Two blocks away from BSGE on Northern Boulevard is a large white building that resembles a warehouse, similar to the many other barren looking structures throughout Astoria and Long Island City (LIC). But if you manage to stumble inside the first floor of this building you will find “Coffeed,” the eco-friendly coffee shop that gives back to the community of Queens through 10% of their beverage sales and 5% of their food sales.
The first thing one would most likely notice is the casual setup of the café with mismatched tables and chairs strung
On Monday, June 10th, BSGE held a new student orientation for incoming 7th and 9th grade students. Parents stayed in the cafeteria to listen to presentations by teachers and PTA representatives about the school and the program at BSGE. Students went with teachers to classrooms to participate in various ice breaker activities and help answer students’ questions about the school. The Main goal with students is to help them feel welcome and more comfortable due to the big transition they are about to make. Around 100 families were in attendance.
On Friday, June 7th celebrated the end of the Middle Years Program with the current 10th grade students. The ceremony will included the distribution MYP certificates and subject specific awards and speeches by student speakers. The 10th grade students selected Avishek Paul to speak and teachers selected Paulina Nowakowski and Sarfi Chowdhury. Spanish teacher Freddy Giraldo was the host for the event.
The Winning Team: Elijah K ’18, Michael X ’18, and Nibras I ’18 (Photo Credit: Jennifer Dikes).
The second annual BSGE Team Geography Bee took place on Wednesday, June 5th. A 7th grade team of Michael X ’18, Elijah K ’18, and Nibras I ’18 (team name: The Rainbow Cuddlebunny Powerpuffs) beat out 30 other teams to win the competition. The team scored a total of 66 points out of a possible 68.
Participating students formed team of three and answered questions that evaluated their knowledge of world, national, and local geography over two, 25 minute rounds. The participants were mostly 7th and 8th graders with some high school students as well.
Last year’s champions, Zovinar K ’17, Yassmin E ’17, and Mehraj M ’17 (Team Name: Screw You, We Were Last Year’s Champions!) finished in 2nd place this year with a total of 51 points.
The first place team received movie passes and the second and third place teams received iTunes gift cards.
Awards were also distributed for best team names. The “Flatulent Alpacas” and the “Andrew Jackson 5” took home those awards.
A team of teachers also participated. Mr Mehan, Dr. Helfenbein, and Ms. Mihalache finished with 57 points.
The BSGE community donated a total of 29 pints of blood on June 4th. The New York Blood Center came to BSGE for the second time this school year in this event sponsored by the Helping Hands Committee.
Believe it or not, teachers get graded too and the system for how teachers are evaluated that has been in place in New York City for over a decade is about to change. Teachers used to get rated either Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory based on an administrator’s observations. Starting next year, a more complicated system will be implemented at BSGE and throughout New York City schools.
In the past few years, teacher evaluations have become a widely discussed topic on the national, state, and citywide levels. Debates have focused on what exactly should be considered in a teacher evaluation and what role, if any, standardized tests should play in determining teacher quality.
In 2009, President Obama signed the “Race to the Top” Bill that gave states grant money if they made certain changes in their state education policies, among them,
![photo[3]](https://thebaccrag.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo3.jpg)
![photo[2]](https://thebaccrag.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo2.jpg?w=241&h=300)
![photo[1]](https://thebaccrag.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo1.jpg)
The BACC Rag 
