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Thursday, January 29, 2009 Volume 8 Issue 7
By: Rammiya NallainathanBy: Rammiya Nallainathan
Continued on page 3
College Essays ThatCollege Essays ThatImportant?Important?
Seniors have finally fin-ished doing one of the mostdreaded tasks this year – writingessays for college applications.While some students spend thecourse of a few weeks writing and polishing their essays, other stu-dents only spend a day or two.Seeing how much or how little em- phasis is placed begs us to ask,“How much are these essaysweighed when considering admis-sions to a college?”Over the last few years,college essays have grown increas-ingly important. About 40 percentof four-year colleges require anessay. According to a survey given by the National Association for College Admission Counseling in2006, the essay was given“importance" by 28 percent of thecolleges who completed the sur-vey. Though this may not seemlike a lot, it is double the 14 per-cent from 1993. In addition to this,more than 50 percent of the selec-tive colleges that took the survey,ranked the essay as having"considerable importance." Butwhat about the other 40 to 50 per-cent of colleges? Why is the sameemphasis not placed there?According to the Philadel- phia Inquirer, “Some college ad-missions officials downplay itsimportance, especially given thevastly different levels of support in preparing it.” While some studentswrite and edit college essays ontheir own, other students actuallyspend hundreds to thousands of dollars hiring their own personalcollege counselor to look over their essays and mold it into what col-leges want. This only gives anadvantage to students who comefrom families that are willing andable to pay for counseling. How-ever, if admissions counselorsthink that the essay may be toowell written, they can compare itwith the student's writing portionof the SAT and grades in English.Though some colleges
Continued on page 3
In This Issue
T S S / A mn aA h m a d
With the economy in a fixthe MTA is also feeling the effects.According to the MTA’s websitethey will have to implement fair hikes and cut train and bus servicesdrastically. At a hearing the MTA board said it was in a 2 billion dol-lar deficit and needed to do this tohelp keep the MTA afloat. Manycommuters worry that they willnot be able to afford any moremonetary stress with the economythe way it is.However the MTA is stilltrying to work a way around di-rectly affecting the commuters. New York City Comptroller Wil-liam Thompson proposed increas-ing the registration fee on cars
After going through at least four months writing and revising the college essay, seniors are finally getting good news that some colleges don't factor in the essay all to the extent that they may have expected them to.
MTA Fair HikesMTA Fair Hikes
By: Muhammad Tambra
Continued on page 3
Ten Stuyvesant IntelTen Stuyvesant IntelSemifinalistsSemifinalists
On January 14, 2009, In-tel Science Talent Search (STS)announced its Semifinalists. Thisyear, out of the 1,068 studentswho participated in this competi-tion, from 36 states and schools inKorea and India, 300 high schoolseniors were named semifinalists.Ten of these semifinalists werefrom Stuyvesant High School.The Intel Science TalentSearch seeks to find students whowill “develop the skills to solvethe problems of tomorrow.” Top-ics for these projects include bio-chemistry, chemistry, physics,mathematics, engineering, behav-ioral science and medicine andhealth. According to the STSPress Release, Craig Barrett, In-tel’s Chairman of the Board said,“Intel Science Talent Search semi-finalists tackle today’s challenging problems with solutions that havegreat potential to positively impactour world. To foster the next gen-eration of innovators, the UnitedStates must invest in encouragingthis passion for math and sciencein more of our youth.”The ten Stuyvesant semifi-nalists (and their projects) include:Charles Choi, Synergistic and An-tagonistic Effects of a Visual Faceon Auditory Sensitivity and Com- prehension; Aidan Daly, Investi-gating the Effects of Single Popu-lation Units on the Total Immigra-tion Network in EndangeredPlants; Francesca di Domenico,Elucidating the Relationship be-tween the Symptoms Found on theReflux Symptom Index and Para-doxical Vocal Fold Motion; DanielJeng, On the Directions of Plane
Blood DriveReels inRed Gold
P a g e 3
Koobface Virus AffectsComputers
Point-Counter PointI Scream for Ice cream Vs.Unsweetened is SweeterPage 5
P a g e 7
This essaycan’t beright.
H o w t o wr i t et h eP er f e c t e s s a yi n 5 mi n ut e s
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2 The STUYVESANT STANDARD January 29, 2009–VOL.8, NO. 7
The ExecutiveBoard
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Staff Editorial:Students Watch AsHistory Unfolds
On Tuesday January 20, 2009the Stuyvesant community came to-gether to witness what has been veryaccurately deemed one of the mostmomentous events in American his-tory—the inauguration of the 44
th
president of the United States of America. The administration’s deci-sion to arrange the school’s scheduleto give every student the opportunityto see the event as it was being broad-cast live is one that current Stuyvesantstudents should acknowledge and ap- preciate. Watching as the first Afri-can American president was beingsworn into office is something we willsurely never forget.The Stuyvesant student bodyshould consider it a privilege thatPrincipal Teitel was willing to estab-lish a cadence in the regular instruc-tional school-day for students to look-on as Barack Obama took his oath of office and quite ardently addressedthe American people and the rest of the world in his inaugural speech.Students should not take that privilegefor granted.While the inauguration cere-mony was playing in classrooms, andgymnasiums, in addition to theMurray Kahn theatre at StuyvesantHigh School, high school studentsaround the country whose schoolssimply do not possess the means tohave broadcasted the live inaugura-tion, sat back in their seats for a dis-cussion in English class or a mathlesson. It is necessary to recognize,therefore, just how fortunate thestudent body is to have been able toview that particular moment in his-tory as it was taking place milesaway in our nation’s capital.Teachers and students alikehave argued that the administrationrevealed its bias in restructuring theschool day for the inauguration of Barack Obama and not earlier presi-dents, while others viewed the in-tentions of the administration to bemotivated by the significant mile-stone in the centuries-old strugglefor civil rights that Barack Obama’selection represents. The reason for making special arrangements for this particular inauguration is far less important than the effect it hadon students in general. The ideathat the thousands of people thatcomprise Stuyvesant High Schoolwere experiencing the same thing atthe same time is almost unfathom-able.The celebration of the inau-guration seems to have brought stu-dents together in a way that perhapseven Principal Teitel would nothave anticipated. The StuyvesantStandard calls on the administrationto continue to invite all members of the Stuyvesant community to be-come first-hand spectators of his-tory every four years.
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As Stuyvesant High School’s onlyindependent school newspaper, we feelthat it is our responsibility to offereach and every student theopportunity to contribute to a newspublication. If you would like to joinany section of the StuyvesantStandard, or have any comments orquestions that you would like to runpassed us, please email us at:
EIC@stuystandard.org
.
NEWS The STUYVESANT STANDARD January 29, 2009 –VOL.8, NO. 7 3
On Thursday, January 8,Stuyvesant High School, led by the New York Blood Center, held itsWinter Blood Drive.Senior Rachel Canas wasone student who donated blood dur-ing the drive. When asked whether she was scared, Canas replied, “Notat all. I’ve been donating [blood]since I was first able to in sopho-more year. It doesn’t hurt at all; andalso, all the volunteers were reallynice.”Unlike Canas, Senior AnnaZhang was not as lucky. After wait-ing for over two periods, she wasrejected by NY Blood Center per-sonnel. “I waited there for so long,and then [the worker] took a finger test, but my iron levels were toolow. I couldn’t donate. It was sodisappointing, because I had waitedso long for this day.” The strict pol-icy set by the Blood Center is toensure that only people who arecompletely healthy donate blood.Seniors Alexandra Larsenand Allen Granzberg were the blooddrive coordinators. Larsen com-mented on the success of the event.“My expectations for the blooddrive were really fulfilled. Theworkers were very diligent andstayed until 4pm, even though their union contract did not require themto [stay].”Larsen considered the eventa great success because of the ac-tions of others. “The Student Unionwas very generous in donating T-shirts and advantage cards, whichstudents seemed to love,” Larsensaid. These incentives motivated alarge number of students to donatetheir time and blood to the event.While the event was highlysuccessful, there were some organ-izational problems. Canas com-mented, “I know a lot of peoplehad to wait a long time. Thereshould’ve been a better order sys-tem to prevent people from skip- ping others in line.”In the sixth floor gym, stu-dents were supposed to wait online, using the chairs that were ar-ranged in rows. Instead, studentsmoved their chairs to the front of the line, or took others’ seats. Thisresulted in many people waitingfor several periods before theycould donate blood.Senior Faiyam Rahman,for example, was at the blood drivefor almost three hours because stu-dents were taking his position inline. “Because the line didn’t reallyhave a set system, anyone could just throw a chair in there and cut afew lines,” Rahman explained.“And unfortunately, people willcut if they’re given a chance to.That’s what happened.”Larsen commented on thisissue and proposed a change. “Inever anticipated that this would be a problem but we are certainlygoing to have measures in place to prevent this from happening at thenext blood drive. Each person will be given a number upon enteringand a volunteer will be calling peo- ple to the booths by their number to prevent any line cutting.”Stuyvesant students do-nated a total of 179 pints of blood.Larsen said, “I think the event wasa success mainly because Stuy kidsreally want to help people. I knowit sounds cliché, but to have almost200 students give up their free timeand sit in an overheated gym justshows what true humanitarians weare.”
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TheStandardNews
Blood Drive Reelsin Red Gold
Continued from page 1
MTA Fair Hikes
College EssaysThat Important?
Continued from page 1
may continue to downplay the impor-tance of college essays, colleges stillwant to see the applicant from another angle. "It's only through the essay thatI can flesh out a three-dimensionalcharacter," said senior assistant direc-tor of admissions at Bryn Mawr Col-lege, Nancy Thaler. She continued, "Iwill remember an essay where thestudent tells a story about herself."When asked about her opin-ion on college essays, senior Na-ziat Zaman replied, “If you applyfor a liberal arts college, then theessays will matter a lot because theway you write about yourself oftenreflects the kind of person you are.The essays provide a way for thecolleges to differentiate betweenthe people they do and do notwant. They are essentially crucial because of the human element theyadd to a student’s application.”
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By: Hesham Saleh
T S S / E l i s s a t a m
based on established weightclasses. However this seemsunlikely to go through, as it wouldupset the multitude of car driversin New York City. According tothe MTA website they would haveto increase the fee from $2.00 to$2.50. They would also eliminateall services of the M6, 8, 10, 18,27, 30 and X25 buses. This is oneof the main points of contention between riders and the MTA. Andalong with that cuts of many week-end and night services along mostlines.Students at Stuyvesant alsoexpress their concern over the pro- posed hikes. Junior AnastassiaKapeles said, “I don't like [the farehikes] because at this time whenmost Americans are alreadystrapped for cash, increasing thefare would make the current situa-tion even worse.” Many studentsalso feel that this would be a deter-rent to any plans they might haveon weekends when they cannotutilize their school provided Met-rocards. Senior Rofi Islam said,“With many students already try-ing to conserve many for more im- portant things such as books for school and such spending moneyto go hangout on weekends mightnot be something they want to in-vest it preferring to stay home or go somewhere within walking dis-tance. Along with the MTA hikeseverything else is getting pricier too so I think they might think twice before going out. But regard-ing some the idea that they willlose customers; I highly doubt it.Riding the train is a necessity in New York City.”Junior Manuel Castro be-lieves, “fair hikes could be avoidedif the city and state governmentworked together with the MTA toreduce the costs of running their services. They might want to in-vest in ways to make the trains runfaster and on less energy alongsidewith providing the MTA some sortof stimulus. The MTA should alsothink of cutting the pay of their higher ups. That seems to get thoseCEO types to do something pro-ductive instead of just asking for money. However with the cost of everything else going up it seemsthat fair hikes are an annoying butinevitable consequence.”
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The first of two Blood Drive of the year was held on January 8, 2008 at the 6th floor gym.
1.“President-Elect Confrontsthe Economic Crisis” on page 6 was actu-ally written by Shahzad Anwar.2. “New York on Fire in Vegas” on page 12 was actually written by Cody Levine.
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