January Full Color

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DATING AT THHS These THHS elite obviously excelled in their high school classrooms, but after checking in with them, it’s clear that they’re excelling just as much in their post-THHS lives.

> FEATURES PAGE 6

30 YEARS OF FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

GIRLS BASKETBALL: THE STREAK ENDS

Many agree it is time to ease restrictions on cell phones in school buildings, but what about openly using cell phones during class?

After an impressive three year streak, the girls bas-

> SPECIAL FEATURE PAGE !"

> SPORTS PAGE !#

The Classic takes a look back at all that’s happened during the streak,

Townsend Harris High School at Queens College

the January 2014 - Volume 30 No. 5

CLASSIC THE CLASSIC

www.thhsclassic.com

Finals week changes debut, focused on fewer, shorter exams Clara Abouelsaad and Aayush Beri STAFF WRITERS BASED ON suggestions lander said that teachers had to from students and faculty, ma- spend time altering certain quesjor changes were made to the tions when making the exams to ensure they could be completed within the shorter time frame.

be taken in class. Last January, teachers gave ule to Assistant Principal of Organization Ellen Fee, who then relayed it to the Consultative Council. When giving this feedback, teachers said they felt overwhelming for students. In addition, the idea of having no suggested. This was relayed to the Consultative Council, who agreed with the proposal and approved it for use in the 20132014 school year. “Basically we had a conversastressful for students due to the fact [that] freshman year we had which was utter chaos in terms of studying and organization,” said former Borough Student Advisory Committee Representative, junior Igor Portoi. “So the teachers met, discussed the schedule and...[the Consultative Council] agreed that [the schedule] seemed decent as a person could per day.” This alteration has naturally created changes in the format limited to just multiple-choice questions. Science teacher Sarah Ober-

able,” she said. Science teacher Phillip Porzio maintained that regardless of the schedule change, he was prepared to make an equitable istry teachers work as a team to exam based on the time we are given. Whether it is 90 minutes or 45 minutes, we will create an exam which is fair, comprehensible, and doable within the given time.” Also, as a result of this change, the written portions have been removed from many history, fornals. Despite this, Social Studies teacher Adam Stonehill feels that “The goal is to assess people’s knowledge for the semester in general and I think that fortySocial Studies teacher Charlene Levi feels the schedule is because for students to have all say and multiple choice for one

A poll was conducted on sophomores and juniors at THHS changes. Of the 23% of students who prefer said they prefer them because the longer amount of time makes them feel less rushed, 20% said because point values are lower, and 10% said because they don’t feel they are being thoroughly tested.

Poll conducted by Stephanie Geier

90 minutes to 45 minutes, and

WHAT FINAL LENGTH DO STUDENTS PREFER?

Infographic by Yash Sharma

was made to include the subjects that had multiple classes. The idea is to prevent an unfair advantage to a class at the end of information during lunch or another class.” For example, there are seven precalculus classes over the course of the day, so having an

for them.” In addition, more Advanced Placement electives and some foreign language classes will now

the purpose of the exam by making between bands. In contrast,

Ms. Fee said, “The schedule

as AP Human Geography, only

taught one band, will be given in-class. Most students favor shorter alleviate stress. Sophomore Yun-Ping Tseng stated, “I prefer the shorter exams and the fact that they are all in the morning because they give me more time to go home both to relax and study.” “The history teachers won’t ther,” added junior Jeyson Nee. Ms. Oberlander thinks this factor is important, and feels that

prepare students for college, having time for extracurriculars is important too. However, some students have minutes is enough time to cover the entire curriculum. Junior SU Treasurer Harto evaluate our understanding of the semester’s material more easily. Since they can include a larger variety of questions, 90-minute exams also sometimes prove

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Linguistics dropped in favor of full-year WP

Snow disrupts January classes

Sarah Iqbal and Lucy Lim STAFF WRITERS STARTING THIS SEMESTER, freshmen will no longer take the previously required spring term Linguistics course, which has instead been replaced by Writing Process II. Freshmen had always taken one semester of Writing Process and one of Linguistics as supplements to their regular English course. However, Linguistics, a part of Townsend Harris’ Humanities curriculum for over twenty

Jillissa Drayton, Victoria Karlic, and Raya Kazan STAFF WRITERS

Photo by Asia Acevedo

“At this point in our school’s development, it cess courses instead of Linguistics,” said Rafal Olechowski, Assistant Principal of Humanities. “I taught Linguistics in the past, but there was no curriculum, it was more of a ‘do whatever you want’ kind of class,” he adds. need to know to succeed in writing at THHS, the entire Writing Process curriculum was revamped changes made was placing a focus on writing analytical literary essays. Other foci of the curriculum

Freshmen in Mr. Wood’s Writing Process class.

> NEWS PAGE %

A WEDNESDAY snow day seemed all but certain on January 21 as snowfall made its gains in the late morning and accumulated throughout the day. Following a snow day only three weeks before, students viewed Snowstorm Janus, which was accompanied by RealFeel temperatures of four degrees and 35 mph winds, as another opportunity for a break from classes. Despite reports that this storm would be more intense than the last, NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen city schools open the next day because roads would have been cleared by then. Although after school clubs and PSAL activities were can-

celled on Tuesday afternoon, many students struggled to get home as commutes extended far beyond their usual lengths. Students taking public transportation home had grievous complaints against the MTA, which were frequently expressed as Facebook statuses. Some waited several hours for a bus. Junior Gerald Mariscal, who lives in the Bronx, usually travels home by the Q44 before crossing the Whitestone Bridge. “It was such a hassle getting on the bus that I decided to take the Q25,” adding that “it was so crowded on the bus that I regret the decision.” Freshman Leo Rodriguez

> NEWS PAGE $


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