The International Insider » travel

Ciao l’Italia! Students Prepare for Italy

Kaitlyn Conroy — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:03:06 +0000

Imagine arriving in a foreign country. The warm aromas circling in the air, and the streets, filled with the buzzing of a different language. Just ahead magnificent ruins and landmarks are in sight. Tourists are taking in everything, their senses tingling. On February 13, 2010 CSI High School for International Studies students will be traveling to Italy.

CSIHSIS has taken part in many cultural exchanges with high schools from other countries. These countries include Switzerland, Germany, and France. Besides exchange trips, our school also travels to other countries to learn more about them.

“During my freshman and sophomore year I hosted a French exchange student and went to Japan. I ate new foods, learned different languages and hosted a Switzerland student at my house. I made new friends and I got the experience of a lifetime” said senior Glenn Kugelmen.

As part of an international school, it is important that all students are culturally aware and connected to the world. By traveling to Italy, CSIHSIS students will be able to collaborate with individuals from different cultural backgrounds.

Ms. Pastena, the trip coordinator, has organized trips to places such as Florence, Pompeii, Pisa, and Rome. While visiting these places students plan to expand their educational horizons abroad.“ Coming into this high school, I knew that I wanted to experience an international trip. Whether it be by the student exchange format or visiting another country with the school I was sure that CSIHSIS would allow me this opportunity because they are a school based on international studies” said junior Chris Smart.

The traveling group of students will be using CHA tour services, for touring Italy for most of the nine days. The group will also be arriving in Rome and leaving from Milan to view different cities in Italy.

One place they will be visiting is the partially buried ruins of the city of Pompeii. Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a catastrophic eruption of volcano, Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

As a international school, CSIHSIS has made a difference and impacted several countries by traveling and sharing their views about the world. Students from different countries and students from CSIHSIS have bonded with each other because of the international exchange. When traveling to Italy hopefully CSIHSIS staff and students will make many memories, and learn new things about the world and its diverse people.

Eurotrip: Swiss Style

Adam Levine and Carolina Jiminez and Sean Fisher — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:04:49 +0000

With part one of the exchange finished, 17 eager students, along with English teacher Ms. Heather Prevosti, Spanish teacher Ms. Violetta Suroweic, and Math teacher, Ms. Ho-Ling Lo, embarked on their journey to Winterthur, Switzerland.

Similar to the school’s past two exchanges, students on this exchange lived with a host Swiss student and his/her family while touring the country, shadowing them while in school, and getting to know their host families.

“I wanted to see life from another perspective,” said junior Vanessa Kreytak.

The flight took off at 6:50 PM from Newark International Airport. After seven tiring hours on the plane, students couldn’t wait to land in Switzerland. The Americans arrived at 6:00 in the morning, where they were greeted by three Swiss students and one teacher from our host school, Kantonsshule Im Lee.

Students and teachers were taken to school where they were greeted by the Swiss principal and offered lunch.

“Their school food is so much better than our food; they actually have chefs working,” said junior Glenn Kugelman.

After the “official” welcome, the school day was over and the American students were free to go home and spend the weekend with their host students.

Some students had the pleasure to travel during the weekend, going as far as Bern, the capital of Switzerland and Rome, Italy.

On Monday, students arrived at school bright and early to start sightseeing. At first, the students went on a walking tour of the town where the Swiss hosts lived, followed by free time to shop and eat.

During the afternoon, the students were given the opportunity to tour the historic Kyburg Castle.

Tuesday was the day the students were able to see the Rhein falls. Students walked along the sight seeing paths taking many pictures with the falls as the background.

“One of my favorite students was traveling with the students, we had a lot of fun touring the cities and meeting the other [Swiss] students in their school and how they interact. I feel our students truly experienced the culture,” said Ms. Suroweic.

The Americans were set to attend school all day Wednesday. The Swiss hosts were all in the same classes, so the Americans weren’t separated. Our students attended classes such as Biology, Literature, and Calculus. This was also the day where the Principal of Kantonsshule Im Lee gave the students a fond farewell as well as a small gift. Each student received a Swiss army knife that was in the form of a credit card.

On Thursday, the American students, accompanied by their Swiss friends, traveled to Zurich where they went sightseeing around the town and finished up their last minute souvenir shopping.

That Friday marked the day of departure back to the United States. Our travelers had a connecting flight in Frankfurt, Germany before reaching there much wanted homes here in the United States. With each student’s family waiting and the crowd giving our students a round of applause as they exited the customs area. Each student couldn’t help but agree that this trip was anything but unforgettable.

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.

International Ice

The Insider — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:18:07 +0000

TORONTO, CANADA- Traveling to the Antarctic with Students on Ice taught me things that I may never have learned without this unique experience. Of course, we all gained significant knowledge about the South Pole – facts and figures and such. However, it is what I learned through the experience of being surrounded by such extraordinary people in such an extraordinary environment that has truly impacted my life.

Forming the strong relationships I did with the students on the trip lead to my realization of a few different things. For one, I learned that everybody has something to offer, whatever that is, and because that thing is unique to that one person, it is valuable. Furthermore, to label or judge people because of the way they look, talk, or where they’re from does nothing but limit a relationship. What I am referring to rather is tolerance, in that in order to form a strong relationship with someone, one must be able to embrace their perhaps less desirable qualities as much as they embrace their desirable qualities.

For me, one of the emerging topics of this trip was passion. The thing that struck me most all of the educators and chaperones that were on the trip was that they have all followed their passions. Before this trip, I had always thought that I would go to business school, get a degree, get a job that I can live with, and practice my passions on the side. However, meeting these truly inspiring adults has led me to question my own ideals and priorities that most definitely translate into life choices that I will soon be making. Talking to other students that were on the trip, I do believe that this coming of age was shared by many.

Being in an environment as untouched as Antarctica guided me to a realization of the fragility of the planet. Needless to say, it is difficult to imagine what somebody’s actions in New York, Toronto, or Shanghai have to do with the Antarctic. However, I have learned that much of what humans do around the world effects the environment, whether that environment is Central Park or Deception Island in Antarctica. Furthermore, small changes in the environment may not affect human beings; however, they may have a tremendous impact of the environment.

For example, it was a common sight throughout the trip to see penguins laying belly-down in the snow. The penguin equivalent to a mist fan on a warm summer’s day, lying in the snow is one way penguins cool down in the heat of the summer. This sight led me to wonder what were to happen if the earth continued to warm even gradually over decades. Therefore, the way humans choose to live their lives can have a direct impact on not only their surrounding environment, but the global environment.

Indeed – a delicate planet we inhabit.

Ms. Guo Joins CSIHSIS

Megan Davis and Steven Birch — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:02:54 +0000

Steven Birch | The Insider
Ms. Guo teaches students Chinese

Last month our school welcomed a new Chinese teacher to the staff, Ms. May Guo. In addition to teaching Mandarin, Ms. Guo is a sophomore advisor.

Ms.Guo previously taught Mandarin Chinese for two years at KAPPA International High School in the Bronx.

“This school is very similar to the school where I used to teach because they both are international and both offer Mandarin programs. They both do international trips like going to Costa Rica,” said Ms.Guo.

With much experience, Ms.Guo likes to teach the Chinese language using different methods.

“ I like to use songs to teach Chinese vocabulary, and it also helps students with Chinese pronunciation. In learning characters, I’m sure the kids don’t like to simply memorize every character or write it over until it’s remembered. I like to use Liu Shu to help students understand characters and put parts together to form characters. Liu Shu is used to learn characters by understanding the category the characters are in. Liu Shu is also used in understanding the creator of the characters to understand the roots of each and expand on the vocabulary,” said Ms.Guo.

Besides being involved with school activities, Ms.Guo says she loves paper cutting, listening and playing the Chinese Harp, Origami and some simpler sports such as jogging, hiking, and traveling.

We are all so pleased to have Ms.Guo teaching at our school.

Wrestling Team is Undefeated After 4 Matches

Madison Lock and Megan Davis — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:43:11 +0000

Freshmen Austin Haim (Left) wrestling Port Richmond’s (Right), Michael Funk,

at the Charles Glass Tournament.

Fans sat in seats that lined the small gymnasium of the Erasmus Campus where six schools are housed in Flatbush Brooklyn, the location of our school’s co-ed developmental PSAL wrestling team’s second match. Team members and fans traveled early to meet the Brooklyn wrestlers, including one female.

“Hip! Hip! Turn in! Half! Half! And drive the leg!”yelled coach Rosario Miano.

Teammates and fans, sitting, jumping, and yelling experienced the intensity of the first match, as sophomore Joseph Raguso used various techniques to put his opponent on the mat.

The hip toss, arm bar, cross face, and the ankle pick are moves used in a wrestling match to bring an opponent to the mat for the required two minute pin, where the winning wrestler holds his opponent’s shoulders to the mat.

At their first match, Raguso and his other team mates used the same techniques to pin their opponents in the tournament against Port Richmond High School.

Against Port, freshman Eduardo Ramirez used these techniques to wrestle his opponent, and grabbed the win in the first few minutes of his match. Ian Urcinoli and Nicholas Martucci also claimed two more wins, putting our school in the lead with a score of 43 to 28.

At their second match, where the Dragons competed against Erasmus Hall, similar techniques were used to secure another victory.

“The arm bar is when you get your opponent’s arm in the back of their neck and turn him into a choke hold. To chokehold you must stand behind your opponent and wrap your arm around their neck, like stopping blood flow. The cross face is when you make your opponent eat his own arm. When you ankle pick your opponent, you start off using the arm bar then grab the ankle. Then you use your arms and shoulder to take your opponent to the ground,” said Raguso.

Sophomore Sher Mohammad was next up to verse Kevin Sheperd. He walked to the mat with a determined look on his face ready to win his match. Circling one another they grabbed each others heads, slapping at their ear protectors.

As they were circling, Sher flipped Sheperd onto the mat, then flipped him onto his backside and pinned him down to the floor for three seconds. The winner, Mohammad added another victory for our team.

“My technique was first to just go back and fourth. When you’re up, it’s more of power and technique, more like a fight. That’s how I won my match in the last three seconds,” said Mohammad.

Freshman Benjamin Wasserman was up next to face his opponent, Mohammed Callahan. They stepped onto the mat, took their positions, and began. Ben head locked his opponent, grabbed him by his stomach, pulling him onto the mat, and rolling him over so quickly that he brought down Callahan in only 56 seconds.

“First, I let him do whatever he wanted. Second, I pushed him with all of my muscle and looked for an opening. I used my shoulder and rolled him over. He made the match easier because he made a mistake by letting loose and stopped using all of his force. That’s how I won the match,” said Wasserman.

Although the majority of the matches were between boys, wrestling isn’t just for them. This year, due to Title 9 rules, girls are permitted to participate. Matched by weight class, boys and girls can wrestle each other.

During the first match of the season, sophomore Nick Martucci went up against two girls from Port Richmond and New Dorp High School, and won both matches.

“Versing a girl is hard because it seems messed up, kind of like a double standard because if you beat the girl people think you’re mean, and if you get beat by a girl people make fun of you. I went up against girls and won, and I felt bad because they’re girls. When you go up against a guy, it’s a friendly competition, and it’s cool to beat them because they’re harder then the girls,” said Martucci.

Despite the two recent wins, Coach Miano expects more. At the end of the second match, he was critical of the fact that the team did not execute the moves they had recently practiced.

“I’m not completely happy with the way this match turned out, but I am happy that Ben won his match, because if he didn’t win, then we would be tied,” said Miano.

At their next match, the dragons wrestled to their third win. Sophomore Sher Mohammad versed Max Rivera, pinning him in 27 seconds. Mohammad Mousa also pinned Khalil Gibbons in another quick match. Chris Cordero won his match by a tech fall, when the wrestler wins with a 15 point lead. With the wins and five forfeits, our team took the match easily.

“I am very happy with the result of the match, but extremely happy with the amount of people that came out to support us. Our wrestlers fed off of the crowd,” said Coach Miano.

After winning on Saturday, December 19 against Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, our wrestling team currently holds 1st Place citywide for the PSAL Developmental Division.

If you haven’t been to a match yet, get to the next one on January 16 to see our undefeated team take another win.

Can Cirque Get The Same Bite from Teens as Twilight?

Briana Walker — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:40:46 +0000

When people think of vampires, they imagine Edward Cullen from Twilight.

Sorry to break it to you, but most vampires don’t drink animal blood and fall in love with humans.

In Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan, vampires travel around in a circus for freaks and trick teenagers into becoming their assistants.

Most readers expect a visit to a circus to be fun and harm free. Unfortunately for Darren Shan, the night he goes to the Cirque Du Freak, literally, Circus Of Freaks, with friend Steve, both their lives are changed forever.

Since this is a novel about a circus of freaks, readers should expect to find a wide range of characters.

Hans Hands, Tuska the bearded woman, and Gertha Teeth are just a few of the characters, the reader, and Darren meet that fateful night.

The most important person Darren meets is Larten Crespley, a performer who controls a poisonous spider and is a vampire in disguise.

So what is the real difference between Cirque Du Freak and Twilight?

“Cirque Du Freak has vampires in it. Plus it has action and is more bloody and gory,” said school librarian Patricia Sarles.

Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare is full of terror and excitement, so any horror fan will love this book.

If you don’t enjoy a plot with blood and a scary wolf man, I suggest you pick up a different book.

Cirque Du Freak focuses on Darren Shan and his soon to be mentor, Larten Crespley.

Yes, Darren becomes a vampire…well, half vampire. No, he does not sparkle in the sun.

Like Twilight, A Living Nightmare has its own spin on vampire myths.

Larten Crespley explains how a vampire is created, how long they can stay in the sun, and what blood a vampire can and cannot drink.

“I am very interested in reading Cirque Du Freak. It sounds interesting and has a good plot,” said sophomore, Katherine Foote.

A Living Nightmare gives vampire fans a new spin on their favorite sharp-toothed creature of the night.

Journalists In Washington D.C. – Students go to the JEA Convention

Brenda Gonzalez and Sean Fisher — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:14:24 +0000

JEA Executive Director Linda Drake and
NSPA Executive Director Logan Aimone open The JEA Convention.
Fresh from a Journalism Convention, students have brought back new knowledge to our newsroom and soon to you. The new information and knowledge will bring our news publication, as well as our new online edition, to a greater and more professional publication.

As six journalism students attended a Journalism Education Association (JEA) sponsored conference in Washington D.C., they attended various seminars corresponding to their departments and their interests. The seminars, held by speakers and representatives from their respective fields in journalism, explained and aided the students in their quest for knowledge.

Multimedia Session

It seems that the biggest hype these days is the Internet. As the years go by, videos as well as podcasts and flash has become a large part of your experience online, including news reports as well as entertainment.

These forms of communication are known as multimedia. People can experience the news from an even greater, personal, and meaningful perspective.

For example, if you read a story about a person’s job dressing as a mascot on the side of a highway, a reader can get the general gist of the story. By utilizing multimedia, allows us to see the person, hear an interview with them and experience them at work.

Lit. Mag Session

Love our literary magazine? Dominate photos, art work, and captive headlines, the focus of “Expanding Literary Magazines” guarantees graphic success. Dominate photos and artwork, eye candy, tell stories without text. A photo should be a shared moment between reader and photographer, it should have Center Visual Impact, CVI.

Artwork too, is also essential to any magazine. It instantly grabs attention and admirers.

Headlines, visually designed, are the final key. A dominate photo captures a reader’s gaze, but a great headline pulls them futher in.

So, what about text? It’s least important. Literary magazines are all about the visual images that support the text.

Networking Session

Journalist or not, we’ve all been playing the game, the networking game. Greg Cooper, speaker at “The Importance of Networking” suggests we’ve been playing ever since we entered school.

In fifty minutes he outlined six steps for building networking: comprehension, contests, workshops, peer interaction, student publication and internships, but three are most useful. Most of us are stuck at step one, comprehension, with peer interaction and internships soon after.

Networking means asking questions and staying alert, in order to understand – or comprehend. Likewise peer interaction; hanging out with friends is key to networking.

Peer interaction involves approaching people and taking risks. Start by meeting twenty people, writing down their names, remembering their faces. Being around people is crucial to networking.

Internships, a third type of networking and the last of the six-step process, is required of all our students. Getting an internship involves both comprehension and peer interaction. Finding an internship all comes down to whom you know.

Now that you know the basics of the very basics, go play the game. There’s no way to lose.

Lead Session

Good reporters catch readers’ attention fast, or their articles are dead before they’ve begun. At “Inventive Ledes to Indulge Readers,” student reporters practiced packing information into quick, interesting sentences.

After bolded headlines, subheaders, photos and captions, an article’s fate rests in its first few lines. This lead, or “lede” in journalism jargon, can follow different forms. Some surefire Dos and Don’ts apply to all.

Seminar hosts read out scenarios and set the timer: ten minutes later, audience participants shares the ledes they’d written. Candy bars were awarded, critique offered, lessons learned. Journalists gained a crash course in those faux-pas that annoy, insult and bore readers – and learned to write what really matters.

Photography Session

Have you ever seen a photograph in National Geographic or Sports Illustrated and wondered how they captured it?

Breakfast with professional Mark Gail, and breakout sessions “Pictures Speak 1000 Words” and “Photo Phabulous” provided a plethora of possiblities for better photos.

To capture a great photo, a photographer needs to show up at least an hour ahead of time to find the right position. Where a photographer sets up can result in either a posed piece, or an emotional one that will sell the story.

Edmund Kwong, speaker for “Pictures Worth 1000 Words,” gave advice about angles and perspective and suggested that eye level photos don’t catch readers the way action photos do. He suggested a photo should always cause an emotional response.

In “Photo Phabulous” Kathy Harbiger and Amy Morgan taught patience is a virture. The best photos result from spending time with the subject. Watching movement and anticipating synchronizationas of dancers or football players takes time.

Great photos have viewers feel emotions and send a great message for one moment in time.

Atheists Advertise Underground

Trystan Gangi — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:43:39 +0000

More and more people have been converting from Catholicism to atheism in the last year. An extensive new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life showed that about 10% of the United States population is atheist.

Boston Area Coalition of Reason has been putting advertisements for atheism on subway stations in New York City.

“I want to let atheists and humanists everywhere know they are not alone. That there are indeed groups out there that feel the same way. I hope to let people know that there are communities that they can become apart of.” said Spokesperson, David Niose.

This company has also put ads on Boston subway stations and the first place to have atheist ad’s on a public transportation was in Washington D.C. The Boston Coalition even went as far as Britain to advertise their idea.

“I had no idea people could do such a thing. How are we suppose to raise our kids in a healthy Christian environment when everywhere they go they have ad’s and signs telling them different?” said New York subway traveler, Mona Danziger.

A survey was conducted outside of one of the many New York City subway stations. Out of 500 people, 287 chose ‘ other/atheist ‘ choice as their religion over Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist.

“I can’t believe that people can just put advertisements on subways, when priests and other ministers preach and work hard to keep people believing in our Lord,” said frequent church member and subway rider, Lisa Smiths.

What has most people raising a concern is that Christmas is right around the corner and these posters distract from the purpose of the holiday practicing one’s religion. “Christmas is a secular holiday, and people who don’t believe in God can still have a holiday spirit,” said Niose.

Most people today, think that if you don’t believe in a “god” that you are not a good person, but the Boston Area Coalition is trying to show that people who don’t believe in God are no different than people who do believe in God.

“The New York subway station has over a million people riding it every day and was probably the best choice for the Boston Area Coalition to put their ads on subway cars,” said, accountant and subway rider, Anthony Daversa.

Today many people believe that they need God to be happy and without “him” you would never overcome the obstacles in your way.

“I have written a book to let people know you don’t need God to be happy,” said Coordinator of Boston Coalition, Greg M. Epstan. They feel everyone is equal no matter what their religion is.

No matter what religion a person is, we are all equal and should be proud of the path we follow.

All Hail Harajuku

Anam and Carolina Jiminez — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:40:27 +0000

Harajuku District, Tokyo is the birthplace of all Japanese fashion. It’s popular for its youth style and fashion.

“Harajuku is known as a place where locals come together and express their talents as individuals through their clothes,” said Japanese teacher Mrs. Natalia Higashide.

According to Mrs. Higashide, on days like Saturday and Sunday, Tokyo locals go to the district to hang out to show off their outfits that most would call unusual and weird. These Tokyo youth let loose by wearing avant garde clothing and make up, inspired by many different things, from anime characters to valley girls from California.

“I enjoy watching these teens. It’s fun because it is like watching a fairytale story,” said Mrs. Higashide.

There are many styles that people consider as Harajuku style. According to blog.starcostumes.com, one style that is very common is called Cosplay. It is when people dress up like characters from books, movies, comics, television shows and also as members of popular bands.

“Some of them wear very interesting clothes. Like in Harajuku, this one guy had on a white skin tight body suit that even covered his entire face. And sunglasses on top of that. There is some crazy stuff there,” said junior Glenn Kugelman, who traveled to Japan with the school last April.

Another style of Harajuku is called gothic Lolita. It is a look that is very popular in Japanese fashion and also has a growing influence in the West as well.

Japanese designers like Kawakubo Rei have brought gothic Lolita to high fashion with her use of dark colors, unusual silhouettes, and draping fabrics. It is a way to look dark, but at the same time maintain a certain amount of innocence and cuteness, which is a very popular idea among Japanese girls.

According to lolitafashion.org, the inspiration for gothic Lolita clothing comes from Rococo styles as well as Victorian and Edwardian era clothing.

The clothing worn by those who follow the gothic Lolita fashion includes petticoats, long socks, Mary Jane type shoes, usually platform heels, head dresses and knee length dresses. Those who follow this style tend to wear mostly black with religious symbols such as crosses as accessories as well as little bat or coffin shaped bags.

Many Japanese students dress in the Harajuku style because they feel the need to express themselves after wearing a uniform during all the other days of the week. Although many adults are critical of the Harajuku look, they still accept and understand it.

“They are just expressing themselves. It’s a way of being different, but within your own social circle,” said Mrs. Higashide.

So from Tokyo to New York, Harajuku is becoming popular. Japanese style also affects Western trends. Although more subtle, the use of ruffles and bows can now be seen on teenage girls in the United States.

In Harajuku fashion, the use of mix-matching colors and patterns helps influence such intricate styles and trends. Popular ingredients for a Harajuku outfit are mostly layering, wild accessories and do it yourself styles to add a unique touch.

“I love fashion because it’s awesome. It doesn’t necessarily define you, but it definitely gives people a good image and first look when they see you,” said senior Wingsum Cheung.

Yet, Harajuku style doesn’t stop there. The help of bold makeup and hairstyles takes Harajuku fashion to a new level.

But the ultimate key is to be confident in expressing your sense of individuality, something seen often in Tokyo fashion.