Numbers

98.6
Average percent of student attendance as of Friday, October 10, 2008
3252
Number of enrolled students
on the first day of school
3212
Number of students present
on the first day of school
3195
Number of students present on
the second day of school
69
Number of regular classrooms in the school building
2911
Number of lockers in the school building
61
Number of seniors who started this term with [...]

Two JV Football Players Poisoned At Practice

Two sophomores on the junior varsity (JV) football team, wide receiver Nick Heim and running back Michael Bucaoto, drank Gatorade that contained copper sulfate crystals at a practice on Tuesday, October 7, at Pier 40. Neither was aware that the chemical was in their drinks. Both players got sick as a result of the incident, and Bucaoto was hospitalized. One sophomore, also on the JV team, who obtained the crystals that were later put in the water, was arrested and removed from the football team. As of now, the school’s administration is unsure whether he will be suspended or expelled from school, and whether the remainder of the JV football season will be cancelled.

This sophomore stole the crystals from an in-class chemistry demonstration. He then gave the crystals to a sophomore trainer for the JV team, and told her to put it in cups of Gatorade that were available to members of the team. Both Heim and Bucaoto got sick immediately after drinking the Gatorade. Both vomited, and Bucaoto, who drank more, began coughing up blood and had to go to the hospital, where he remained for much of the night.

SU: Coming Soon?

Internet users and club presidents should be forgiven for doubting the Student Union’s (SU) existence in the first six weeks of school. We couldn’t find it either.
The Stuyvesant SU Web site was finally functioning on Tuesday, October 14. The Web site had been down for the first six weeks of school due to technical difficulties.
The [...]

“THIS IS SPARTA”: Behind the Scenes of the Facebook-Generated Phenomenon

Teachers and students alike hate the Advanced Placement exams. Students have to write long grueling essays and then the teachers have to read them. But this May, a single sentence broke the usual pattern. The phrase was simple, yet it caused confusion among exam graders with three words—“THIS IS SPARTA!”
THE PLANNING
Last December, seniors Jake Bryant [...]

Learning from a Pro – Foreign Experience

Picture being thrust into foreign country, any foreign country where your first language is not the main form of communication and your customs don’t fall in line with the accepted culture. Now imagine not only being forced to adjust to this country’s lifestyle, but at the same time taking on a job teaching this [...]

Numbers

10.74 – Percent of seniors taking multivariate calculus
1.74 – Percent of juniors taking multivariate calculus
2.02 – Average number of APs seniors are taking this year
1.43 – Average number of APs juniors are taking this year
13 – Number of incoming sophomores
9 – Number of seniors that left before completing the 2008-2009 school year
9 – Number of [...]

Separate Peas, One Pod

We’ve all discussed twins in our biology or genetics classes. Some of us have even made embarrassing mistakes involving the twins we know. Being a twin at Stuyvesant is very different from being a twin at many other schools. At many schools, twins are not allowed to be in the same class. At Stuyvesant, however, [...]

Pool Closed Because of Hanging Acoustic Tile in Ceiling

Stuyvesant’s pool has been closed since Thursday, September 25. One of the sound-dampening panels that hang from the ceiling has come loose. The panels, called baffles, are attached to the ceiling by two metal chains, one of which is now detached from the ceiling.
Principal Stanley Teitel closed the pool immediately when he was informed of [...]

SU Launches Web site After Long Delay

The Student Union (SU) Web site was launched on Tuesday, October 14. It had been under construction since the beginning of the school year, which hindered communication between the SU and the student body.

Senior and SU Information Technology Director Daniel Goldstern said he created a new SU Web site this summer, but had not been able to launch it earlier because of several technical problems.

He said he couldn’t transfer the domain, www.stuysu.org, before obtaining the account information from George Tsivin (‘07), who created the previous SU Website in 2006. Goldstern said he was unable to get in touch with Tsivin during the summer, so he had to wait until September.

Once he obtained that information, Goldstern said the Web site server expired, which further delayed the launch.

Paulina Karpis Wins 1010 WINS Award

Senior and The Spectator’s News editor, Paulina Karpis, was awarded the prestigious 1010 WINS Tomorrow Newsmaker’s Award in its fourth consecutive year of competition. She was awarded the 10,000 dollar Mitesh Anand scholarship. Anand was a former 1010WINS employee who recently passed away.
“I was really surprised,” Karpis said. “It was unexpected. But at the [...]