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tuftsdaily.com
$2.1 million dollar grant enables Tufts to train graduate students to teach in public schools BY
AMELIA QUINN
CJ SARACENO | BAN TOGETHER
Don’t do the Loko-motion
Daily Editorial Board
As college students, it’s easy to see the importance of great teachers — students often choose or avoid courses based on the professor’s reputation, no matter what the subject. It is for precisely this reason that, around the country, school officials have emphasized the urgency of recruiting strong teaching candidates. At Tufts, the need for more high-quality public-school teachers, specifically of mathematics and natural sciences, is being addressed with a budding scholarship program for graduate students of education. The National Science Foundation has given Tufts a $2.1 million dollar grant to fund Tufts’ participation in the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, which works with universities around the country to prepare Master of Arts in Teachers (MAT) candidates to teach math and science to middle and high school students. The program is currently working with Tufts mathematics, natural science and education professors to train eight graduate students in 2011 who will go on to teach at public schools after earning their degrees. It plans to work with an additional eight students beginning in 2012. The program also provides mentoring and monetary support during participants’ first four years of teaching subsequent to the completion of their education. “The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program is for … MAT students who are interested in teaching math or science at the middle or high school levels in high-need urban districts,” Todd Quinto, a professor of mathematics at Tufts and one of the schol-
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JUSTIN MCCALLUM/TUFTS DAILY
Next year, eight Tufts students will be chosen to participate in a program that will turn them into quality middle and high school teachers. arship program’s investigators, said. “The scholarship … provides students, known as Noyce teaching fellows, with full tuition scholarships, more than $20,000 to cover living expenses and internships under the guidance of an experienced teacher. Upon completing the year-long MAT program, fellows commit to teach in a middle or high school in Boston or in a similar urban district for at least four years.” As an additional support system for the teachers-in-training, Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) Human Resources office provides assistance for Noyce Fellows applying for teaching positions at local public schools. “The Residency Model of the Noyce
Teacher Fellows Program is highly regarded by BPS as an effective way to prepare teachers [for] urban classrooms,” Quinto said. “During each of their four years of teaching, fellows will receive a stipend of $13,500 in addition to their annual salary and are eligible to take one class per year at Tufts University without any additional cost.” According to Linda Beardsley, director of teacher education in the Department of Education at Tufts’ Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the new program is a response not just to a local insufficiency of teachers but a national one. see NOYCE, page 4
The North End: Pastry shops to suit every taste BY JON
CHENG
Daily Editorial Board
As many Jumbos will attest, a trip to Boston’s North End is not complete without a stop at one of its many iconic pastry shops. But with such variety and with different loyalists swearing by each shop, it’s hard to know what you’re signing up for when you join one of the many long lines of hungry customers dotting the North End’s streets. The first step to a successful pastry hunt is to know the shops. Maria’s Pastry Shop: Warm service and tradition (46 Cross St.) Opened less than 30 years ago, Maria’s Pastry Shop is younger than some of its competitors, but owner Maria Merola more than makes up for its newcomer status with the traditional Italian family recipes she uses to make her fresh pastries every morning.
As the shop is not as bustling as some of its better-known neighbors, Maria often finds the time to chat with her customers and provide recommendations — which customers can certainly use given the variety the store offers. On display are 15 varieties of cookies and eight kinds of cake, which include everything from the traditional Tiramisu to Zuppa Inglese, a cake made from savoiardi (lady finger cookies), Amerena cherries, chocolate and vanilla cream, rum flavoring and fresh whipped cream. Her speciality, however, is Sfogliatelle, a traditional Neapolitan sweet filled with ricotta cheese, semolina flour and citrus fruit. Merola said that the pastry, which resembles a dense croissant, makes for an excellent breakfast food because of its subtle taste, which carries a hint of orange marmalade. “It’s not sweet like any other pastry,” Beth Applebaum, a tour guide based in the North End and frequenter of Maria’s, told the Daily. “And [the Sfogliatelle], like all other pastries,
“To be honest, I should actually teach this class. I am so good, I could give classes to the professor.” —Tufts student outside Braker Hall “Ugh. I hate Wednesdays. They’re just like the Porter Square T stop — unnecessary.” —teenage girl on the phone
“I just shower Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends — nothing more is necessary.” —a student outside the library
is really fresh, and there aren’t any preservatives, which shows how much the people here in this bakery really care about quality.” According to Merola, she sells between 500 and 1,000 Sfogiatelle per week, making it by far the shop’s most popular item. Her second best-selling item is the Panettone, a sweet traditional Milanese bread — the only one handmade in the North End, Merola said. Although Merola also offers cannoli, she only makes them on days when she believes there will be high customer traffic as cannoli enthusiasts usually flock to the nearby Mike’s or Modern Pastry. While she considers Mike’s and Modern Pastry competitors, Merola explained that her shop occupies a niche that sets it apart. “I’m traditional and they’re commercial,” Merola said. “We offer pastries that are different from what you normally expect from traditional Italian pastry shops.” see PASTRIES, page 4
“I think I need to go to ‘Family Guy’ rehab. Is there a place for that?” —addict in the Eaton Hall lobby
“After two weeks, the Chilean miners sent up a note that said, ‘Send booze please,’ and they got back a note that said, ‘Sorry, we don’t serve miners.’” —MBTA bus driver —compiled by the Daily Features Department
Overheard something funny? Want to profess your love? Need to give a shout-out to that kid you always see unicycling on campus? E-mail features@tuftsdaily.com with the subject “Overherd on the Hill.”
he fervor to ban Four Loko, a popular alcoholic beverage and energy drink, has reached unprecedented heights. Just this Friday, the state of Michigan banned the item, citing its 12 percent alcohol content and colorful design, which legislators see as an appeal to the youth market. Other university administrators are already fully cognizant of the threat posed by this miracle drink — Harvard, Boston College and Northeastern have all issued warnings to their student bodies. The problem with Four Loko is that once it gains a foothold, its steady and disseminative leakage into surrounding communities soon becomes a flood that rapidly converts innocent people into dedicated consumers. The town that makes up half of our campus, Somerville, seeks to reverse this trend by banning Four Loko. That’s right, city officials — and, more specifically, Alderman-at-Large Bruce Desmond — want to ban Four Loko. Some view Alderman’s ill-fated attempt to save his community from a worldwide trend as a noble effort, but the college community will likely disapprove. However, before readers pass judgment on Desmond’s motion, I urge them to consider the ban as an opportunity for a groundswell of active citizenship. This active citizenship will save our campus, culminating in a movement that will unite the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, the Institute for Global Leadership, the Leonard Carmichael Society, the Tufts Peer Health Exchange and the Daily Features Department. These student groups must form a coalition with local politicians in an attempt to ban Four Loko on the basis that it will relieve the tension stemming from our strained “town-gown” relationship. By engaging with the disenfranchised community of Somerville, we could improve our standing with townies everywhere while giving our student activist population some experience in true social justice. The problem is that as progressive-minded as Tufts students are, few of them would ever consider banning Four Loko. The benefits of the drink are simply too difficult to pass up: It gets you very drunk in a short amount of time, it keeps you awake long after the Tufts University Police Department has shut down every party within a five-mile radius, and it’s more economical than dropping five dollars for a cup at some hipster’s basement costume party where the keg will be kicked before you manage to get even one refill. Four Loko even tastes better than beer — you just need to discover your right flavor, a sensation only comparable to a Na’vis from “Avatar” (2009) first mounting his lifelong Ikran. Four Loko also addresses the personal needs of Tufts’ social scene. Who needs beer goggles when you can wear Four Loko’s virtual reality headset — the beverage unfailingly renders even the most unsightly of potential partners into a palatable option. They don’t call it “blackout in a can” for nothing. Despite these various benefits, the activists of Tufts must ban Four Loko. They must ignore claims made by the manufacturer of the drink, Phusion Projects, which recently declared, “when consumed responsibly, [Four Loko] is just as safe as any other alcoholic beverage.” Instead, these activists must point out that Four Loko is a harmful drug that poses a threat to unassuming consumers. They must join me in declaring that the party is over, and in order to avoid a life-crushing societal hangover, we must renounce our consumption of Four Loko. And we must do it alongside our fellow progressive-minded legislators and city officials, whose desire to intrude on private life remains intact despite voters’ recent backlash against such measures. Such perseverance should motivate the true active citizens of Tufts to bridge the gap with our townie brethren in order to save the world from Four Loko once and for all. CJ Saraceno is a senior majoring in political science. He can be reached at Christopher. Saraceno@tufts.edu.
