Category: by Simran V ’11

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by Simran V '11

Throw BACC Thursdays: Lounge Night: BSGE’s Most Successful Event Yet

The BACC Rag will repost an old article or interview (from our archive of almost a thousand stories!) each Thursday to help share great stories from the past that would still resound today. 

As the lights went down and the spotlight hit the ‘stage,’ the crowd screamed in anticipation for the different performers to come out. People pushed each other to get to the front  to see Lenny Herrera, who hosted the event. After Lenny did a comedy skit mocking a few lucky (or unlucky) BSGE students, Oliver Ponce and Jimmy Turturo came out and got the crowd riled up by playing ‘Dialogue with the Star’ by In Flames. They played the metal song flawlessly on the guitars and dedicated the song to all the girls in the crowd with braces.
Next came Dominique Coticchio and Tiffany Callegari who sang covers of two songs by Alanis Morissette. Their amazing vocals along with the acoustic guitar got the crowd really pumped. After an introduction by Lenny, Sammy Levine’s band, Heroes came out and did a great cover of ‘Buddy Holly’ by Weezer. Then was Rajiv Mahajan, BSGE’s French teacher who played his acoustic guitar while he sang two original and extremely soulful pieces—the latter of which was aptly dedicated to the people of Haiti.
The night got more and more exciting as other performers performed different genres of music, which definitely reached out to

Continue reading “Throw BACC Thursdays: Lounge Night: BSGE’s Most Successful Event Yet”
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by Simran V '11

BSGE’S New Volleyball Team

Every year, BSGE’s 10th graders spend months (if they are not procrastinating) planning their personal projects. Each project is intended to be a piece of work that reflects a student’s creativity and his or her ability to learn and research independently. This year, Amina Hadjeb is doing so by starting a girl’s volleyball team at BSGE, hoping to diversify the sports available at BSGE. The goal of Amina’s personal project is to start training a group of girls in volleyball in hopes to start competing against other schools by the beginning of next year. The volleyball season runs from September to November and she hopes that our team will be ready by that time to compete. For now, however, the team is just doing practices and drills in order to learn more about the sport and prepare themselves for next year.
Amina was inspired to make her

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by Simran V '11

Dr. Mandler’s Experience at Stuy

As many of you may have noticed, BSGE can no longer afford to have as many teachers as it has had in past years. One of the teachers we have lost due to budget cuts is Dr. David Mandler, who originally taught BSGE’s 10th graders. After leaving at the end of last year, he took a position as an English teacher for 9th and 10th graders at Stuyvesant High School, one of New York City’s specialized high schools. He says his experiences at Stuy are significantly different from those at BSGE. In many ways, Dr. Mandler’s experiences at Stuy reaffirm that our small community and family-like atmosphere are characteristics to be proud of. At the same time, there are some benefits to going to a school where each

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by Simran V '11

Is Your Studying Efficient?

At some point, we have all studied for a test, felt completely ready to ace it…and then end up blanking out after reading the first question. The reason behind this may surprisingly not be your nerves, but rather your study habits. Since the beginning of their educations, students have been told the supposed “best” ways to study. Teachers and parents tell you it would be best to sit down in the same, quiet place every day and diligently do your homework without any distractions. According to a recent study by researchers at the University of South Florida, however, that is not the best way to gain the most knowledge. The study states that students learn best when they space out their studies, as opposed to cramming it all into one session.
The research indicates that if you study two different methods to solve a

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by Simran V '11

Class of 2010 Has Most IB Diploma Recipients

Last year, BSGE’s Class of 2010 was not only the largest graduating class, but also the class with the largest number of IB Diploma recipients in BSGE’s history. Of the 71 students in the 2010 graduating class, 59 registered for the IB exams and of those 59 students,  47 were Diploma Candidates (sat for all the exams). Of those 47 students, 29 were IB Diploma recipients. Those that did not receive the diploma did not do so because of a variety of other IB requirements
In order to receive the IB Diploma, a candidate must have met

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by Simran V '11

AIr Conditioning, Popcorn, and A Summer Movie

Knight and Day On June 25:
This action-comedy movie stars Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise, who act as a fugitive couple on a lethal adventure. The lines between truth and lies blur as betrayals impact this couple’s relationship. Eventually, they end up traveling the globe in attempt to escape from being caught by a federal agent. This movie also stars Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Grace.

Grown Ups On June 25:
This film is an upcoming summer comedy starring Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and Kevin James. These five best friends from high school reunite after 30 years due to the death of their basketball coach. They and their families spent the 4th of July weekend together at the lake house where they had

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by Simran V '11

Borrowing Cash from the U.S. Of A.

For some BSGE students, college is right around the corner and money has recently become an increasingly important factor in students’ college decisions. The choice of where to apply or go to for college is not only decided based on academics, location, and size, but also based on how much financial aid a college will provide. Going to college is becoming increasingly expensive as even public universities have increased prices, averaging $7,020 just for tuition and fees and many private universities charging an average of $26,273 just for tuition and fees (not including room and board, textbooks, or meal plans), many students end up taking out loans or apply for grants and scholarships in order to pay for college.
Usually, student loans would have to be taken from private banks and corporations like

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by Simran V '11

Lounge Night: BSGE’s Most Successful Event Yet

As the lights went down and the spotlight hit the ‘stage,’ the crowd screamed in anticipation for the different performers to come out. People pushed each other to get to the front  to see Lenny Herrera, who hosted the event. After Lenny did a comedy skit mocking a few lucky (or unlucky) BSGE students, Oliver Ponce and Jimmy Turturo came out and got the crowd riled up by playing ‘Dialogue with the Star’ by In Flames. They played the metal song flawlessly on the guitars and dedicated the song to all the girls in the crowd with braces.
Next came Dominique Coticchio and Tiffany Callegari who sang covers of two songs by Alanis Morissette. Their amazing vocals along with the acoustic guitar got the crowd really pumped. After an introduction by Lenny, Sammy Levine’s band, Heroes came out and did a great cover of ‘Buddy Holly’ by Weezer. Then was Rajiv Mahajan, BSGE’s French teacher who played his acoustic guitar while he sang two original and extremely soulful pieces—the latter of which was aptly dedicated to the people of Haiti.
The night got more and more exciting as other performers performed different genres of music, which definitely reached out to

Continue reading “Lounge Night: BSGE’s Most Successful Event Yet”
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by Simran V '11

SAT vs ACT. Which Test is for you?

Good grades on college entrance exams such as the SATs and the ACTs are imperative to getting into selective colleges. Hence, one question that constantly plagues high school students is whether to take the SAT or the ACT. All colleges accept either of these tests for admission and both test a student’s capabilities. However, the way students are tested and what students are tested on are completely different. That is why many students may score better on one of the two tests and some do about the same on both. Choosing which test (or both) to take involves considering the structure of both tests and what type of college you want to go to.
The SAT, however, seems to be by far, the more popular test in New York. But that doesn’t mean that the ACT is taboo. In fact multiple students take both of these exams and the ACT is

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by Simran V '11

Student Metrocards in Danger

With the start of the new semester, New York City students were issued what could be their last student MetroCards. As New York City students, we have always had the privilege of receiving student MetroCards, which allot three rides per day Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m, only for days when school is in session. By September, however, there will be about 584,000 NYC students sans student MetroCards every weekday, according to the MTA website, http://www.mta.info. The MTA has recently been hit with budget cuts that have forced them to consider taking away these student MetroCards—affecting NYC students who get either free or half-fare MetroCards. Getting rid of

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by Simran V '11

Editorial: School Spirit

It is obvious that BSGE’s students are not the best with school spirit. During previous school years, there has been a serious lack of enthusiasm and pride for our school. Evidently, school events that used to be well-received have drastically lost their popularity. For instance, a couple of years ago, BSGE’s Annual Boat Dance was the biggest party of the year. But it has been canceled for the past two years because not enough people have bought tickets. This year, however, seems different from the previous years. Over the past few months, there has been a sudden renewal of school spirit. With a stream of extremely popular school events such as the Masquerade Ball, Free Movie Night, and bunches of bake sales,

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by Simran V '11

CSI BSGE Style: Our New Forensics Class

This year’s budget cuts left us with a modified science curriculum. One of the changes to BSGE’s curriculum is the new 9th grade Forensic Science class taught by Mr. Laskowski. Before this year, 9th graders took Regents Physics with Mr. Hofer, however, he left the school and left BSGE without a Physics teacher and without a 9th grade Science class.  Mr. Laskowski (who also teaches 7th grade) was asked to create a new class to fill the void left by Physics.
Forensics is not a very common subject in other schools so it is surprising to see that it was chosen as a new science class for BSGE. According to Ms. Johnson, the reason that Forensics was chosen as an alternative class was because the class “will help students when they take 10th grade Chemistry, and IB Chemistry or IB Biology, as Forensics includes concepts and skills related to both Chemistry and Biology.” BSGE hopes to increase the

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