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Revision as of 21:01, 11 January 2006 by 152.163.100.130 (talk) (flagrant violations)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Stuyvecrap High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| New York City, New York United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | THIS SCHOOL SUCKS (For knowledge and wisdom) |
| Established | 1904 |
| Principal | Stanley Teitel |
| Faculty | 200 |
| Number of students | approx. 3,200 |
| Mascot | Pegleg Pete |
| Colors | Red and blue |
| Website | http://www.stuy.edu |
Stuyvesant High School (nicknamed Stuy) is one of 7 of New York City's specialized math- and science-based public high schools. The school was founded in 1904. Admission to Stuyvesant, which is run by the New York City Department of Education, is by competitive examination and there is no tuition fee. The school is noted for its famous alumni, its academics, and the large number of graduates attending prestigious universities.
See also: Bronx Science, Brooklyn Technical High School
Enrollment
BRONX SCI OWNS STUY however, Stuyvesant has a total enrollment of about 3,200 and is open to residents of New York City entering either ninth or tenth grade. Enrollment is based solely on performance on the Specialized High School Admission Test (SHSAT), formerly known as the Specialized Science High School Admission Test because the three schools which used that test were all science oriented. Those original three schools were Stuyvesant, the Bronx High School of Science, and Brooklyn Technical High School. Three other schools were later added to the list, all using the same test for admission. Those schools are High School of American Studies at Lehman College, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, and High School for Math, Engineering and Science at City College. The test score necessary for admission to Stuyvesant since its relocation to its Battery Park City campus has been the highest thus far of the schools . Admission is currently a matter of score on the examination as well as an individual's choice ( the applicants ranking of the school) among the specialized schools. Of New York City's 90,000 eighth-graders, about 22,000 sit for the test each year, while about 800 of the highest scoring applicants are admitted to their first choice school. Ninth and rising tenth graders are also eligible to take the test for enrollment, though far fewer students are admitted this way.
Those who score in the second-highest score bracket are offered admission to their second-choice school, while those who score in the third-highest bracket are offered admission to their third choice school. According to Article 12 of New York education law, "Admissions to the Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, and Brooklyn Technical High School shall be solely and exclusively by taking a competitive, objective, and scholastic achievement examination, which shall be open to each and every child in the city of New York." . The current admission policy (with the addition of newer specialized high schools American Studies at Lehman College]], Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, and High School for Math, Engineering and Science at City College ) is spelled out at .
"While Stuyvesant accepts students purely on their performance on the SSHSAT, John Lindsay and ACORN have argued that, like the SAT and other standardized exams, the exam may be biased against African and Hispanic Americans. For further information, see the articles on Stuyvesant's student body and standardized testing."
Stuyvesant has contributed to the education of several Nobel laureates, winners of the Fields Medal and the Wolf Prize, and a host of accomplished alumni. It consistently leads the nation in number of National Merit Scholarships and is second only to the Bronx High School of Science in the number of Intel (formerly Westinghouse) Science Talent Search Semi-Finalists and Finalists. Stuyvesant sends nearly all its students off to four year universities and around 15 percent go on to the Ivy League.
Stuyvesant graduates earn an average SAT score of about 1400 (685 verbal, 723 math). . Stuyvesant also was the high school with the highest number of Advanced Placement exams taken, and also the highest number of students reaching the mastery level. Stuyvesant celebrated the graduation of its centennial class in 2004.
History
Stuyvesant High School is named after Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New Netherland before the ownership of the colony was transferred to England in 1664.
The school was established in 1904 as a manual training school for boys, hosting 155 students and 12 faculty. In 1907, it moved from its original location at 225 East 23rd Street to 345 East 15th Street, where it remained for the following 85 years. Its reputation for excellence in math and science continued to grow, and the school had to be put on a double session in the early 1920s to accommodate the rising number of students. In the 1930s, admission tests were implemented, making it even more competitive. During the 1950s, a $2 million renovation was done on the building to update its classrooms, shops, libraries and cafeterias.
In 1969, 14 girls enrolled at Stuyvesant, marking the school's first co-educational year. Now approximately 43% of the total student body is female.
In 1957, a team of 50 students began construction of a cyclotron, with the project sponsored by the physics department. By 1962, a low-power test of the device succeeded, while by account of Matt Deming '62, a later attempt at full-power operation "tanked the electrical system for the building and surrounding area". According to Abraham Baumel, Stuyvesant principal from 1983–1994, "... I can tell you with certainty that the cyclotron never worked at Stuyvesant any more than it did for Ernest Orlando Lawrence, and he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his invention of the cyclotron. The Russians never succeeded in getting one to work, either."
In 1972, Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science, Stuyvesant High School, and La Guardia High School of Arts were combined by the New York State Legislature as specialized high schools of New York City. The act called for an uniform exam to be administered for admission to Brooklyn Technical High School, Bronx High School of Science, and Stuyvesant High School. The exam would become known as the Specialized Science High Schools Admission Test (SSHSAT) and tested students in math and science.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Stuyvesant was stricken by the AIDS epidemic, with at least four teachers dying from that disease.
There has been many issues that Stuyvesant students and parents have not been made fully aware of including, the asbestos in the air , and long term exposure risks due to 9/11 (Stuyvesants close vicinity to the World Trade Center). The studies are with students still taking classes in a potentially harmful waste hazard. Like lead poisoning, this could cause potential brain damage as well as respiratory issues.
In the early 2000s, Gary He '02 started the now-defunct stuynet.com, a website where students could rate their teachers, although he later shut down the evaluation section after mathematics teacher Bruce Winokur threatened a libel suit. Words left on the website read "Teacher Evaluations is currently down but will soon be back better than ever. The vox populi must be heard." Stuynet.com now lives on under its new alias, stuycom.net, after ownership was transferred to Josh Weinstein '05. Stuycom.net is currently under the ownership of Gui Bessa '08, and the Teacher Evaluations are disabled. Most students now use the Stuyvesant section of RateMyTeachers.com to post teacher evaluations.
Moviegoers may be able to recognize the school from several scenes in the movie Hackers, filmed in November, 1994 using upperclassmen as extras.
School facilities
By the 1980s,the East 15th Street building was no longer a quality educational facility by modern standards, and the student body had also increased to several thousand and could not be accommodated by the five-storey building. The New York City Board of Education secured an agreement with the Battery Park City Authority for a new building, and construction began in 1989. The new ten-floor building, located near lower Manhattan's financial district, was constructed at a cost of about $148 million, and includes 65 classrooms with about 450 computers on 13 networks, various indoor sporting facilities including a pool built to Public Schools Athletic League standards, a theater with acoustics and lighting to accommodate music and drama productions, two lecture halls with movable partitions, a skylit cafeteria overlooking the Hudson River, 12 science laboratories (including a molecular biology lab and an analytical chemistry lab) and special shops for instruction in ceramics, photography, wood, plastics, metal work, robotics, and energy studies. One room in the Stuyvesant building, called the "Museum Room", is a replica of one of the rooms in the old Stuyvesant building, with desks, chairs, a table and blackboard from the old building, as well as period style paint and flooring. The room is dedicated to teacher Dr. A. Edward Stefanacci, who died in 1993. The school's library has a capacity of 40,000 volumes and overlooks Battery Park City. The new building is one of the 5 additional sites of P721M, a district 75 school for older (aged 15-21) students with multiple disabilities and mental retardation. Wheelchair-bound students can sometimes be seen throughout the building. Some teachers remark on the unusual juxtaposition of the gifted with the disabled. The New York City Department of Education reports that public per student spending at Stuyvesant is slightly lower than the city average. However, Stuyvesant also receives some private contributions. Shortly after the new building was completed, the $10 million TriBeCa Bridge was built to allow students to enter the building without having to cross the busy West Street.
Glass boxes set into various places in the building's wall hold mementos from the year of each graduating class. Items displayed include water from most large rivers, mud from the Dead Sea, a Revolutionary War button, pieces of the old Stuyvesant building and of monuments around the world, and various chemical compounds. In 1997 the mathematics wing was dedicated to Dr. Richard Rothenberg, the math department chairman before his death from a sudden heart attack in 1997. The Rothenberg memorial, commissioned in his honor, is a wall made up of 50 of these boxes, each featuring a concept in mathematics.
Centennial celebration
Stuyvesant celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding in 2004. Events began on October 19, 2003 with "The Stuy Strut", a walk from the old Stuyvesant building to the new one, symbolizing the transition. During March, Stuyvesant and City College hosted the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology, while June 6th was the all-class reunion. Celebrations were concluded with the centennial homecoming on October 10th, and the centennial gala dinner on the 28th, featuring speakers Frank McCourt and Richard Axel. The centennial class of 2004 held their graduation ceremony at Lincoln Center with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as the commencement speaker.
The South Florida Alumni Association of Stuyvesant High School had its own centennial celebration on December 4th at the Boca Raton Country Club. School principal Stanley Teitel was guest speaker.
Academics
Stuyvesant students undergo a college-preparation curriculum including four years of English, history, and a lab-based science, three years of math (though most student opt to take four years) and foreign language, and a semester each of introductory art, music, health, computer science, and a lab-based technology course.
Stuyvesant offers students a broad selection of electives; some of the more unusual offerings include robotics, physics of music, astronomy, and the mathematics of financial markets. Most students take calculus, and the school offers math courses through differential equations and linear algebra. A year of technical drawing used to be required; in its first semester students learned to draft by hand and in the second drafting was done by computer (CAD). Now, students take a one-semester class called Technology Graphic Communications (equivalent to the former year of drafting), and a semester of introductory computer science, in order to introduce the mainly science-oriented students to computer programming early in their career.
A variety of Advanced Placement courses (34 are available ) offer students the chance to earn college credits; a few students earn enough to start college as a sophomore. In 2004, after long resisting the change, Stuyvesant began complying with Department of Education regulations mandating that Advanced Placement courses be weighted by a factor of 1.1 in grade point averages. Later in 2005, Stuyvesant reverted the weight of AP courses back to 1.
Computer science enthusiasts can take two additional computer programming courses after the completion of advanced placement computer science: systems level programming and computer graphics. There is also a 2 year computer networking sequence which can earn students CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) certification.
Stuyvesant's foreign language offerings rival those of many colleges, including the basics like French and Spanish as well as German, Latin, Hebrew, Japanese, and Italian. In 2000, Mandarin Chinese and Korean for native speakers were introduced in response to Stuyvesant's burgeoning Asian American population. The Muslim student body has been pushing for Arabic to be taught, and although it was expected to be offered in 2004, it has been cut due to budgetary constraints.
Stuyvesant's Biology and Geo-science department offers courses in oceanography, meteorology, Molecular Genetics/Biology/Science, human physiology, medical ethics, medical and veterinary diagnosis, human disease, nutrition science, anthropology and sociobiology, vertebrate zoology, laboratory techniques, medical human genetics, botany, and psychology. The Chemistry and Physics department offers organic chemistry, physical chemistry, calculus-based physics, modern physics, astronomy, engineering mechanics, and electronics.
Although primarily known for its strength in math and sciences, Stuyvesant is also home to a robust music program and offers students eight music groups, ranging from a symphonic orchestra and jazz ensemble to a chamber choir. Comprehensive programs in the humanities offer students courses in British and classical literature, philosophy, existentialism, debate, acting, journalism, and a host of creative writing and poetry classes. The history core requires a year of ancient, European and American history, as well as a semester of economics and government. Humanities electives include American foreign policy, civil and criminal law, Jewish history, "prejudice and persecution", "race, ethnicity and gender issues", small business management, and Wall Street.
Stuyvesant has recently entered into an agreement with City College of New York, in which the college funds advanced after-school courses that are taken for college credit yet are taught by Stuyvesant teachers. Some of these courses include physical chemistry, linear algebra, advanced Euclidean geometry, and women's history.
Grade point averages at Stuyvesant are calculated to two decimal places; some argue that the distinction is overly fine and encourages excessive grade competition, while others use the theory of significant digits to argue that they are irrelevant. Nevertheless, the practice continues. The practice is not entirely unprecedented; in calculations for honors and other designations, the University of Chicago calculates grade point averages to four decimal places.
Extracurricular activities
Stuyvesant offers clubs, publications, teams and other opportunities with a system similar to that of many colleges. It hosts over 100 clubs and 30 publications ranging from "PottyRings", a club dedicated to Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings, and even Pink LEMONed, a Japanese rock culture club, to the Key Club, dedicated to community service Stuy KC. The Stuyvesant Theater Community puts on 3 student-run productions a year (the Fall Musical, Winter Drama, and Spring Comedy) as well as a one-act festival and several smaller studio productions.
SING! The annual theater competition known as SING! pits seniors, juniors and "soph-frosh" against each other in a battle for the finest student-written, run, and funded performance. SING! started as a small event over 30 years ago, but in 2005 nearly 1,000 students participated. Their involvement ranged from cast to chorus, to Irish Jig, latin Dance, and tech crews. SING! begins in late November with the appointment of the Coordinators and ends on three magnificent nights in April. The show sells out all three nights, raising over $30,000 for the Stuyvesant's Clubs and Pubs via the Student Union Budget. In 2004, www.stuytix.com was introduced to sell tickets for the event thanks to Daniel Katz and Victor Danau. This website allowed students to bypass the anuual "running of the bullls" and purchase tickets fairly from the comfort of their home. The website now sells SING! apparell, DVDs, and tickets for other shows.
Stuyvesant fields 26 varsity teams, including a swimming team, as well as golf, bowling, volleyball, soccer, basketball, gymnastics, wrestling, fencing, baseball/softball, handball, tennis, track/cross country, and football teams. Stuyvesant has recently added a varsity Ice Hockey team, the first public school in New York City history to do so, it is run without administrative assistance by Matthew Ginther. They have been in first place in their one team league every year, though they often play teams from outside their league. Stuyvesant does not, however, have a football field, baseball field, or tennis court, though the new building does have a pool. Unofficial club teams include men's and women's ultimate teams.
Its academic teams include speech and debate, chess, science olympiad, and math, which regularly compete successfully at major regional, national, and — at least in the case of the math team — international tournaments. A FIRST Robotics team (694),'Stuypulse', was founded in 2000 and has since won the New York City Regional ('03), and the New York Chairman's Award ('05). Stuyvesant also has a Model United Nations, Junior State of America, and a Model Congress team which compete at regional colleges.
Student body
Main article: Stuyvesant High School student body
The student body at Stuyvesant has historically been heavily Jewish, with Asian students beginning to make an influx in the 1970s. As of 2005 the student body was approximately 51 percent Asian and 38 percent Caucasian, with Blacks and Hispanics each constituting roughly three percent of the population. Russian and Indian students are well-represented, and Jews continue to comprise a large portion of the student body. About 30% of the incoming freshman class are immigrants to the United States, while 20% are first-generation Americans. As of 2003, the most common countries of origin of immigrant students were China, Russia, and India. Stuyvesant possesses a disproportionate amount of non historical minorities (minorities that came to the USA recently (i.e. Indian, Pakistani, Russian, Chinese, Korean) in comparision to national and local population distributions. (See also Demographics of New York City)
September 11 and Stuyvesant
Stuyvesant is a quarter-mile from the former site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed on September 11, 2001. The school was evacuated during the ordeal and the students were temporarily relocated to Brooklyn Tech which caused massive congestion issues at Brooklyn Tech starting September 21 while the Stuyvesant building was used as one of several bases of operations by rescue and recovery workers. Normal classes resumed three weeks later on October 9. There has been many issues that Stuyvesant students and parents have not been made fully aware of including, the asbestos in the air , and long term exposure risks. The studies are with students still taking classes in a potentially harmful waste hazard. Like lead poisoning, this could cause potential brain damage as well as respiratory issues. The following is a list of the Stuyvesant alumni who were killed during the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center:
- Daniel D. Bergstein '80 (tribute)
- Alan Wayne Friedlander '67 (tribute)
- Marina R. Gertsberg '93 (tribute)
- Aaron J. Horwitz '94 (tribute)
- David S. Lee '82 (tribute)
- Arnold A. Lim '90 (tribute)
- Gregory D. Richards '88 (tribute)
- Maurita Tam '97 (tribute)
- Michael Warchola '68 (tribute)
Richard Ben-Veniste '60 was on the 9/11 Commission.
On October 2, 2001, the school paper, The Spectator, included a special full-color 9/11 insert containing student photos, reflections, and stories which was reprinted in the Nov. 20, 2001 issue of the New York Times.
In the months after 9/11, Annie Thoms, an English teacher at Stuyvesant, a 1993 alum, and the theater adviser at the time, suggested that the students take accounts of staff and students' reactions during and after 9/11 and turn them into a series of monologues. Thoms then published these monologues as With Their Eyes: September 11th – The View from a High School at Ground Zero (ISBN 0060517182). Alexander Epstein of the Stuyvesant Standard, the school's independent newspaper, contributed the section Out of the Blue to the book At Ground Zero: Young Reporters Who Were There Tell Their Stories (ISBN 1560254270).
Notable alumni
See List of Stuyvesant High School people and Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni.
Feeder patterns and admissions
All New York City students entering high school must apply to schools, as there are no zoning boundaries for high schools in New York City. Therefore there are no feeder schools of Stuyvesant.
The New York City Specialized Science High Schools Admissions Test (NYCSSHAT) is offered to all eighth and ninth graders in New York City. The results of the test determine whether a student gets into New York City's specialized science high schools, including Stuyvesant.
Faculty scholarship
Frank McCourt taught English at Stuyvesant before the publication of his novels Angela's Ashes (ISBN 068484267X) and 'Tis (ISBN 0684865742). Other faculty publications include physics teacher Eugene Majewski's Earthquake Thermodynamics & Phase Transformation in the Earth's Interior (ISBN 0126851859), and chemistry teacher Sasha Alcott's Roadmap to the Regents: Physical Setting/Chemistry (ISBN 0375763082).
Papers written by Stuyvesant faculty include:
- Reducing Radicals in Nitrate Solution: the NO3 System Revisited by Benjamin Dreyfus (physics teacher) et al Pub: American Chemical Society
- Magnetic irreversibly line in I intercalated Bi Gregor Winkel (physics/music teacher) et al Pub: '95 Elsevier Science
- Stimulated Acceleration and Confinement of Deuterons in Focused Discharges M. Esper (physics teacher) et al pub: '88 IEEE
- A Study of Graphic Representations of Thermodynamic Relations Zhen-Chuan Li (Chemistry Teacher) not yet published
John Avallone (physics teacher) is the holder of US Patent 5919182.
In pop culture
The Stuyvesant High School building in Battery Park City was one of the main settings of the film Hackers, although it was not mentioned by name. As in the film, Stuyvesant has no pool on the roof, despite a long history of seniors selling "rooftop pool passes" to new freshmen. In a season-5 two-part episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, "In the Wee Small Hours," a female Stuyvesant student is murdered. The investigation leads Detectives Goren and Eames to the school, where they interview her classmates. The 2004 Tribeca Film Festival featured an ad campaign with a stylized depiction of the school entitled "Fast Times at Stuyvesant High."
See also
External links
- Stuyvesant HS official website
- Stuyvesant student union
- Stuyvesant Robotics Team
- Speech and debate team website
- Stuyvesant HS online store
- Stuyvesant HS Parents' Association
- Stuyvesant Centennial Celebration/ Friends of Stuyvesant
- The Campaign for Stuyvesant/Alumni(ae) & Friends Endowment Fund, Inc.
- Football site
Third-party
- Abacus Guide to Stuyvesant High School, by Emily Blackman
- Statistics and general information from the New York City Department of Education
Theater
Stuyvesant publications
- The Stuyvesant Standard | (THE SPECTATOR NO LONGER HAS WEBSITE)
Alumni sites
- Stuyvesant HS Alumni Association
- Math Team alumni website
- Policy Debate Team alumni website
- South Florida Alumni Association of Stuyvesant High School
- Stuyvesant H.S. Black Alumni
- Class of: '62 | '79 | '81 | '82 | '83 | '84 | '92 | '93 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '99 | '00 | '05
Articles
- "Façade of Excellence", by Sol Stern, Education Next on the teachers' contract
- "Destroying Excellence" by Jeffrey Hart, Dartmouth Review, on attempts to suspend the SSHSAT
- "Freedom of Expression: Student Criticism and Teacher Evaluations", by Yilu Zhao, New York Times, on Gary He and teacher reviews