News

The Stuyvesant High School junior and senior caucuses have each appointed their first ever Cube Coordinators: senior Jamila Ma and junior Abby Schaeffer.

“A lot of grades haven’t done their boxes yet. It just wasn’t a big deal for them. I want to make sure it gets done for our year,” Ma said. “Last year, the senior caucus just did it.”

“We want to try to plan for the [block-filling] this year, so we can do it well next year,” junior class vice president Jenny Han said.

Each Cube Coordinator has to locate and prepare the cube designated for his or her year, devise a way to obtain the class’s opinion on what to put in the cube and arrange a “Block Party” where seniors celebrate filling the cube and their memories of Stuyvesant.

The caucus chose the coordinator based on an application he or she submitted. “We were looking for someone who is really passionate about our grade and our school. We were looking for responsibility and creativity,” senior class vice president Lauren Gonzalez said.

“The Cube Coordinator fills the important role of curator for the senior class’ physical memories,” senior class president Michelle Lee said.

The Cube Coordinator also selects four members to be in the Cube Committee, which decides what items to put in the cube. “Some classes didn’t put much thought into the process [of filling their cubes]. We should make it memorable and devote some time to it,” Han said.

“The cubes are important. We’re making our mark on Stuy,” Schaeffer said.

Artists Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel started the mnemonic blocks project. Four hundred glass boxes including artifacts from around the world were randomly installed throughout the building. An additional 88 were installed for future graduating classes, to fill with whatever they believe defined their year.

Katherine Gressel, the artists’ assistant, contacted technology teacher and senior activities adviser James Lonardo to reach out to the senior class. Gressel then contacted Lee and Gonzalez.

“I sent a job description of the Cube Coordinator out and then met with Michelle and Lauren and together we decided on the different responsibilities of the committee roles as well as coordinator role,” Gressel said.

With the formation of the Cube Committee and Coordinator, Gressel hopes to see the block filling process become a responsibility of the student body.

According to Ma, until this year many graduating classes did not fill their cubes. “After people graduate, it’s hard to get everyone together to fill the cubes. Many of them are still in the process of being filled,” Ma said.

The classes of 2001, 2002 and 2007 filled in their boxes in 2007. These classes were the first to fill their cubes in 8 years.

“It’s really important to have these blocks filled because it’s a part of community building and tradition. Filling the cube could bring the Stuy senior class together. It’s a cohesive souvenir of that class,” Gressel said. “The cubes are almost like a yearbook page built directly into the school’s architecture; this tradition must continue.”

Disclaimer: Abby Schaeffer was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.