Volume 109, Issue 6

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The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

OPINIONS

Arts and entertainment

California is on Fire. Literally.

Suspiria

Sophomore Kaylee Yin discusses the California wildfires and the country’s response to them in her editorial “California is on Fire. Literally.” see page 13

Sophomore Jiahe Wang reviews Luca Guadagnino’s remake of the 1977 cult classic “Suspiria.”

Volume 109  No. 6

see page 16

November 30, 2018

stuyspec.com

Tribeca Bridge Dedicated to Former Principal Abraham Baumel

NEWSBEAT Stuyvesant’s Chess Team came in first place in the Mayor’s Cup tournament. Senior Justin Chen also took 1st place in the individual standings category.

The Billion Oyster Team completed the final monitoring of the oyster cage on Pier 40 on Tuesday, November 6.

Matt Melucci / The Spectator

Seniors Cathy Cai, Nikki Daniels, Robin Han, and Joshua Weiner were named semifinalists for the 2019 Coca-Cola Scholars Program.

The NYC Math Team came in fourth place overall at the Princeton University Math Competition (PUMaC) on Saturday, November 17.

By Jane Rhee In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Stuyvesant High School’s move from its old campus on 345 East 15th Street to 345 Chambers Street, the Baumel family and the Alumni Association (AA) raised $250,000 to dedicate the Tribeca Bridge to former principal Abraham “Abe” Baumel. The old building, which had a 1,500-person capacity, was in use from 1907 to 1992, and primarily housed students when the school was forging its reputation as a technical school for boys. But as the school grew, accepting its first co-ed class in 1969, it began to fo-

cus on math and the sciences, rendering many of the school’s facilities, including metalworking shops and sawing machines, obsolete. Principal Baumel is credited with pushing for a modernized curriculum and a new building to match. “His story really touched me because […] everyone makes the assumption that Stuyvesant is number one. But even though Stuyvesant’s been around for over a hundred years, that wasn’t the truth. Back in the early twenties and thirties, Brooklyn Tech used to have the most rigorous curriculum. Then in the fifties and sixties, Bronx Science was number one. And now we just take it

Dina Ingram / The Spectator

Honoring Stuyvesant High School’s Fallen Warriors

By Saad Ghaffouli The Stuyvesant History Club, in conjunction with the Social Studies Department, held a ceremony celebrating the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War on Friday, November 9. The ceremony also served as a memorial to all Stuyve-

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

sant students and alumni who gave their lives during the war. Assistant Principal of Social Studies Jennifer Suri, one of the organizers of the event, decided to have the event in order to help students recognize the significance of the war. “It was an important war; [...] it changed the world. Hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their

lives in this war … [and] millions of others died as a result of this war,” she said. “I think it’s a much bigger event in Europe only because the fighting took place in Europe, but it was very much a global war. I think people just aren’t aware that we have this connection at Stuyvesant, especially as students, to the history of our country.” Social studies teacher and author of the book “Rendezvous with Death,” David Hanna, opened the ceremony by giving an address about foreign volunteers in the First World War. His speech focused on France’s Lafayette Escadrille, an air force unit which was mainly comprised of American volunteers. Hanna, too, has a personal connection to the war, as his maternal grandfather, John Elco, served in France in 1918. Continued on page 2

for granted,” said Soo Kim (‘93), president of the Alumni Association. “So this small gesture, to Principal Baumel and his family, is what we can do to recognize his great contributions to the greater Stuyvesant community.” Matthew Baumel (‘09) and Aaron Ghitelman (’09), Principal Baumel’s grandsons, and the AA began an online campaign to raise money for a bridge dedication. “When we first dreamed this up, we couldn’t have imagined this. We had no clue that anyone was going to raise any money. We kind of feared that after 25 years, Stuyvesant might not remember Abe Baumel. But it’s very clear

that Stuyvesant has not forgotten about Abe Baumel,” Ghitelman said. “This is just a humbling amount of support and love.” Donors who gave more than $250 had their names inscribed on the memorial plaque, which is now displayed at the second floor bridge entrance. The fund will be put toward the school’s general endowment. “This is how we are able to respond to all […] requests from the students,” Kim said. He ultimately hopes that the fund will help current principal Eric Contreras in what he calls a new Baumelian mission, partly by “replacing Mechanical Draft, Metalshop, and Woodshop with Robotics, Nanotechnology, Renewable Energy, Hydroponics, and CS Programming,” he said. The dedication ceremony, which drew on implicit themes of diversity and Stuyvesant as an equalizer of cultural capital and socioeconomic privilege, was well-attended, with members of the Baumel family, alumni, and current students present. “You know, he used to say it was the greatest honor on Earth to be among Stuy students,” said Judith Baumel, Principal Baumel’s daughter. “There’s this Jewish idea that mankind was created in God’s image, and he really looked for that in each student. He really found that immigrant quality in each student, you know? These kids would walk in, their parents wouldn’t even be able to speak the language, but they’d be coming here to get a public school education [...] and it’s very much the same now. In some ways, the school hasn’t changed at all,” she said.

Stuyvesant Hosts Third Annual Pep Rally By Jamie Zeng The third annual pep rally was held in the third floor gymnasium on Friday, November 9. The organization of the pep rally was a collaborative effort by the Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Caucuses, as well as the Student Union (SU). The pep rally featured a performance by the cheer team and one by Stuyvesant’s a capella group, which performed a medley of songs, including “My Girl” by The Temptations. Following their performance, cries of excitement echoed throughout the gymnasium as the annual dodgeball game was announced. The matches pitted freshmen against sophomores, seniors against seniors, and juniors against seniors. To conclude

the dodgeball match, students in all grades battled the Stuyvesant faculty in an intense game that concluded with a win for the students. The Student Union and Caucuses held the pep rally in hopes that it would increase school spirit and bring awareness to the fact that there are other aspects to Stuyvesant aside from being an academically rigorous environment. “Stuyvesant isn’t really big on the whole idea of school spirit and having an event like the pep rally allows us to demonstrate some school spirit, if not a lot, by supporting our teams,” junior and Student Union Vice President Vishwaa Sofat said.

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Volume 109, Issue 6 by The Stuyvesant Spectator - Issuu