Issue 16, Volume 106

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The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

Volume 106  No. 16

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

June 6, 2016

stuyspec.com

Caucus Endorsements

NEWSBEAT

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thletic Director and Physical Education teacher Chris Galano was selected to throw the opening pitch at the New York Mets game at Citi Field on Saturday, May 21.

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Ting Ting Chen / The Spectator

he Envirothon team, consisting of juniors Kaia Waxenberg and Nadia Filanovsky as well as seniors Henry Walker, Mohammed Shium, and Darren Lin, placed fifth in the oral presentation portion and 16th overall at the New York State Envirothon Competition on Wednesday, May 25 and Thursday, May 26 in Geneva, New York.

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ophomore Julian Rubinfien has been selected as one of five national finalists in the 2016 “Genes in Space” competition for his work on investigating telomere length and the effects of space travel on chromosomes.

The Spectator’s Editorial Board is proud to endorse Julia Lee and Stephanie Naing for Sophomore Caucus, Pallab Saha and Abie Rohrig for Junior Caucus, and Niels Graham and Paulina Ruta for Senior Caucus. The choice for each endorsement followed an interview with each of the candidates conducted by The Spectator’s Managing Board, as well as a discussion of each ticket’s platform. The final decision was made through vote by secret ballot.

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he Chess team won the New York City Mayor’s Cup Tournament on April 30 at the William T. Harris School.

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ophomore Matteo Wong and junior Shanjeed Ali placed first and second respectively at the Italian Poetry Recital at New York University. enior Amrit Hingorani has been selected as the male student recipient from New York State to receive the United States Presidential Scholars award.

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unior Sharon Lin won a $3,000 grant from AspireIT to hold a computer science camp for middle school girls, as well as a scholarship to present a workshop on technology at HackCon in Colorado.

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enior Seo Yeon placed second in the citywide PS Art 2016 contest.

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en sophomores representing Stuyvesant placed second in the National Geography Challenge.

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enior Nicholas Beasley won a gold medal in the Physics Olympiad and has qualified as one of 20 students selected to take the final exam to determine membership on the national team.

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reshman Meredith Silfen won second place in the Association of Orthodox Jewish Teachers Essay Contest.

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enior Ruojia Sun earned an Honorable Mention award in the National DNA Day Essay Contest.

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04 seniors were named National Merit Scholarship finalists.

WHAT’S INSIDE? Features A&E

Polazzo, So, and Chowdhury Apply to Trademark “Stuyvesant” By Vicky Chen and Raniyan Zaman Social studies teacher and Coordinator of Student Affairs Matthew Polazzo, SU President Matthew So, and SU Vice President Tahseen Chowdhury applied, as individuals, for a trademark on the word “Stuyvesant” with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO) on January 25. Chowdhury also stated that they applied to trademark “Stuy” and “Stuylin’” as well. The three filed for the trademark under International Class 25, which pertains to the use of the word on clothing. Their application specifically identifies “apparel for dancers” and “athletic apparel, namely shirts, pants jackets, footwear, hats and caps, [and] athletic uniforms.” However, as of May 10, 2016, they received a letter from the USPTO saying that the trademark for “Stuyvesant” was refused because, according to the USPTO website, it “is merely a drawing or a rendering of the applied-for mark, and thus fails to show the applied-for mark in commerce with the goods and/ or services for each international class.” Though their application is still live, they will need to submit images showing the word “Stuyvesant” used “in commerce”; for example, on a t-shirt. The specimen they submitted was simply the word “Stuyvesant” typed in Times New Roman font. They have six months to submit a new sample,

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which Chowdhury feels will be more than enough time. The idea of trademarking “Stuyvesant” was an initiative largely driven by So and Chowdhury after junior and Stuyvesant Investment Club President Alex Serbanescu mentioned the idea to Chowdhury. Chowdury found that a trademark on “Stuyvesant,” which was owned by a horseracing company and a bicycle company, had recently expired. After discussing the idea with So and Polazzo, the three applied for the trademarks through the USPTO. The application for the trademarks cost $300, which Chowdhury and So paid for with their own funds. As a legal process, the application also required approval and advice from legal counsel, and a sworn declaration, under 15 U.S.C. section 105 (a), that they are “the owner[s] of the trademark/service mark sought to be registered.” The three say that they plan to transfer the rights to hold the trademark to the SU, but as of now are unsure if they will be able to. “I am prepared to sign over [the trademark] to the school itself. The only thing we were thinking at the time was that [because] Stuyvesant, the actual school, is part of the entity of the New York City Department of Education, things get very complicated. Whereas, having it registered to individuals seemed like the

Matthew So and Tahseen Chowdhury Elected to Student Union

Elena Sapelyuk / The Spectator

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Campaign coverage can be found on pages 5-7.

Junior Matthew So and sophomore Tahseen Chowdhury were elected as Student Union (SU) President and Vice President, respectively, on Friday, May 20. The duo, dubbed “SoCho,” attained 360 votes, while the opposing ticket of junior Austin Tong and sophomore Barnett Zhao earned 338. Highlights of So and Chowd-

hury’s platform include promises to enforce a homework policy, completely restructure the SU budget, create a mass e-mail server, assemble a “Task Force” of students to improve daily life at Stuyvesant, and form an inter-school coalition that will work with the Department of Education.

continued on page 4

The BOE: Where It Came From and Where It’s Going Junior Sharon Chao studies a recent history of BOE blunders, and discusses ways to avoid future ones.

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Hamilton Was Here A&E Editor Liana Chow takes you on a walking tour in the footsteps of Alexander Hamilton.


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