about a mixed neighborhood that perhaps some of you have yet to understand.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORIAN PILZ

PHOTO COURTESY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY

May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

13

OPINION

A solution to heading in the wrong direction

by Matthew Mandel, Staff Writer

ONE OF the most common complaints heard from Townsend students concerns the staircases and the retention of lateness demerits. Students with minimal manners are met on the staircases and only add to the problem. Middle schools often implement a better method of preventing staircase traffic jams, thereby cutting class commute by minutes and lowering lateness while also preventing staircase injuries: directional staircases.

Between bands, most notably lunch bands, the middle staircase is plagued with hoards of students charging from either end causing lots of “excuse me’s” and “sorry’s” In the morning, students are advised to get to their lockers through the middle staircases only, making sure nobody impedes on those going down from their lockers to their classes at the beginning of the day.

If this rule was applied to the entire day, adjustment to the new three-minute class transition would be much more smooth and

reasonable.

Devoting the side staircases to downward movement and the middle for upward movement would accommodate the amount of students going either way rather simply, as the double width of the middle staircase makes it about

“ Simply placing suggestive signs pointing up or down along the staircases would act as a form of traffic control. ” equal in size to the two side stairs.

Hallways are another issue on their own, as students frequently pause or navigate in all sorts of odd ways in and out of class from one place to another. Here, it

is important, to be aware of your surroundings, as you are not the only student trying to get to another class.

Conversations with friends belong elsewhere, not in the staircase. While it may seem restrictive within the school, these very principles are applied in adult life, where people must drive on one side of the road, or follow the bike lane to avoid an accident. Small steps in our youth can lead to important understanding and compliance into adulthood, avoiding traffic tickets or injuries.

While this problem is doomed to persist in the locker rooms, where there is only one staircase, simply placing suggestive signs pointing up or down along the staircases would act as a form of traffic control for students walking to and from class.

This would greatly increase the efficiency with which students can get to and

“ If this rule applied to the entire day, adjustment to the new three-minute class transition would be much more smooth. ”

from their classes in the limited time they have to walk there. The avoidance of demerits is something Townsend students are always looking towards, so a rule such as this will bring a great decrease in the amount of late demerits given as well as get everyone to class at a reasonable time.

“

Don’t we all have legitimate concerns at an immigration system that lets some through with every conceivable theocratic red flag?

”

Robert Babstock

ART BY BLANCA CAPLAN

Je Suisse, Salami and Provolone! Bien Pensant? Guess Not. Commisar Sprach and What’s New Theocrat?

by Robert Babstock, English Teacher I GUESS when I wrote “religious hatred is wicked” my critics could see right through to the seething “Islamophobia” that must have been there somewhere. How talented one must be to push away a universal olive branch in what seemed to be a very one-sided portrayal of the abiding fact of “Islamophobia.” Maybe purveyors of this neologism refuse to concede how godless indeed are the masses everywhere. Maybe people are tired of hearing about religion in conjunction with violence. Racist massacre in church.

Genocidal newlyweds stormptrooping a X-mas party at a Rehab Center in San Bernadoo! Don’t we all have legitimate concerns at an immigration system that lets some through with every conceivable theocratic red flag? Properly vetted, Tashfin Malik would had to enjoy connubial bliss elsewhere.

Sucks for elsewhere, but many would be happy if our immigra-

tion process was much more vigilant in her case.

What if you think reilgion crowds out too many other civic considerations? What if you’re one of those live and let live boors from Queens who doesn’t care much at all about or for religion?

What happens if you’re idea of a civic/religious controversy is a non-starter even for close friends and neighbors? Even co-religionists? Unlike my doctrinaire critics... I don’t have the luxury of a lexicon that tells me how to think: “assured of certain certainties” as the poet says. My favorite philosopher, a Spaniard, professed an outlook called “holy uncertainty.”

In these days of dead certainties, that philosopher might as well be Don Quixote.

If you can fog a mirror while reading this you’re probably aware that brave Muslims defend our nation and streets, that brave Muslim women and men are helping

us enjoy what leverage we have in our civilizational conflict with medieval theocracy. You’re aware brave Muslims take the fight to our fanatical enemies in The Middle East, that good Samaritan Muslims protect lives of religious minorities from those who espouse a hate filled genocidal version of their religion. I come from a New York Fireman’s family and know more than I want to know about religious fanaticism. But I can also say, without a doubt, that the late Ahmed Mehrabet, the Parisian police officer who died defending the offices of Charlie Hebdo, is a great martyr to Western Culture and a hero. He’s done more to defend Western Culture than any and all of the “activists” protesting and teaching at our hotbeds of activism schools of higher ed. Our country is full of war heroes from Muslim backgrounds. Why do you think they aren’t well known?

I know I work in a good school

full of great kids or else I wouldn’t have received such forceful and thoughtful rejoinders to what seemed to me to be the most harmless of observations about two poetry readings I attended in less than a month... Even the best good will in the world would probably scratch its head in wonder at the intemperate and extreme replies my mild observations elicited. I must have really lost my head when I used the rabid, loaded term “legitimate concerns” in conjunction with recent attacks in San Bernardino and Paris. You would think I showed indifference or scorn to the victims of these vile attacks and tried to exploit their memories with narcissistic sidebars about my inflated sense of my own group, cultural identity.

But no, all I tried to do was a float a slight demurral in the face of an overwhelming consensus that “Islamophobia” not only exists, but that it’s a pernicious, unyield-

ing scientific fact—this in a school culture that always self congratulates on the topic of diversity. In an issue ostensibly dedicated to one of the great public questions of our time there is only uniformity of opinion on the existence of “Islamophobia” and that the sufferers of this cruel, scientifically diagnosed disorder are of much greater newsworthiness than fundamentalists and the innocent blood they shed. No diversity of opinion at all on the topic at hand, “Islamophobia,” but plenty of ad hominem attack on my character and my motives for attempting to speak from individual reason and not from a script foisted on the adherents of grievance group think or religious orthodoxy... I hope this response indicates that I actually tried to pay heed to the writer’s words rather than creating an easy-to-dismiss strawman.

Read the rest of this response online at thhsclassic.com

14 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

OPINION

The Classic

EST. 1984

EDITORIAL STAFF

FROM THE EDITORS

Don’t be the social media-tors

S

O CI A L M E DI A i s undoubtedly intrinsic to the 21st century adolescent experience.

Nearly every student at Townsend Harris uses some form of social media, whether it be Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, or Instagram. Following an incident involving the presence of illegal substances on the physics class trip, teachers spoke of imposing restrictions on student social media rights during subsequent school trips. While admittedly social media stirs up controversy and has its drawbacks, it seems strange to respond to what was a drug-related problem with regulations on social media. Nonetheless, in the week after the trip, the junior class in particular began debating and discussing the proper role of social media during such incidents, and we believe it worth addressing.

Using social media can have a multitude of repercussions.

One smaller repercussion can be procrastination. Many students become preoccupied with social media, pulling their focus away from schoolwork. This is, however, up to students to control.

Cyberbullying, on the other hand, can have greater repercussions. It is unacceptable and should not be condoned under any conditions.

According to DOE policy, posts are categorized as cyberbullying when they have “the effect of substantially interfering with another student’s education,” “disrupting the orderly operation of school,” are “severe, persistent, or pervasive so that [they] create an intimidating or threatening educational environment,” or threaten to physically harm someone at school. It is important to restrict the nature of posts students make to ensure the aforementioned does not happen.

When an incident happens in public during a field trip, are students bullying others by sharing what happens? An argument could be made that social media just turns gossip into a public broadcast and that sharing what happens when a student gets into trouble publicly as it happens is wrong.

However, the posts students made during the physics trip did not fulfill this criteria. They did not threaten the student, but rather the school’s reputation. Most posts were by students who were reacting to their own situation: the possibility that they might be turned away from a trip that they paid for.

The Classic is an open forum for the expression of student views. The opinions expressed therein should not be taken to represent those of the administration or faculty, or of the student body as a whole.

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Sumaita Hasan Jason Lalljee NEWS EDITORS Olivia Chan Poonam Dass

SCIENCE & TECH Eunice Baik Emily Lei

FEATURES EDITORS Jillissa Drayton Rebecca Kwon

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORS Adam Sosnicki Faheema Syahbal Justice Williams

OPINION EDITORS Zion Kim Mohima Sattar

LAYOUT EDITOR Tasnim Abdelkarim

A&E EDITORS Hailey Lam Julliette Paul

COPY TEAM: Ilyssa Delos Reyes, Teresa Mettela, Sandhya Sewnauth

COPY EDITOR Jesal Parmar

LAYOUT TEAM: Blanca Capan, Bailey Chan, Noel Du, Tara Jackson, and William Mun

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Rebekah Jones SPORTS EDITORS Evan Noblesala Noah Silversmith

ART BY CLAUDIA CHANG

MANAGING EDITORS Mehrose Ahmad Ekta Rana

ADVISOR Brian Sweeney

On the physics trip this year, teachers admonished students for documenting their bus’ stop due to student drug possession on social media.

The tag “#freebusone” is generally innocuous and doesn’t target anyone specifically. In addition, the administration did not explicitly tell students not to post on social media platforms prior to the trip, so no one was under the impression that they were breaking the rules while they were posting.

Generally, limiting phone use on trips is unnecessary; there is nothing wrong with posting pictures of yourself with friends on trips and students need their phones to keep in contact with their parents, classmates and chaperones in case of an emergency. If a student uses social media irresponsibly, the school should direct the consequences solely toward that individual.

There’s no reason for collective punishments or the threat of collective punishments; the amount of social media used is simply too large to control. If one person or group’s posts are inflammatory and create a situation that impacts the education of others, they should be held accountable.

It is, however, difficult to determine boundaries with social media when phones seem so essential to other aspects of school or trips. For instance, at the end of a trip, teachers on buses all tell students when to contact their parents to pick them up. This ensures an orderly end to the trip and keeps teachers from having to wait longer for parents to arrive.

If a student gets lost, cell phones ensure student safety; permission

slips ask for this. In fact, many teachers give out their cell phone numbers to ensure this. It’s an entire system that depends on the use of cell phones.

Some teachers at THHS even engage with students on social media, further sending the message that smartphones are and should be a regular part of school life. By extension, that supposed sanction exists on school trips as well; it seems strange to use social media with students outside of class and then chastise them for doing just that: using social media outside of class, on a field trip. We assume that students should understand the boundaries with social media, but it is hard to follow rules that aren’t entirely written when social media is so expansive.

That said, students who want to use social media on school trips should be more wary of what they post; things put online should not inhibit the jobs of teachers who give up extra time to be on school trips without additional pay and ensure the safety of their students.

Students should be mindful of the potential cruelty of broadcasting the business of others to large communities, often not removable after being posted online.

Finally, teachers who want to educate students about not using social media for the wrong reasons should not be able to learn about their students’ poor use of it by being friends with them on Snapchat.

We welcome letters to the editor.

Townsend Harris High School 149-11 Melbourne Avenue Flushing, NY 11367 thhsclassic@gmail.com

The Classic reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and concision.

FROM THE EDITORS

Introducing the Class of 2016: Find our page on Facebook, which profiles the senior class as they prepare to graduate.

FROM THE EDITORS

Have an opinion on an article published in The Classic?

Want to have your thoughts on a topic published?

Write a “Letter to the Editor” and email it to thhsclassic@ gmail.com.

May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

15

PHOTO COURTESY OF MITCHELL MU

Mitchell Mu learned how to fly on a J-3 Piper Cub.

E R U T A E F GY O L O N H C TE & E C N E I A SC

S E K A T U M

S E I K S E H TO T R FF WRITE A T S , N I ZAROW

by DAVID

"When you are 2,000 [feet] in the air and you [look] down, you come to the realization that no worries can reach you."

- MITCHELL MU

W

AR TB

YN

OE

LD U

HILE MOST high school juniors are throwing paper airplanes at their friends, Harrisite Mitchell Mu flies real ones. After training with an instructor at the Andover Flight Academy for the last year, Mitchell has completed his first solo flight, and is looking to earn a pilot’s license as well as a career in Aerospace Engineering. But when did his enamor of the sky take off? “My love of flight started when I was a small child. Whenever we drove by LaGuardia Airport I would fixate on the planes that were landing or taking off. [When I began to travel I would] sit in awe inside the planes as they would take me to my destination and ask the pilots of the jumbo jets to see the cockpits.”

When Mitchell arrived at THHS two years ago, he had no idea what he wanted to do in the future. An avid builder, he chose to take the plunge and join the Robotics team. Even though designing, programming, and constructing robots appealed to his strengths, Mitchell knew he needed something more. “It was the year I joined Science Olympiad that I knew I found my calling. As fate would have it, there was an event called Wright Stuff. The goal was to build a lightweight airplane with wood, powered by a rubber band, that stayed airborne [for] the longest [amount of time]. I won first place at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Invitational and NYC Regional competitions. It was an amazing feeling

to finally connect my love of airplanes, of engineering, and the Wright Stuff competitions.”

When asked about how his piloting knowledge has affected his Science Olympiad training, Mitchell responded, “I formulated solutions as to why the plane was stalling at a certain angle, how to adjust the flight path of the plane in a circle, how much torque the rubber band needed to spin the propeller, and how to adjust the bank of the plane in flight.”

After his numerous successes in Science Olympiad, Mitchell began to research flying actual planes. Every weekend possible he’d head over to the flight academy and learn from an instructor about piloting a J-3 Piper Cub, also known as a tail dragger plane. “When I first walked onto [the] small Piper Cub plane and I performed my first takeoff and landing, my whole view on life changed,” he said. “When you are 2,000 [feet] in the air and you [look] down, you come to the realization that no worries can reach you.

You are so focused on flying, there is no way to worry about a small problem you have on the ground.”

16 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

SPORTS ESPN 30 for 30: Joseph Canzoneri, A Baseball Life

by Benjamin Chang, Staff Writer

THE LONG-awaited matchup between Townsend Harris and Forest Hills pit the Hawks against one of Townsend’s very own faculty members, English teacher Joseph Canzoneri, head coach of the Rangers. A two game set, both teams won their respective home games, with the Hawks winning the first game 6-1 and the Rangers taking the second 5-3.

Junior Alex Lebeau tossed a gem at Kissena Park in the first game, pitching a complete game and stymieing the Rangers offense, limiting them to just one run. While the Hawks were unable to sweep the Rangers, losing at PALS Oval, Alex relished the chance to play against one of his own teachers. “To play against Mr. Canzoneri was actually lots of fun,” he stated. “To see him at the field all pumped up and ready to go definitely gives you an extra incentive to go all out.“ On playing against THHS and some of his current and former students, Mr. Canzoneri said, “It’s fun. I’m a competitive guy, I don’t like to lose, but at the same time, you try to be a gentleman about things. It’s always good to see athletes competing and succeeding.”

Baseball has always been a significant part of Mr. Canzon-

eri’s life. He played competitively from the second grade until he was 19, in various Little Leagues, CYO leagues, travel teams, as well as St. Francis Prep’s junior varsity team. “I’m left handed, so I always pitched and played first base,” he explained. “I didn’t really have a great glove defensively, [but I had a] decent bat, more like a profile #2 hitter with decent power. [I could] spray the ball around, walk, bunt, hit and run,” he said.

Mr. Canzoneri, in part, was influenced to play by Yankee legends such as Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson. “I was a kid for much of the great Yankee teams of the late 70s...I remember taking the train to Yankee Stadium, even though the Mets were right here in Queens. Believe it or not, when I play lotto, which is pretty rare, the six numbers I’ll pick will be the jersey numbers of the first six Yankees from those teams.”

Although his playing career never took off, Mr. Canzoneri’s

coaching career began serendipitously. An unexpected vacancy in the Forest Hills’ varsity baseball coaching job led him to take on the position while he was an English teacher at the school. The rest, they say, is history. When his twin sons became old enough to play baseball, he gave up high school coaching to coach Little League baseball. Nearly two decades of almost year-round coaching later, Mr. Canzoneri is energetic as ever, and back coaching at Forest Hills, where he led the team to a 14-2 record in the regu-

lar season and the PSAL Varsity A Division championship last year. “[My sons] would legitimately play 60 to 70 games a year between Little League teams, travel teams, summer ball, and fall ball,” he described. “And it’s something that I love. I’m happy in a theater in the wintertime, working on a show, and I’m very happy being on a baseball field [the rest of the year.]”

Senior Mason Rivero, who won several district championships playing on a travel team coached by Mr. Canzoneri, praised his spirited coaching style.

“As a coach, he knows how to get to know you off the field, and at the same time, motivate you while you’re on it. The number one thing he could always do is give you the confidence boost you needed.” Mason also attributes much of his current success as an athlete to Mr. Canzoneri. “I owe everything to him for giving me that chance [to play on his team] and fueling my passion for the game,” he expressed.

Alex, one of Mr. Canzoneri’s AP English Literature students, noted Mr. Canzoneri’s similari-

ties on and off the field. “He’s very upbeat, serious when he needs to be and always focused on what’s at hand. [Baseball] is something he’s very passionate about.” On top of coaching baseball, Mr. Canzoneri is also an avid participant in fantasy baseball and known for occasionally incorporating baseball into his lessons, notably in his teaching of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, The Great Gatsby.

And as for why he does not coach Townsend’s baseball team, Mr. Canzoneri cited his involvement in the school play. “To do both [coaching and directing] at one time really is a pain in the neck,” he exclaimed.

While Mr. Canzoneri no longer plays baseball, he certainly plans to continue coaching it, even after his retirement from teaching. “[While] I don’t think a retiree should be someone to direct the school play, I’m trying to weigh my options for down the road, [and] coaching is absolutely a yes.”

Here’s to further analysis of Meyer Wolfsheim and the Black Sox Scandal, fiery fits on the stage and on the baseball diamond, and perhaps a future production of Take Me Out—once more male students join the school play, of course.

"I owe everything [to Mr. Canzoneri] for giving me that chance...and fueling my passion for the game."

- Mason Rivero PHOTO BY ADAM SOSNICKI

May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

17

SPORTS

Athletes continue to shine over the summer break

Boys track compete in Penn Relays

by Daniel Singh, Staff Writer

by George Adamou, Staff Writer

SUMMER VACATION is a time for many Harrisites to lay low and relax after a stressful school year. However, for many Harrisite athletes, the summer is the time for them to concentrate on their sports and use this newfound time to train for their respective sport.

For junior Louis Nicolosi, a member of the Townsend Harris boys baseball and basketball teams, during the summer he travels around the east coast to play baseball. Louis has been playing travel baseball for nine years and is currently playing for the Midville Dodgers, a baseball organization located in Middle Village.

In his first year playing for the Dodgers, Louis will be faced with a demanding schedule as the team plans to practice and play games six times a week. On top of this grueling regimen, the team will also be traveling to Cincinnati and Indiana for two tournaments. As he puts it, “It’s wild.” However, for the most part, the team will play in local tournaments around the city.

Junior Alexander Lebeau, a teammate of Louis for two sports,

is a member of the THHS baseball, basketball, and bowling teams.

Alex plans on continuing to play baseball for the Middle Village Twins, a team he has been playing for for eight years and counting.

“We travel all around New York as well as tournaments in other states,” said Alexander.

Putting summer baseball up against PSAL, Alexander added, “Summer ball is great because you are all relaxed, records don’t matter as much and all of your friends are there. I never really feel stressed about games no matter when they are.”

Although his schedule isn’t as nearly as strenuous as Louie’s, Alex plans to work on his own in order to get better. “I’m planning on running twice a day, going to the gym and eating healthy,” he said.

Junior Alexis Sarabia, a member of the varsity wrestling and swimming teams plans to continue swimming and training with a team called the Cross Island YMCA Barracudas for which she has swam for ten years and counting. The Barracudas don’t compete over the summer, but they train

to stay in shape for their fall season. They swim at the Jones Beach Bath houses and at the Cross Island YMCA facility.

She will also practice wrestling and plans to join a wrestling camp run by the wrestling organization “Beat the Streets” for the first time.

As for why she trains in the summer, Alexis said, “I just want to improve my technique and endurance in both sports. I don’t want to get out of shape over the summer because when competition season comes around, I don’t want to waste time by just getting back into shape.”

Sophomore Carmela Lopez plans to follow a workout regiment by the cross country team to help herself stay fit and get better for the PSAL season.

Even though Carmela feels that school season training sessions are more effective, she still enjoys working on her own time and being able to create her own schedule for workouts. When asked about the major difference between PSAL training and summer training, she added, “I feel like I’m actually pushing myself more.”

THE BOYS outdoor track team took part in the Penn Relays, an annual competition has been held since 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The event was held from April 29 to April 30. On the first day of the event, the boys placed 12th in the 4x800 meter run and 316th in the 4x100 meter run. The runners for the 4x800 were juniors Justice Williams and Muhamed Bicic, and seniors Dysron Marshall and Abdoulaye Diallo, who all finished with a combined time of eight minutes and 14 seconds.

As for the 4x100, the squad comprised of juniors Zbigniew Szczerba and Alex Chen, and seniors Owen Larosiliere and Fahim Nousad, who compiled a time of 54.26 seconds.

Several communication errors resulted in unsatisfactory results on the first day of the meet. But the boys came out strong the following day and won their heat in the 4x400 meter run with a time of three minutes and 29 seconds.

Atoning for the previous day’s

performance, the team was a few seconds shy from setting the school record for this event.

As for performing better in future meets, Zbigniew said that team communication is an area in which the team needs to improve, especially in baton passing, a mistake that caused the 4x100 team to place second to last.

Regarding the team’s overall performance, junior Muhamed Bicic commented, “I’m glad we had the opportunity to represent our school on a national scale.

We didn’t perform our best relay time, but due to how early it is in the season, we are content with our performance. We look forward to progressing as a relay and tackling more invitationals.”

BE Adventurous.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ED YAKER

WRITE.

Creative Writing Classes. College Essay Coaching. w w w. g o t h a m w r i t e r s . c o m

18 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT IT WAS ONLY NINETY-NINE CENTS: An Arts & Entertainment look at thrifting

by Kristiana Deur, Francesca Filiberti, Hailey Lam & Julliette Paul, Staff Writers & A&E Editors HAVING TO choose an outfit to wear to school every day can become a hassle when teenagers are given limited places to shop.

In a world of mainstream stores, many Townsend Harris High School students have decided to take up thrift shopping to find interesting and cheap clothing for

their everyday needs. Thrift shops offer donated items, especially clothing, to the public for less than retail price. Through social media outlets such as YouTube and Tumblr, THHS students have grown more aware of this cheaper alternative.

While thrift shopping, it can

be difficult to become accustomed to scouring and diving into the piles of clothing and miscellaneous items and although students seem to have favorable opinions on the activity, thrift shopping has both its pros and its cons.

“I got it at a thrift store,” is a phrase that once would’ve been

met with scorn years ago. It was the equivalent of admitting that you didn’t have the means to buy clothing elsewhere and that you were unhygienic.

Thrift shops can be found all around the city to explore, but many THHS students recommend Cure Thrift Shop in Manhattan, in

which all proceeds are donated to a diabetes research center. Other thrift shops include the Bayside Thrift Shop in Flushing and The Worthy Pause in Bayside.

While for some thrift shopping is just another way to buy signature pieces, for others it’s a necessity, not a privilege.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

ART BY WILLIAM MUN

THE CLASSIC

May/June 2016

19

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

HE GOT THE VELCRO: SNEAKERHEADS AT TOWNSEND

by Mohit Chandra & Hailey Lam, Staff Writer & A&E Editor THEY WALK among us.

Wearing bright colors, outlandish designs, and logos emblazoned across the sides and back. If you’re observant, you can catch a glimpse of them among the sea of black, gray, and white—sneakerheads.

Coined to describe fanatic sneaker collectors, the name is synonymous with lines that wrap around blocks and an almost fanatic reverence of sneakers. There is a sense of community among people who collect and trade sneakers.

Senior Harkaran Kumar says, “It’s not like every other person you meet is a sneakerhead so it’s nice to meet a fellow sneakerhead because there’s an instant connection with a person.” This passion for buying sneakers unites a group of people; eccentric lingo developed and exchanged between fellow sneakerheads. This solidarity is the product of their search for the rarest, most unique and most elusive sneakers.

With the advent of social media sites, selling and purchasing sneakers is easier than ever, with much of the advertising being done on a social platform. It allows for the sneaker industry to appeal directly to those who are interested, and for the individuals within the community, to connect with one another. However, for all the benefits that social media has given sneakerheads, there are many drawbacks. It’s easy to be scammed, like junior Alvin Hsu, who thought he found a pair of sneakers for a low price from a seller. “They seemed real and the meetup was in Brooklyn. I went to the meetup which was over an hour train ride and the guy showed up with fake db 4s,” he says. If Alvin hadn’t gone with his friend, he would have bought the shoes and gotten scammed. “[With] these kind of big shoes, you need

someone with experience because if you don’t know your sneakers, you can get scammed so easily.”

This subculture involves a cycle of buying, selling, and reselling.

Alvin is an active participant, describing, “I got a pair of beats when I was little and I decided to trade that for military blues and after that the game begun and I just continued the cycle. Copped and resold.” This process allows sneakerheads to fund their hobby, which is incredibly costly.

Many students will go to great lengths and spend large amounts of money in an effort to attain these sneakers. Senior Mason Rivero is willing to spend up to 400 dollars on a pair of sneakers. Alvin sometimes spends 2,500 dollars on a pair of sneakers. However most students are only willing to spend from 200 to 250 dollars with a few exceptions like junior Louis Colosi who spends 2,700 on sneakers and Aman who spends 750 dollars. Why are people so willing to spend so much money on a pair of sneakers? Sneakers are an important symbol of socioeconomic status and are a way for teens to emulate rap stars and athletes. Alvin says, “They look cool, and you think it gets you girls.”

But it’s more than that—the love for sneakers became a nationwide craze in the 80’s and 90s. After “My Adidas” by Run DMC came out, sneakers began being integrawted into pop culture. Wearing sneakers was seen as a way to emulate idols. When Adidas’ Yeezys came out, Harkaran was immediately enraptured.

“I really like Kanye as a rapper, so when I saw them I was immediately interested. He hyped them up so much by wearing them and other celebrities wore them, which made me want them more,” he said. Junior Joshua Sin-

BY ASIYA JAFFER

PHOTO BY FAHEEMA SYAHBAL

Pictured: A pair of Air Jordans, a staple sneakerhead brand.

gavarpu comments, “Since Kanye West made the [Yeezy Boosts], the sneakers sold out instantly, and the prices surrounding the sneakers skyrocketed.”

There are other categories that sneaker fanatics look for when deciding to invest in a pair of sneakers. A lot of work is put into the design, texture, size, shape, and color all while remaining rooted in the athletic world. When shopping for sneakers Harkaran looks for different things, “If I like the colorway and the shape of it. Or if I know I can resell it for a good profit.”

For many people, wearing sneakers is a form of expression.

A lot can be gathered from a quick glance at someone’s feet, many sneakers being associated with movements and ideas, representative of entire generations. Wearing brand names was a way for people to label themselves. Converses are associated with a movement against the conventional and societal rules, gearing toward authenticity, while Nike represents the future and an alliance with athletes.

A person’s choice to wear either of these shoes could have several implications, it acts as a medium in which people can convey certain ideas to the public.

Sneaker culture represents a sneakers connection to art, sports and society. It acts as a status symbol, a result of some sneakers’ exclusivity and price. They are a quintessential part of American culture.

EXPLORING THE SPENDTHRIFT TREND Purchases from malls, commercial stores and outlets may run up a higher bill than what some can afford to spend on clothing.

Thus they turn to thrift stores in hopes of finding things that are more practical for their wallets.

Thrifting is the embodiment of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

The used nature of the clothes means that the merchandise isn’t perfect, but it is also nice to know that the pieces have a history behind them. Sophomore Emily Gomez advises to “check if the clothing has holes or is worn out as well as [washing] the clothes from a thrift shop a couple times before using it no matter how clean it looks” to make sure that the clothes are in the best condition possible.

The original lure of these shops was because of the inexpensive prices, no mattter the wear

and tear. Whole outfits could be bought at a cheap price and some individual items of clothing could be bought for less than a bus ride.

Although one of the great perks of thrift shopping is its reduced prices junior Sabrina Cheng states that she finds herself “buying a lot of things from thrift shops because they are cheap” but not wearing them afterwards.

A great way to combat this is to customize the clothing to make it more fit for your style. Senior Daniel Tan has used this method in the past, “I DIY-ed a shirt by removing the collar, for instance, or cutting off shoulder pads, or adding pins.”

Thrift shopping also allows for fun outings with friends and family as explained by sophomore Olivia Piechocinski whose introduction with thrift shopping was with her grandma who “liked to

Bold Colors and Two-Pieces at Prom 2016

go to thrift shops to look for thread and buttons because she said that she could always find more interesting things there.”

Thrifting has become more of a trendy choice as described in detail by songs like Macklemore’s and Ryan Lewis’ ’“Thrift Shop,” which went viral in 2013. The lyrics, “Coppin’ it, washin’ it, ‘bout to go and get some compliments” indicates the process most take after buying pieces from a thrift shop.

An advantage of this newfound popularity is that the old stigma against thrift shops is gradually being eroded.

The claims that thrifted items are smelly, dirty or someone’s handmedowns have begun to take on a more positive spin. Even for those who have never been thrifting themselves, the idea of thrifting clothes has entered the fashion zeitgeist as “cool.”

PHOTO BY HAILEY LAM

Joanna Huo models a two-piece dress.

THE BIGGEST fashion event of the THHS calendar is less than two weeks away, and seniors are cramming in last minute hair appointments, dress alterations, promposals and tux fittings. Don’t get at the (Water’s) Edge of your seat; this year we’ll be dancing until dawn at Russo’s on the Bay. There are a couple of red flags we should be on the look out for, but a fiery red prom dress isn’t one. Seniors Faheema Syahbal and Maryum Begum are among the daring gals bold enough to make a hue-tiful fashion statement on June 2. Maryum says, “I didn’t want anything ordinary. I think red is so eye-catching and bold compared to the usual classic prom colors.” Their dresses are solid red and simply cut, some fashioned with slits and others embellished with lace.

Because of the vibrant color, detailing and decoration should be kept minimal and simplistic, as should accessories and shoes.

From elegant clutches to delicate jewels, neutrals are the ideal pairings for these red-hot fashionistas.

Seniors Victoria Wozny, Smriti Vaidya, and Samantha Quinn are exiting a piece (or two) of the prom comfort zone and are setting trends for the rising seniors. Victoria says, “I decided to go with a two-piece because I love how unconventional it is. It’s actually a lot more comfortable too!” These dresses are gaining popularity in the virtual prom mall along with stores and companies like Estelle’s and Sherri Hill, due to their atypical shape and lengthening effect.

The (a)typical gown contains an embellished crop top with chunky, dazzling jewels as sported by Smriti Vaidya. The maxi skirt is usually left with little to no adornment, other than the hue. Some dresses create the opposite effect, with a simple crop top and an ombre skirt.

n

20 May/June 2016

THE CLASSIC

THE THHS DOODLE ARCHIVE

by Gustavo Delgado & Hiba Sohail, Staff Writers IN A school that prides itself in its collective intellect, creativity, and drive, it’s no surprise that doodles can be found even in the strangest of places. From a teacher’s perspective, doodling seems to be an obvious sign of disregard for class work and their lessons. However, from a student’s view, it’s a medium of creative expression that keeps them awake during less stimulating classes.

Senior Ivanka Juran states, “I not only doodle because it’s fun and it helps me practice my art skills. Doodling helps me because I’m a very visual person. If I remember what I’m drawing when I hear the teacher saying something it can become easier to recall.”

On the other hand, AP World History teacher John O’Malley strongly believes, “[Students] are obligated to bring to class their concentration and attention and avoid... distraction.” In his opinion, if a student is not focused entirely on the task at hand, whether it be because of doodling or other assignments, then they cannot be prepared to participate in class.

Sophomore Nalini Ramdeo states, “Doodling, even with its appeal, is a distraction and takes away from the class as a whole.”

Art teacher Margherita Wischerth disagrees and insists, “I do think it’s possible for students to integrate doodling into their notes.” She further pointed out, “There is a difference between doodling and sketching, doodling is mindless marks, sketching is when someone has a desire... it’s drawing.”

A study conducted by psychologist Jackie Andrade of the University of Plymouth, published in the 2009 Applied Cognitive Psychology journal, showed doodlers actually retain more information than non-do odlers. The result of t h e controlled

experiment showed that in a group of 40 participants, 20 doodlers retained information in greater detail from a boringly tedious voice mail as compared to those not allowed to doodle.

Designer and author Milton Glaser states, “When you draw an object, the mind becomes deeply intensely attentive and it’s that act of attention that allows you to really grasp something, to become fully conscious of it.”

Author Sunni Brown, who is known for being “Infodoodler in Chief” at Sunni Brown Ink, a visual thinking consultancy and author of The Doodle Revolution, says, ““I know that doodling has a profound impact on the way that we can process information a n d the way that we can solve problems.”

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