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CSI Experiences Dakamela

Helen Bekhit — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:21:38 +0000

It was a chilly afternoon, when a very earnest and exceptional visitor came to our school to speak to the sophomore advisories. Students sat waiting, not knowing what he would talk about.

Playing a slideshow, Mr. Grashow, guest speaker and founder, with his wife Sheri Saltzberg, of the U.S. Africa Children’s Fellowship, spoke about the hardships children, teenagers, and even parents go through in the small town of Nkayi Zimbabwe in Africa where the Dakamela School, our sister school, is located.

“With no money to support themselves, it’s our chance to make a difference,” Mr. Grahow.

The Dakemela School fundraising program started five years ago when the Kaplan Advisory, under the leadership of graduate Liana Inzerillo, decided to help the less fortunate while earning the required 120 hours of community service credit necessary to graduate.

“ I have spent many years trying to make this program continue to be a success because of merely seeing these children’s faces every time we visit and bring them goods. The smiles, excitement and purity in their hearts makes what I do continue to happen. When thinking about what little they have and how they act upon it, still being happy, it makes them deserve the work we put into everything. They deserve just as much as we do,” said Mr. Grashow.

Raising money to certify teachers as well as provide children with shoes and notebooks tad easier, students in the Kaplan Advisory and others in the school who have helped have continued and will continue to make a difference.

Currently, the entire sophomore class, under Physical Education teacher Ms. Carmella Pepe, will be involved in supporting the Dakamela School.

“The importance of students to realize the value of helping others is in dire need these days. Students in this generation have only looked at what they want to have and what others have when they should be aware that people everywhere suffer each and everyday. The sophomore advisories have agreed to lend a helping hand to those in need to prove that help can come from anyone who wants to be able to make a difference,” said Mrs. Pepe.

Not only was collecting materials the main strategy of the Kaplan Advisory, but students also collected money last year to certify a teacher at the Dakamela School.

“No matter what education brings to a person, the importance of helping others is a true heart warming experience. Being able to give students like myself the chance to learn and have a better life truly moved me as well as other classmates of mine. I hope that the new sophomore advisories continue to feel the way I did when I helped out as much as I could,” said graduate Liana Inzerillo.

Mr. Grashow, his wife and son Alexander Grashow travel to Africa each year to meet the cargo container and visit the schools they support. Four years ago, the Kaplan Advisory decided to help the Grashow family and began by collecting shoes, clothes, and helped to load the cargo container bound for Zimbabwe.

The partnership will, hopefully, continue and expand, helping students in Zimbabwe and in our school, become involved in community service.

“Its really important not just for the school to receive credit with the amount of whatever is donated, but it’s mostly about the lives of the children. We are lucky to be able to have everything we need, why shouldn’t they be given the same opportunity?” said sophomore Emily Funes.

Knowing pens, pencils, money, clothing, food, and other supplies can be donated to the school and their students has made the word ‘hope’ truly known and meaningful to the sophomores.

“Without the proper necessities these students and adults have very little. With no money there is no schooling or certified teachers, with no shoes students can’t get to school on time, with no school supplies they aren’t allowed in, and without uniforms students aren’t admitted to school. The biggest problem now is the inflation in Zimbabwe because of political instability, which makes the economy weak. People are going through rough times, and it’s our job to help make things easier,” said Mrs. Kaplan.

The current sophomore advisories have agreed to make a plan and with the help of their friends and families, the students of Zimbabwe will continue to be successful.

Kaplan’s Gone?

Laurel Haim and Rosa Carucci — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:21:00 +0000

“It’s very difficult for me to leave, but it can be difficult to get a sabbatical, and this is the first time I have been approved,” explained Journalism adviser Nancy Kaplan to her students as she told them about her sabbatical leave.

As of January 31st, one of our schools founding teachers, Mrs. Nancy Kaplan will be taking a study sabbatical leave for one semester and will return in September of 2010.

Teachers that have taught for seven consecutive years are eligible for a sabbatical leave. During study sabbatical, teachers chose to return to a college or university and take graduate level classes in their licensed subject. They must take eight credits, and the teachers have to pay for their own courses. The Department of Education must approve of these classes before they are taken, and while on the leave, teachers on receive 70 percent of their pay.

“I’m taking a sabbatical so I can recharge my batteries and teach for many more years before I retire,” said Mrs. Kaplan.

Mrs. Kaplan will be attending Brooklyn College where she will be take three classes: Comparative Ethnic Literature, The Short Story, and Faulkner.

“I wanted to take journalism classes, but my sabbatical might not have been approved since my teaching license is English and History. I hope to sit in on some journalism classes at Brooklyn College, though,” said Mrs. Kaplan.

If the course work a teacher applies for is not rigorous enough or if they teach in a shortage area, they can be denied sabbatical leave.

Normally, when the teacher contract is renegotiated, sabbatical leaves are always discussed.

The NYC DOE would like to omit sabbatical leaves from the teacher contract. However, the United Federation of Teachers is always supporting sabbaticals.

“The DOE wants to remove sabbatical leaves to save money, but it’s not going to happen in the future,” said UFT representative Jim Sherlock.

Although she will be busy with her schoolwork at Brooklyn College, Mrs. Kaplan still plans to help her students and the newspaper whenever she is available.

“I’m only over the bridge and an email or a phone call away if The Insider staff and my students need me,” continued Kaplan.

“I know that along with me, the entire staff and faculty wish Mrs. Kaplan a wonderful and productive sabbatical. We will all miss her, her creativity, her passion, and her dedication to our students and our school, and look forward to her return,” said Principal Ms. Aimee Horowitz.

Also making her leave easier is the recent grant Mrs. Kaplan won. Mrs. Kaplan is the 2010 Middle Atlantic States Region winner of the Bob Costas Award for the Teaching of Writing given by the College Board every year.

“It’s a relief knowing the journalism fund will have plenty of money this year and next,” said Mrs. Kaplan.

Temporarily replacing her will be Mr. Frank Duffy. Mr. Duffy will be teaching Ms. Kaplan’s English classes as well as running the school newspaper.

Students Take Part in Their Own Memoir

Matea Kulusic — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:19:44 +0000

Everyone has a story. It’s what makes a person different from everyone else; it’s their identity. In 2003, a program called “StoryCorps” was started, where people can go and record their stories and preserve them at the Library of Congress. Eight students from our school have volunteered as part of the memoir project in their English classes to record their stories.

“We decided as a department to read memoirs this year, but we wanted the students to choose which memoir to read. So we gave them a list, and they selected and formed book clubs, which met weekly to analyze the plot,” said English teacher Mrs. Nancy Kaplan.

The students also wrote their own stories detailing their own experiences and life stories. According to Kaplan, the purpose of starting this memoir project is to read and write about one’s life.

The students paired up, and recorded their stories in a booth in downtown Manhattan.

“By listening and connecting with each other, it makes the experience of sharing stories a lot more enjoyable than if people went one at a time to record. That is why we encourage people to go into the recording booth and record their stories together,” said Lucy Zhou from the communications department at StoryCorps.

After the recording, the people at StoryCorps choose which stories they will broadcast on NPR’s Morning Edition and the rest are sent to the Library of Congress to be preserved.

This project allows every one who shares their story a part to be a part of our nation’s history. This project makes people more than just a silent nameless face in the crowd, it gives them a voice. This is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind.

“The mission of StoryCorps is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our time. As a public service, we try to offer the interview experience to as many people as possible in order to showcase the richness and diversity of the American people,” said Zhou.

In a way, this enhances our democracy by giving everyone a voice and a chance to be a part of our nation’s history. It is truly amazing to know that by doing something as simple as going into a recording booth can make our stories become a part of our nation’s history and something for future generations to remember us by.

The eight volunteers are: Elliot Santiago, Paul Casella, Amber Figerio, Christopher Frank, Brianna Recinos, Alex Lopes, Djenne Jean-Louis, and Radwa Achmed. The first four students are recording their stories on Jan. 16, 2010, and the rest are recording on Jan. 30, 2010 in Manhattan.

Journalism Students Explore the Media

Adam Levine and Adetola Adeosun — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:42:26 +0000

Adam Levine | The Insider

Back in the 1850s, Abraham Lincoln was beginning his presidential campaign. At the time, biased newspapers were extremely common. A reporter from The New York Herald once wrote that Lincoln’s Cooper Union speech was “unmitigated trash, interlarded with coarse and clumsy jokes.”

On November 4, 2009, Journalism teacher Mrs. Nancy Kaplan took ten staff members to view the Lincoln Exhibit at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan to learn how the press influenced society, and consider whether the media still has an influence today.

Northern newspapers, such as The New York Tribune favored Lincoln while southern newspapers like The Ch

arleston Mercury were totally against him. “ It depended on which part of the country you were from as to how Lincoln was viewed in the press. Obviously, the abolitionist newspapers and the pro-Union papers were favorable to him,” said history teacher Ms. Karolynn Mangiero.

Biased newspapers and headlines were used during the 1800s as an attempt to sway people to one political side.

Today biased front pages and headlines are not only rare, but also unethical. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become more popular than newspapers, thus making them the biased newspapers of our generation.

“Oddly enough, people aren’t really all that shocked for the most part. A lot of people who come through the exhibit express the feeling that a lot of bias still exists in the media today. It’s just more subtle now,” said docent Jennifer Lagasse.

During Lincoln’s time, newspapers were seen as a source for news and a way to share information about local happenings with people. Nowadays, some newspapers have become geared towards whose dating whom and the latest celebrity’s public misconduct.

“Today I believe newspapers are about sensationalization and manipulating individuals so they can make large sums of money. For example, the headlines in New York’s daily newspapers have been filled with Tiger Woods’ domestic issues rather than the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan or any of the major social and economic issues facing the nation,” said Ms. Mangiero. “This also says a lot about us as news readers. We are more concerned with gossip than real issues.”

Rhyming to Your Own Beat – Poetry Slam 2009

Darlene Akanmu — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 16:24:47 +0000

What do food, friends, boys, self-esteem, and high school have in common? They were discussed, through performance, at the 2009 Sophomore Poetry Slam.

The slam was an overall success, which after three consecutive years now became a tradition in our community. All the slammers and readers showed great courage and wit in performing, but Priscilla Torres was the overall champion. Priscilla Torres tore down the stage with three poems that expressed her opinion on events in her every day life. In the end, she was outstanding and showed great emotion like all the other slammers and readers.

“I am always the quiet child that sits towards the front of the room and does her work. The thought of being on stage in front of so many people scares me. When I was signing up to perform, I had no plan on winning. However, winning this poetry slam brought an exhilarating feeling throughout me. I didn’t think I had it in me to even make it through the first round. Winning the slam was definitely a big accomplishment,” said Torres.

Sophomore Nicole Margoiles and sophomore Peter Grancio were the two runners up who outshined the competition with their great performances.

Nicole and Peter have been known for their spunky and outrageous personalities. Therefore, when they performed, their personality was highlighted.

No one would’ve been able to perform without the help of poet and guest artist Lamont Dixon. Lamont Dixon has been coming to our school for three years and always tries to help students who have trouble writing or performing poetry.

“My purpose of coming to CSIHSIS is to get students excited about poetry, give feedback, and help students understand that poetry has life and movement,” said MC, Lamont Dixon.

Dixon is known for his remarkable and sometimes startling beginning activities to loosen up his students. This sometimes surprises the class, but makes them more interested in what will happen next.

Dixon, Shivanna Duncan, and Kenny Cho, MCs, kept the crowd lively and helped move the slam along.

Throughout the night, poets were excited, because either they or someone they knew was performing. “I am excited for the fact that my friends are performing. However, I still know that everyone will be good,” said freshman, Jayme Farbowitz.

During the performances, other readers were preparing to go on stage. Nerves filled some of the readers before they went.

Unlike last year, there were musical performances between each readers’ performance to help liven the night. The musicians of the night were Chris Ekonomakos, Daniel Falero, Uvinda Jayalath, Jeremy Smith and Chamika Wanigatunga.

Since last year, there have been some changes. In addition to live music, performers were asked to read original work. Still, similar to last year, the poems were filled with personal topics that overtook some of the slammers emotions.

Dixon felt that our poetry curriculum was great and said, “The students were excited, energetic, eager, and welcomed me into their class.”

“The curriculum of poetry at CSIHSIS is at no comparison to any other school that I have taught at,” confirmed Dixon.

This is a huge compliment since Dixon has had the opportunity to work at over 40 schools since September.

ThePoetry Slam went better than expected. The audience was respectful and helped support students that were nervous.

“The Poetry Slam was a huge success; it was the best poetry slam I have ever been to. It was an especially great poetry slam because the softball team won that day and the students who participated performed exceptionally well,” said English and technology teacher, Mr. Rosario Miano.

None of this was possible without the help of Lamont Dixon, Mrs. Kaplan, Ms. Gagliardi, Mr. Miano, and Ms. Prevosti, who took time out to make sure the poets were ready for their performances.