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2016-2017 Archives by Helen T '20 by Sharupa A '20 Student Life

How to Stop Procrastinating Today Instead of Putting it off Until Tomorrow

At some point in their life, every student will have been affected by procrastination. According to the dictionary, procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing a task. In the case of a student, procrastination usually takes the form of avoiding doing homework and other assignments or studying for important tests. Especially for those who are new to the BSGE’s workload, procrastination can become a common trait. Far more than half the students at BSGE admit to being procrastinators at one point or another.

Procrastination occurs in a variety of different ways, and can lead to bad experiences in class along with deteriorating grades. “I end up staying up really late trying to finish what would have been easier without the stress and rush,” said Kayla Powers ’20. Similarly, “I have had to do rushed jobs in advisory, or totally forget the homework and have my grade go down,” said student Dart MacVeagh ’21. These are only some of the consequences students have had because of their procrastination. A general response from those who considered themselves procrastinators said that their progress on their homework and academic performance gradually decreases as they procrastinate.

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2016-2017 Archives by Kevin W '20 by Rachel Z '20 Clubs/Activities Student Life

BSGE’s Annual Spirit Week!

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From Monday, October 31st to Friday, November 4th, BSGE’s senior council organized its annual Spirit Week. Spirit Week, According to Jennifer Shin ’17 and Kyra Richardson ‘17, two members of the senior council, this was a chance “to get everyone of all grades to participate” in a school-wide event. The goal was to make each day easy to partake in, learned after the unfortunate “Fancy Friday” of last year, a day where very fewstudents participated. Flannel Friday took its place as “it was easy to participate in and everyone has a flannel; the whole point of the week is to get all grades to join,” Jennifer explained. With the event’s more simplistic nature, it gave more freedom to students so that everyone could join.

This year, the week consisted of:

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2016-2017 Archives BSGE by Novaleen A '20 by Tri W '20 News Student Life

Chemistry and Biotechnology: A Comparison

What is biotechnology and how important is it? “The biotechnology course is designed to give students background on the essential fundamentals that will implement students on future science courses,” said Dr. Helfenbein, BSGE’s biology teacher. In essence, the course educates students on the ways we conduct our in-depth investigations on the workings of the natural world.

Have you ever wondered why the world works the way it does? How things connect and correlate with one another? Chemistry encompasses all of human life. It helps students become more aware of the world around them through their senses, as well as learn about themselves as a functioning being. Learning chemistry is a key element to our society. It can even aid technological advancements, develop the medical field, and assist in biological breakthroughs!

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2016-2017 Archives by Rakiba S '22 by Ritwika B '22 Entertainment and Culture Style

The Official Guide to Backpacks

Imagine having to carry all of your books by hand every day to school—this would make going to school almost impossible!  A backpack is an essential part of the elementary, middle and high school experience, and everybody has different opinions on which brand will benefit them. This is because comfort and appearance greatly impact education and health. In fact, studies show that approximately 5,000 children each year visit the ER because of backpack-related injuries such as hip, back, shoulder, and knee pain as well as bad posture and the tightening of muscles. Therefore, choosing an appropriate backpack for school is important. When doing so, consider all of its different aspects including the brand, quality, size, capacity, and price.

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2016-2017 Archives BSGE by Jacqueline C '20 by Lalla A '20 News

Curriculum Night: Important but Overlooked

While this annual occurrence has been overlooked by many, Curriculum Night recently proved to be crucial for parents who wanted to come a step closer to their children’s education. Held on Wednesday, September 28th, the night included a bake sale for student funds with many parents attending. Those who were able to be there realized how essential such an event is to their child’s education. One seventh grade parent said, “Before this I had absolutely no idea what my children were doing to be honest, now I know what to expect of them.”
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2016-2017 Archives by Anab K '20 Entertainment and Culture Style

The Buzz: What Halloween costume are you wearing?

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One Donald J. Trump, Daniel Sahr ‘20, appeared at BSGE
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Rummana Amrin ‘17 dressed in a full body bear costume.

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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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2016-2017 Archives BSGE by Fariha H '19 by Jennifer S '19 News

All You Ever Wanted to Know About the Schedule Change

For a long time, the possibility of a schedule change had been a focus in the staff meetings, though every year it was delayed a little bit longer. This year, though, the administration changed the schedule completely. Previously, BSGE had a rotating A-Day, B-Day schedule. Each day consisted of five 70-minute classes, one of which was split into lunch and advisory, which were only 35 minutes each.

Now, the school administration has changed the schedule to the form of eight 45-minute classes, with three minutes of break time between each period to travel to the next class.

This change was caused by multiple factors, though the main reason was the lack of funding the school has. After facing three years without funding, Ms. Johnson had to let go of two teachers, which caused a strain on the number of classes assigned to those who remained. They would have ended up teaching 5 or more classes in one day, which could not have been possible with the A/B day schedule. Consequently, changing the schedule became a necessity for our school. “The changes were influenced by the reality that BSGE is a public school and is funded like a public school. Therefore the school has to be structured like a public school unless we receive grant funding or major donations,” elaborated Ms. Johnson.

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2016-2017 Archives by Janielle D '19 Culture Entertainment and Culture Student Life

Tips for New Bees

Transitioning into a new school is difficult, especially one as demanding and rigorous as BSGE. In order to make that transition smooth, all new students should remember these seven suggestions:

  1. Be polite; stay to the right!  If you’re not on the right side, you’re on the wrong side.
    • The school hallways are very small, so the general rule is to stay to the right so that you help minimize the amount of traffic (especially with only three minutes between classes).
  2. Say hello to your new best friend: your locker.
    • Not everyone is privileged enough to have a ten minute commute to and from school, and no one wants to injure their back with tons of binders and notebooks everyday. Before leaving, think to yourself: do you really need your whole binder? Can you just bring a few sheets home to complete your work? Get everything you need to finish homework and study, then leave the rest in your locker! Your back will thank you later.
  3. Stay organized and on top of things.
    • If you didn’t know, there are calendars on the first floor for teachers to write big assignments on so that we are not bombarded with too much work within one week. However, this does not always work in our favor. There will be weeks in which you’ll have three tests, five quizzes, and a paper due, and it will be solely up to you to get everything done. With this amount of work, life will be much easier if you actively use a planner – whether a physical book or your phone’s calendar app. This way, you will be able to correctly prioritize and optimize your time and energy.  If you don’t have a planner, you can buy one from Margaret Pasach, the parent coordinator, for only $5.
  4. Communication is key!
    • While it would be nice to understand everything on the first try, that will not always happen. It’s fine to struggle; everyone does. But you don’t have to be embarrassed or or ashamed! Many teachers are available after school to answer your questions. It’s reasonable to feel like you’re bothering them, but remember that teaching is what they do. They want to make sure that you understand what’s going on, and they cannot read your minds to know whether or not you need help if you don’t say anything. If your teacher isn’t free, you always have classmates that you can go to for help!
  5. Don’t be afraid to get involved.
    • If it wasn’t already obvious, BSGE has a plethora of clubs and extracurricular activities that are available for everyone to join! Joining these clubs is a great way to make new friends, especially ones who are in other grades, while doing something after school that interests you. To see the clubs schedule this year, check the front page, and if you don’t see anything of interest, you can always try to start a new one!
  6. Sleep is not for the weak. It’s for the productive and successful student.
    • This one ties into the third tip because it’s important to plan out everything accordingly, especially sleeping. Without enough sleep, you run the risk of being too tired to concentrate during class. If that happens, you’ll not only get in trouble, but you will also possibly miss important information. Especially as growing teenagers, sleep is essential to growth and health, and it isn’t wise to miss out on that because you didn’t manage your time well. Sure, there’ll be a few days in which your workload is too heavy, forcing you to only get three hours of sleep, but try not to make it a habit!
  7. Grades are important, but they’re not everything.
    • Everyone wants to have straight sevens, and it makes sense: the pressure to get good grades is extremely high. However, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s really important. School is supposed to be a place to learn , and while grades do matter, achieving that goal is far more important. Aim for those sevens, but don’t stress out too much if you fall short.  It is extremely difficult to get perfect grades, and that’s okay. Just don’t forget to learn from your mistakes and have fun!

Keep these tips in mind to make your experience here as pleasant as possible.  After all, you are at school for ten months a year: you might as well make the most of it!

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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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