Aristivity 2012, issue 1

ARISTA Stuyvesant High School National Honor Society

ARISTIVITY: The Stuyvesant ARISTA Bulletin Interim Acting Principal Jie Zhang Faculty Advisor Maryann Ferrara

The Executive Council 2012-2013 Miranda Li President David Kurkovskiy Executive Vice President Patrick Loi Vice President of Events Keo Chau Vice President of Tutoring Aglaia Ho Vice President of Communications

Content Note about this Newsletter Pg 1 Dear ARISTA Pg 1-2 Announcements Pg 2-3 Events Scrapbook Pg 3-4 Credits Pg 4

NOTE ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER The Communications Committee is proud to present the first installment of ARISTIVITY: The ARISTA Bulletin, our premier newsletter! Our goal is to keep members informed of policy changes, events, and other special announcements. This newsletter will also give the opportunity for members to share their volunteering experiences. We hope to share with the rest of the Stuyvesant community the amazing services of our chapter of the National Honor Society.

Dear ARISTA Letters from the Executive Council Hey everyone!

I'm Miranda Li, the president of ARISTA. ARISTA is Stuyvesant's chapter of the National Honor Society. Members rise to become leaders of the school, serve the community, and develop good character, all while maintaining good academic standings.

In addition to continuing last year's events and tutoring opportunities, my hopes for ARISTA are to expand to more in-school events. We can accomplish this by working with other organizations like the Student Union, Big Sibs, and Red Cross to create events and services for the entire school (not just ARISTA members), like last year's scavenger hunt. I'd also love to have ARISTA partner up with other clubs and help them fundraise and hold events. I look forward to working with all of you this year! ~Miranda Hi ARISTA, My name is David Kurkovskiy, and I will be your executive vice president for the 2012-2013 school year. Our chapter of the National Honor Society uniquely devotes its volunteer services both outside and inside of school, as well as offering tutoring help in different facets. I hope that you choose to use your membership to go above and beyond, inspire others by example, and feel like you've made a difference both inside Stuyvesant and the community at large. It is my pleasure to work with you all this coming year to do more events across the city, tutor more students struggling in their classes, and have more fun while doing so. ~David Greetings, My name is Patrick Loi and I’m the new VP of Events. It is our duty give back to the community. All ARISTA members have to fulfill specific service requirements roughly every three months. These events range from volunteering at soup kitchens, to charity walks, to fundraisers and festivals. It is up to my committee and me to scout out exciting volunteer opportunities throughout the city and recruit eager ARISTA members to help out. Many of the events we do are not only altruistic, but also interactive and fulfilling.

During events, our ARISTA members get acquainted, learn to work together and have the opportunity to participate in the city’s festivities. In addition to the many outside events we do, we also participate in numerous in-school events, such as Parent-Teacher Conferences, Open House, SING!, Graduation, and the SU’s first Scavenger Hunt. As Events VP, I look forward to organizing fun events this year and working with many clubs at Stuyvesant to coordinate more school-wide events. ~Patrick

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Fall 2012, Issue 1

ARISTA Stuyvesant High School National Honor Society

ARISTIVITY: The Stuyvesant ARISTA Bulletin

Hello everyone, My name is Keo Chau and I am proud to introduce myself as ARISTA's VP of Tutoring. Upon joining ARISTA last year and becoming part of the tutoring committee, I have had my mind set on giving back to both Stuyvesant and the community. Throughout my freshman year, I believed that I was not as gifted as many of my peers because I did not score as well. But now, I realized that despite our various starting points, we can achieve just as much as everyone else through dedication and hard work. With this motto, I hope to encourage every student to utilize ARISTA Tutoring. With a little extra help, who knows what else we can achieve? ~Keo Hi everyone, This is Aglaia Ho, the new VP of Communications. A big part of ARISTA is making sure our 200+ members are kept up-to-date with the latest news. We hope to accomplish this through our gorgeous new website (www.stuyarista.com/), our first newsletter, e-mails, and the Facebook group. We also plan to reach out to our members more often, asking for feedback and listening to their concerns and suggestions. The Communications Committee and I also represent the character pillar of ARISTA. This means showing good morals, dedication, and humility in whatever we do. We should strive to make a difference in our community because we want to, not just because we need credits. Here’s to a great year! ~Aglaia

Announcements Welcome New Members!

On May 29th, ARISTA was proud to induct its newest members of 2012-2013. We are honored to welcome these rising juniors and seniors to our elite society. We are excited and can’t wait to get to know all of you. You’ll find that ARISTA is a unique community of some of the kindest and most dedicated students in the school. It is not an easy commitment, but it is extremely fulfilling. We are here to make a difference in our community and we’re so happy you can join us!

T-Shirt Design Contest We received so many amazing entries this year and the Executive Council had a very difficult time deciding on just one winner.

Thus, we have decided to combine the talents of three artists into one amazing t-shirt. So without further ado, we are proud to announce our TShirt Design winners for 2012-2013!

Congratulations to Casey Ching, Walker Islam, and Annie Fan! This year’s t-shirt will be a dark grey v-neck with a front design by Walker and a back design by Casey and Annie.

Your t-shirts are included with your ARISTA dues, so additional payment is not necessary! This applies to both new and old members.

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ARISTA Stuyvesant High School National Honor Society

ARISTIVITY: The Stuyvesant ARISTA Bulletin

2012-2013 Policy The ARISTA Executive Committee has posted the National Honor Society’s policies for this year. You can read the complete list of policies at www.stuyarista.com. You’ll find a list of credit requirements, strike policies, and trimester breakdown. Please look over this carefully and feel free to voice any questions.

Events Scrapbook Thanks to ARISTA members for volunteering for some of this trimester’s amazing events! We have had an incredible number of events this summer and we are so proud of all of our amazing members for stepping up to the plate. Our volunteers have helped out at the Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival, ARISTA Induction Ceremony, Arthritis Walk, PS 89 Graduation, Stuyvesant High School Graduation, NYC Triathlon, City of Water Festival, Summer Stage, Hong Kong Dragonboat Festival, Summer Streets, Keep Flushing Clean, Ironman Triathlon, Friends Committee Beautification Day, Chinatown Beautification Day and with back-to-school setup. If you couldn’t make it to all the fun events, some of our members are proud to share their own experiences.

The Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival

By Shannon Daniels On June 10th, the neighbors and visitors of the Museum at Eldridge Street were greeted by the rhythmic tune of klezmer music coupled with the vibrant vibrato of Chinese arias, musical genres that represent the two cultures that were celebrated at The Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival. The street fair was not only located at the crossroads of Eldridge and Division streets but also within the Jewish and Chinese communities on the Lower East Side.

Passersby were encouraged to take tours of the museum, which also functioned as a restored synagogue, and shared mutual looks of awe at the ornate wood carvings dotting the beams and the enormous east window that bathed the front of the room in a bluish glow. Both inside and out, volunteers helped children make their own yarmulkes, learn Chinese and Yiddish phrases, and play mah jong, among many other activities.

I helped out with a face painting table, where a number of eager kids lined up to look like iconic superheroes or don pink butterflies on the backs of their hands. All of the volunteer positions required a lot of patience and repetition, but we rewarded ourselves in the end with egg rolls and frosty egg creams.

ARISTA Induction Ceremony

By Jack Cahn We filed into the auditorium. On one side, our parents were cheering us on, on the other the Stuyvesant administration sat proudly, watching their students be inducted into the National Honor Society. Every single one of us had spent countless hours on community service projects, working to improve our community in every way we could. Bonded by a sense of accomplishment, we were all joyous for the occasion.

Given certificates and pins, and listening to the congratulatory speeches given by our students and faculty leaders, the new Stuyvesant inductees were not only recognized for their hard work, responsibility, and leadership, but were given the motivation and opportunity to continue to lead our community responsibly in the years to come.

Photo by Aglaia Ho After years of working independently, Stuyvesant High School and its ARISTA National Honor Society were recognizing our arduous efforts and giving us the opportunity to work as a team to solve community problems.

As the ARISTA 2011-2012 officers passed their responsibilities to the new Executive Board; they proceeded to undertake a ceremony in which the old and new officers lit candles together, in unison. The old leaders said their goodbyes which had given them the chance to change the world, one step at a time, and the new leaders stepped into their shoes to lead the movement for community engagement.

Everywhere, there was pride. Pride from parents watching their children be recognized for their excellence. Pride from the administration, especially our advisor Ms. Ferrara, who was seeing the next generation of leaders stand up to

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ARISTA Stuyvesant High School National Honor Society

ARISTIVITY: The Stuyvesant ARISTA Bulletin

change their communities. Pride from the students, who along with their peers, were taking their first steps to help improve the world we live in.

By the end of the ceremony, the students were eager and ready to change the world we live in through hard work, dedication, and community service projects. It was truly an inspirational experience.

Summer Streets

By Mei Yin Wu Summer Streets is an ongoing summer event that occurs on Saturdays, and which closes Park Avenue to cars and instead opens it up to bicyclists, hardcore runners, first time joggers, rollerbladers, troublemakers on scooters, unicyclists, and other New Yorkers on wheels. Volunteering for Summer Streets meant I had to wake up at 5:30 A.M. on a summer Saturday morning, which wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do, but since this event was only a 20 minute jog away from my home, it was too convenient to pass up. When I got to the volunteer station, I was handed a backpack with snacks, water, and a traffic sign and then sent to 36th street to conduct traffic for seven hours. Conducting traffic consisted of standing in the middle of the street, flipping the sign, telling people when to go and when to, well, stop. As tedious and simple as this job sounds, I made a couple of errors which elicited reactions from bicyclists. Two hours in, I flipped the stop sign a second late and was told by a bicyclist that I almost killed 10 people. At that point I was completely irritated; being told that I was terrible at my simple job was not a nice addition to my preexistent boredom. As the day progressed, however, more people filled the avenue, which gave me the chance to see some interesting New Yorkers. I remember seeing a person running in a full body animal costume, one of many to ignore my stop sign. Many passersby thanked me for volunteering my time, which was immensely gratifying – a simple ‘thank you’ goes a long way when you’re standing in the sun for what feels like forever. Overall, this was a well worth it experience that helped me gain perspective into the lives of people I pass by everyday but don’t really notice, especially police officers and traffic conductors.

Arthritis Walk

By Shannon Daniels “Combat…” a group of volunteers shouted.

Another joined in “…arthritis!”

“Let’s move together!”

“Keep going!”

On a warm June 23rd, blue-shirted volunteers called out these encouraging messages to the participants of this year’s Arthritis Walk. The annual walk is sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation, an organization that fundraises to support arthritis prevention and treatment, and encourages people across the nation to remain healthy and active. The New York City chapter of the walk extended from Battery Park to Rockefeller Park in a scenic loop along the Hudson River. Just as many of the participants chose to complete the walk in teams, the student Photo by Christine Xu volunteers stuck in groups to cheer them on, creating a strong sense of unity and community.

As the day began to dwindle, one passerby in a wheelchair approached my group, and in a solemn voice told us that he had medical troubles. He expressed his amazement at how involved in charity we were at such a young age.

“It’s really nice to know that there are people that care; I am very, very grateful for your support.”

CREDITS Editor and Layout Design Aglaia Ho

Contributors Shannon Daniels Mei Yin Wu Jack Cahn

Special Thanks Christine Xu The ARISTA Executive Council

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