Author: mjuman

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2016-2017 Archives by Maya J '16 Features students

Word from the Real World: Maya Juman

Being on my own is weird. It’s also the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

I’m Maya Juman, a BSGE (and Bacc Rag) alum, and now a freshman at Yale University. I’ve been in college for two months and have already experienced so many incredibly new things of all sorts. I have my first real job. I’ve battled two bouts of “freshman plague,” as everyone refers to the perpetual sore throat/cold passed around freshman housing. I’ve learned the hard way that eating grilled cheeses and taking breaks to play pool in the basement at 2 am is an ineffective, albeit fun, way to get work done. I’ve done better on a midterm than I anticipated. I’ve done much, much worse on a midterm than I anticipated. I’ve traveled home on the Metro-North, which oddly enough was the first time college truly felt real. I’ve located the best New Haven pizza (Pepe’s white clam pie, of course). I’ve been evacuated from my dorm at 1 am because a freshman two floors above me broke a sprinkler and flooded all our rooms. I’ve tried things I never thought I would, like working out at 7 am, beekeeping, and taking a poetry seminar. I’ve located the best study spots in each library, the best place to watch the Wild Card Game with other Mets fans, and, perhaps most importantly, the dining hall with the most expansive cereal selection.

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2015-2016 Archives by Maya J '16 Features students

Letter From The Editor

It has been a great privilege of mine to contribute to the Bacc Rag as a writer and editor over the past five years.

I remember so clearly the first time I, a tiny, terrified eighth grader, was sent to interview upperclassmen and teachers for an article. One of my first assignments was asking several seniors to reflect on the college application process, and I recall thinking about how far away college seemed, and how scary the seniors were, and how long it would be before I would finally graduate from BSGE.

It definitely went by faster than I could ever have imagined. Graduating seems surreal, but so does leaving behind this newspaper, which, although at times can be crazy and dysfunctional (I know the staff will agree with me) is so full of life and spunk. I’ve poured my heart into the Bacc Rag during my time at BSGE, and I can only hope that I have done half as much for this newspaper as it has done for me.

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by Maya J '16

Thanks BSGE PTA!

As Bacc Rag editor this year, I would like to thank the PTA for continuing to support our publication. As in years past, the PTA helped us print our issues, which we consider a crucial part of what we do as a newspaper. Physical distribution remains one of our main priorities in sharing news. We are so grateful to have the support of the school, and look forward to another year of writing and printing. Thank you so much for everything!

– Maya Juman ’16, Editor

 

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by Maya J '16

Lady Sting’s Playoff Run Ends in City Quarterfinals

DSC05467This year, BSGE’s varsity softball team had their longest and most exciting playoff run yet. During the regular season the team was undefeated, finishing 15-0 in their PSAL Queens B Division, led by captains Nina Don ‘16 and Rakia Islam ‘16. Lady Sting was seeded #1 in Queens, and was given a first round bye. In the second round, the team defeated Robert H. Goddard High School 10-9 in a 6-run seventh inning rally. BSGE was then granted the overall #3 seed in the city out of the remaining 16 teams. After beating Sunset Park High School 8-1 in the third round, Lady Sting advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in BSGE history. Despite losing 3-0 to the High School for Math, Science and Engineering, Lady Sting still finished the season as one of the top 8 teams out of the total 133 in B Division softball, an accomplishment that the players, the coaches, and the many spectators and fans are truly proud of.

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by Maya J '16

A New Cafeteria Mural for CAS

IMG_5372The vast majority of BSGE students eat lunch in the cafeteria, and many spend time there after school for various extracurricular activities. Thus, for a group of five determined seniors, repainting the cafeteria mural seemed like the obvious choice for a CAS group project that would impact the entire school community. Isabelle Lee ‘16, Alvaro Bermejo ‘16, Joly Zakaria ‘16, Akib Rahman ‘16, and Sara Asprilla ‘16 wanted to replace the long-standing mural with a brighter, fresher design. With the supervision and input of the art teachers, Peter Wilson, and Vanessa Rabines, the group put in 20 hours of after-school work over the course of 2 months, sanding and repainting the original mural and creating the new design on the wall.

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by Moshan G '17

BSGE Travels to China!

IMG_3890During spring break, a group of BSGE students and teachers embarked on a trip to China, which was our school’s first trip to a country in Asia. This year, the school decided to give an opportunity to students interested in Chinese culture and language to experience the country firsthand. The group consisted of 23 students and 4 teachers—Ms. Mihalache, Ms. Silva, Mr. Giraldo, and Ms. Xia. During their 10-day stay in China, they visited a total of three cities: Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai.

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by Anab K '20

BSGE Fitness Room Gets a Makeover

The second floor fitness room is used by most BSGE students who have gym for their physical education class. Some students even like to go to the fitness room after school and work out then as well. The room has recently been renovated, with the addition of a mirror and the rearrangement of equipment. However, there are still more changes to come.

Margaret Pasach, the parent coordinator, explained the process of renovating the room. “The PTA worked on getting money from the councilman, because the machines were in disrepair. And he came through. They’d been working on it for 2 years. They were able to bring in enough money to redo the fitness room.” The floors were repainted a bright blue, and mirrors now line the wall behind the weight racks. Some machines, however, were removed, like the equipment for lateral pulldown, and a dysfunctional machine that is supposed to work out the legs but now only serves as a rest station. Over the summer, new machines will be added, like new bicycles, since many of the current bicycles are not entirely functional.

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by Anab K '20

Investigating BSGE’s Water Quality

Even if all water fountains are created equal, their quality can change over time, and we wanted to investigate the water quality on every floor of BSGE. There are two water fountains on each floor, one tall and one shorter. We found that all the smaller fountains were of lower quality when considering three factors of temperature, murkiness, and pressure.

The first floor water fountains are an interesting case. The two fountains are in front of the security guard’s desk, excluding the one in the lunchroom, which has been out of order, as well as the cafeteria’s water cooler. The water from the smaller fountain has a colder temperature than the larger one, at 16 degrees Celsius. However, the larger one, at 17.1 degrees Celsius, has much clearer water than the smaller one. Although the small water fountain did not have really murky water, it was relatively unclear. In terms of water pressure (how much water came out of the fountain and at what speed), the larger fountain wins. It sprays water at a more forceful rate, with a larger arc of water.  If you had to make a choice between the two water fountains on the first floor, the larger water fountain would win due to its pretty cold water and much higher cleanliness than the other one.

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by Maya J '16

BSGE’s Middle School Math Competition Success

0319161235aBSGE’s middle school math team has been succeeding in numerous city and state math competitions this spring, led by Mr. Mehan. 8th graders Rachael Cheung, Christie Choi, SiLiang Lei and Christy Guan, as well as 7th grader Ahmed Shekani participated in the MathCounts citywide chapter competition on February 6th at IS 74, where the team won 2nd place. They moved on to the state finals, held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York on March 18th.

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by Maya J '16

Lady Sting Softball Off To Strong Start With 2016 Season

1918183_10204212323627360_8065897584736457814_nBSGE’s varsity softball team kicked off the season last week, dominating their first two PSAL games against the Young Women’s Leadership School, 20-0, and Long Island City High School, 21-1. The official games began after several weeks of non-league scrimmages against Division A and B teams, which Lady Sting ended with a record of 4 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie. Lady Sting is looking to win its division for the second consecutive season, and advance to the playoffs once again. Captain and shortstop Nina Don ’16 shared her thoughts on the start of the season. “I feel like it’s going really well. Our team is getting smarter and stronger after every game – even the freshmen are learning really quickly, and I hope this continues throughout the season.”

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by BACC Rag staff

This Week’s News in Brief

BSGE’s Football Team Remains Undefeated
BSGE’s Boys Football team recently completed another undefeated season. The team has never lost a single game in the 14 year history of BSGE. No member of the team could be found for comment.
Staff-Only Zip Line Under Construction
An unnamed source among the staff recently confirmed that teachers are secretly working on a zip line to take them from the 4th floor teacher’s room to a bar two blocks away.
Only 14% of BSGE Students Aware of Petting Zoo on the Roof
Despite outreach and awareness campaigns from the Petting Hands committee, most students remain unaware that there is a fully functioning petting zoo on the roof of our school’s building. The zoo recently added a female alpaca named Maxim. Admission is $5 for students but free on Fridays. Club president, Louise Belcher, said that members of Petting Hands remain optimistic that students would take better advantage of the zoo, especially with the scheduled arrival of a wallaby next fall.
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by Chloe H '20

NYC Public Schools Celebrate Lunar New Year

On February 8th 2016, all NYC students had a day off from school to celebrate the longest and most important holiday in Chinese culture: Lunar New Year, more commonly known as Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is celebrated to honor ancestors and to bring families together to feast.

2016 is the first year that the day was recognized as a school holiday. In the past decade, city, state, and federal officials and community groups had been fighting for Chinese New Year to be added as a school holiday in NYC where one in six of the 1.1 million students are Asian. “Under the prior city (Bloomberg) administration, there was a real lack of willingness to consider this issue,” State Senator Daniel Squadron, a supporter of a legislation in 2009 to recognize Chinese New Year as a school holiday, told NBC News.

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