Congratulations to HCHS senior Brian H for becoming our first-ever National Finalist in the prestigious Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology.
Congratulations to HCHS Senior Brian H. who has been chosen as one of the TOP SIX individual submissions to the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology from the entire country.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the selection of 214 educators from across the state to join the New York State Master Teacher Program, including HCHS's own Chemistry teacher and Science Research Coordinator, Ms. Gilana Reiss.
The Campus Schools Art and Music Department (with the generous support of the HCHS Alumnae/i Association) hosted A Celebration of Choral Music on Thursday, October 26th. Campus School students in the 5th Chorus with Mr. Leander, the Junior Chorus with Ms. Beaudry, and the Senior Chorus with Mr. Randall, worked all day with visiting artist Vince Peterson, an award-winner composer, conductor and keyboardist. He is also the founder of the choral ensemble Choral Chameleon. The day culminated in a joyous combined concert in our auditorium.
Helen competed in a five-day-long competition where she explained and fielded questions about her research (engineering an alternative energy device to convert kinetic energy of waves to electricity) and competed in team challenges with the other national finalists.
Helen has been awarded with a cash prize and a minor planet named in her honor. In addition, her science teacher, Mr. Lourdie Castillo was also awarded with a minor planet named in his honor. Congratulations!
20 competitors vied for the title of 2017 PSAL Girls Golf Champion Golfer. In the end it was a clean sweep of the top 3 spots for the Lady Hawks of Hunter College High School. Rebecca C. demonstrated her excellence by scoring an impressive (79). Her Hunter teammate Elizabeth W. garnered 2nd place with a solid score of (85). Young Samantha C. completed the Hunter trifecta and tallied a round of (87).
WASHINGTON, Oct 18, 2017 – The Siemens Foundation announced the 2017 class of regional finalists for the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, the nation's premier research competition for high school students. These regional finalists were picked from an exceptional group of 491 semifinalists announced yesterday who were chosen from the pool of more than 1860 projects submitted this year.
The 101 regional finalists will now advance to the next round of the competition – the Regional Finals. All regional finalists receive at least $1,000 in scholarship money while the 1st place individuals and teams from these regional competitions win $3,000 and $6,000, respectively.
HCHS's Science Research students submitted amazing projects and we are so proud of the astonishing performances which represents our best performance yet. We have 6 semifinalists, 3 of whom are Regional Finalists (these are the top 30 individual or top 30 team projects in the country). The regional finalists will compete next month for their chance to be a national finalist (top 6 individual or top 6 team projects in the country). Please wish these students congratulations if you see them:
Benjamin “Benjy” F. was named a 2017 Davidson Fellow this summer by the The Davidson Institute of Talent Development. Benjy's project, Modeling the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Phytophthora infestans at a Regional Scale is one of only 20 student projects across the country to receive this honor.
The Davidson Fellows Scholarship program offers $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships to students 18 or younger, who have completed significant projects that have the potential to benefit society in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, literature and music. The Davidson Fellows Scholarship has provided more than $7.1 million in scholarship funds to more than 300 students since its inception in 2001, and has been named one of the most prestigious undergraduate scholarships by U.S. News & World Report. It is a program of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Reno, Nev. that supports profoundly gifted youth.
Congratuations to HCHS alumnus Dr. Stefan Savage (HCHS '87) who is one of twenty-four fellows for the 2017 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The fellowship, which honors “exceptionally creative people,” comes with a no-strings-attached grant of $625,000, to be awarded over five years.
From the MacArthur Foundation website: Dr. Stefan Savage is a computer scientist using an interdisciplinary approach to address challenges to computer security and to counter cybercrime. In addition to identifying technological deficiencies, he contextualizes cybersecurity threats within much broader ecosystems, including underlying economic incentives and social structures contributing to vulnerabilities.
Parents and Guardians attended classes with their children at the annual Open School event. The GO hosted the Club Fair which showcased the over 100 student run clubs and activities that make up our vibrant extra-curricular life at HCHS.
Congratulations to HCHS student, Helen L. for being named a 2017 Broadcom Masters Finalist! This is a tremendous honor and we are thrilled that Helen will have the opportunity to compete against 29 other middle school scientists at the national level.
This research is a result of her 8th grade science fair project. She did the project while in Mr. Castillo's class with the technical support and expertise of Mr. Pinkerton. Broadcom is the middle school equivalent of Regeneron (formerly Intel) Science Talent Search; two years ago our school's science fair became affiliated with the Broadcom. Helen is one of 30 national finalists and she will be competing in DC in the National Finals. She is our school's first ever national finalist. Wish her congratulations if you see her!
Helen’s project is titled Using Flotation Systems to Harness Wave Power Using Electromagnetism. After Hurricane Sandy hit Helen's neighborhood in 2012, the area had no electricity for a week. Concern about climate change led Helen to learn about renewable energy technologies. Wave power especially fascinated her. That technology uses the motion of ocean waves to make electricity. "I wanted to find a clean and easy way to generate electricity using wave power that could work almost anywhere," she explains. "My research led me to investigate magnetism.”
Winners will be named on October 24 after finalists complete in a rigorous competition that will test their abilities in STEM, critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration.
Congratulations to Hunter's 6 Broadcom Masters Semifinalists! Broadcom Masters is the middle school equivalent of the Science Talent Search run by Society for Science and the Public. Congratulations to all the students!
Gaang C.Grade: 8th Project Title: Effects of Nutrition on Silk Production
Andrei I. Grade: 8th Project Title: The Impact of Asteroid Composition on Their Appearance, Morphology and Motion
Jaeah K.Grade: 9th Project Title: Plastic, Unlike Money, Grows on Trees: A Novel Method of Creating Bioplastic with Cissus rombifoliaFoliage
Jaejeong K.Grade: 9th Project Title: Plastic (Unlike Money) Grows on Trees: A Novel Method of Creating Bio Plastic with Cissus rhombifoliaFoliage
Helen L.Grade: 9th Project Title: Using Flotation Systems to Harness Wave Power Using Electromagnetism
Evie S. Grade: 8th Project Title: The Effect of Treatment on a Cell's Calcium Release
Welcome Back to School! We hope you had a wonderful summer and we're looking forward to seeing you soon!
Students in grades 11 &12 should check their emails for information from Mr. Joffe regarding dates/times for program changes.
Back to School Orientation sessions will be held on: Sept 5th 1pm (Grades 11 & 12) Sept 6th 8:30am (Grade 7 + parents) Sept 6th 10:45am (Grade 8, students only) Sept 6th 1pm (Grades 9-10)
FIRST DAY OF CLASSES: Thursday September 7th, 1st period starts at 8:08am
With special best wishes to the graduated Class of 2017, we wish everyone a restful, rejuvenating summer vacation. The HS Office will be available Mondays-Thursdays 9am-2pm. Back to School Orientations will be held on Sept 5th 1pm (Grades 11 & 12) Sept 6th 8:30am (Grade 7 + parents) Sept 6th 10:45am (Grade 8, students only) Sept 6th 1pm (Grades 9-10)
FIRST DAY OF CLASSES: Thursday September 7th, 1st period starts at 8:08am
Past and present editors, contributors and poetry lovers celebrated the 100th birthday of the HCHS literary magazine, Argus. Readings from issues spanning the century, a cake and a tribute to retiring advisor, Mr. Kip Zegers, all made the afternoon a truly special occasion.
Hunter defeated Seward Park 4-1 on Monday night to win the first Badminton City Championship for Hunter College High School. Congrats to Coach Fox and the Hunter girls!
Members of the Hunter HS Chess Team traveled to Nashville, Tennessee the last few days for the US Chess SuperNationals scholastic chess tournament. Over 5,500 students from grades K to 12 across the country participated in the tournament. Hunter was represented by HS students Ryan W., Eric C., Tiffani M., John M., and Alex H.. Ryan was an exceptional 15th in K-12 Under 1900 section and the K-8 team placed 11th in a highly competitive K-8 section. Congratulations to the students on their exceptional accomplishments.
Congrats to the Hunter College High School Debate Team for placing second overall as a team at the Tournament of Champions, held in Louisville Kentucky.
Congrats to Nina P. for second place (2-1 loss in finals) at the 2017 Tournament of Champions in Lincoln Douglas. She was also top speaker and top seed, going undefeated in prelims -- our best showing ever by a Hunter debater at the Tournament of Champions. Nina is only the second female LD Debater in the history of the TOC to win Top Speaker, the last coming twenty years ago (1997). She is only the 5th female debater in the history of TOC to win Top Speaker in any category (Policy, LD and Public Forum).
In Public Forum, four teams (Kaley P., Lizzie M., Joshua M., David M., Clara K., Amala K., Jillian F., and Thomas B.) qualified to the TOC, the greatest number of teams that qualified from a single school.
THE HCHS FIRST robotics team, 3419 won the New York City Regional 2017 Competition over the first weekend of the vacation at the Armory Track and Field Center. With a full complement of hard-working robot scouts in the stands, and a superb pit team supporting the student Drive Team members, HCHS entered the Alliance Selection in the #2 spot but we were quickly tapped to join the top ranking team, Australia's Barker Redbacks (Team 4613) and with our 3rd partner (5891), Urban Assembly for Global Commerce, our robot alliance grabbed gears, shot balls of fuel into the engine, played defense, and hoisted ourselves up the tower.
In the two nail-biting final matches, we won against the a robot alliance comprised of the excellent teams from Stuyvesant, Manhattan Center for Science and Math and John Dewey HS.
HCHS travels to St. Louis later this month for the World Championships. Wish the team good luck!
HCHS's FIRST Robotics Team 3419 competed in the Hudson Valley Regional this weekend, entering the Quarterfinals in 3rd place and playing valiantly until burning out a motor in the last game of the semifinals. At the final awards ceremony, we were awarded the Innovations in Control Award. The team is looking forward to the NYC FIRST Regional Competition in two weeks, right here in NYC! Join us then and cheer the RoHawks on: April 7-9, 2017 – 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The Armory Track & Field Center 216 Fort Washington Avenue, New York, NY 10032 THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Special thanks to our mentors at AllianceBernstein and Ms. Mines!
HCHS Alumna (HCHS class of 1932) and legendary Beverly Hills travel agent Miriam Rand, who worked in the industry for seven decades and booked travel for Hollywood’s biggest stars, died in late February at age 100.
At her 90th birthday celebration at the Beverly Hilton in 2006, Rand insisted that the event be more than a birthday party – it raised more than $100,000 for a scholarship fund at her alma mater, Hunter College High School in New York. The scholarships have been used to help students travel overseas on school-sponsored trips.
HCHS 8th grade student Jenia M. was pronounced the second champion of the annual New York Daily News Spelling Bee Tuesday!
The 13-year-old student competed back and forth with last year's champion for nearly an hour as each eighth-grader spelled one word after another correctly. Jenia clinched the trophy by correctly spelling “chorten.” (The word is a noun meaning a monument to a distinguished Buddhist, especially a lama.)
Jenia and and the other 13 year old NYC champion will head to Washington to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the end of May. We wish Jenia the best!
News from the MATHCOUNTS State Competition held in Troy on Saturday, March 18:
Rishabh D [7th grade] finished in 3rd place and will be going to the MATHCOUNTS National Competition in Orlando in May. He will be one of the top 4 middle school mathletes in New York State representing New York in the national competition.
With 58 schools competing, we had 3 students in the top 10 individuals:
3rd place: Rishabh D[7]
8th place: Adi Vidur J [7]
10th place: William H [8]
The Hunter team came home with the 3rd place trophy.
Congratulations to team members Mario T-M [8], Rishabh D [7], Helen L[8], and Jonathan Z [8]
Hunter College High School and Hunter College mourn the loss of Mildred Dresselhaus—Professor Emerita of Physics and Electrical Engineering at MIT, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and alumna of Hunter College High School (’47) and Hunter College (’51)—who died on February 20, 2017. "Mildred Dresselhaus will be remembered for her intrepid leadership in the scientific community as well as for her role as a champion for women in science,” said Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab. “Her life will continue to be an inspiration for all people who seek to break barriers.”
Born during the Great Depression to Polish immigrants, Mildred Dresselhaus grew up in the Bronx during an era when women who wanted to work outside the home were generally confined to three career paths: nursing, teaching and secretary jobs. But Dresselhaus had other passions. A whimsical tribute printed by classmates in her Hunter College High School yearbook testified to her early and well-known interest in the fields she would later pioneer: “Mildred equals brains plus fun. In math and science, she’s second to none.”
It was at Hunter College, she later reflected, that she first “had the idea that women could study physics as well as men could.” Dresselhaus was inspired at Hunter by 1977 Nobel Prize winner Rosalyn Yalow, who recognized her talent and encouraged her to pursue science. After graduating summa cum laude, Dresselhaus received a master’s from Radcliffe and a PhD from the University of Chicago. When she arrived at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory in 1960, only 4% of the students were women. In 1968, she became the first woman to attain full tenured rank at MIT, and she would go on to become a fierce advocate for women in STEM fields. And decades later, Dresselhaus would lift the next generation of barrier-breaking women from Hunter, when alumnae and Hall of Fame inductees Gillian Reynolds ’89 and Sandra Brown ’94—studying under Dresselhaus—became the third and sixth African American women, respectively, to earn their PhDs from MIT.
Nicknamed “the queen of carbon science,” Dresselhaus capped her long and decorated career as a 2014 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor. In his introductory remarks, President Obama paid tribute to her as one of the most distinguished scientists of her generation: “An electrical engineer and a physicist, [she] rose in MIT’s ranks, performed groundbreaking experiments on carbon, became one of the world’s most celebrated scientists. And her influence is all around us -- in the cars we drive, the energy we generate, the electronic devices that power our lives.” Dresselhaus is survived by her husband, Gene, their four children and five grandchildren.
Here is the link to Dr. Dresselhaus giving her speech as the HCHS Distinguished Graduate, 2009. It was filmed as she was on her way to China to chair a conference on Nano-tubes during our Commencement ceremony.
Hunter College High School had three teams of debaters invited to the selective Harvard Round Robin pre-main tournament competition this past weekend. Invitations are given to the top 12 debate pairings in the country. Three of the top five speaking awards in the Public Forum dvision were given to Hunter students! They are: Josh M. - 1st speaker David M. - 3rd speaker Kaley P. - 4th speaker
In the Lincoln Douglas division of the Round Robin, Nina P. was awarded 2nd speaker.
At the Harvard National Forensics Tournament itself, two Varsity Public Forum teams, Joshua M. and Kaley P., and Amala K. and Clara K., made it to semifinals, and Thomas B. and Jillian F. reached triples. Additionally, in Varsity Lincoln Douglas, Nina P. received 5th speaker and co-champion of the tournament and Marie-Rose S. made it to triples, In JV Lincoln Douglas, Scott K. reached triples.
9 Hunter Students competed in the 100-student Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) Semifinals this past Sunday and did amazing! Hunter has an amazing 4 Regional Finalists (out of 10 in the region), which are selected based on the highest scores in each of 7 categories + the 3 next best overall scores). Hunter only competed in 4 categories and the four Hunter Regional Finalists represent top projects in those categories. 4 additional Hunter students placed 2nd or 3rd in their categories.
The four Regional Finalists, competing in the finals on February 25th are: Nancy L. (Chemistry), Dylan L. (Biology), James C. (Earth and Environmental Sciences), and Amanda Z. (Math and Computer Science).
In addition to the four finalists, the four students that placed in their categories are: Sophia Z. (3rd place in Chemistry), Prithi C. (2nd place in Math and Computer Science), and Helen L. & Abishrant P. (3rd place in Math and Computer Science).
Congratulations to the student competitors and good luck to the 4 Regional Finalists competing on February 25th.
Our congratulations to Isabel C. for becoming the first PSAL athlete in HCHS history to score a 1000 points in her high school basketball career (to date!)
Hunter's MATHCOUNTS team took first place (out of 36 middle school teams were competing in the 2017 chapter competition) at the Manhattan Chapter Competition, with five of our ten competitors finishing in the top ten as individuals and six among the top 16 competing in the Countdown Round.
The winners are:
Individuals:
#1 William H [8] (with a perfect score!)
#3 Jonathan Z [8]
#4 Vidur J [7]
#8 Helen L [8]
#10 Carol C [7]
Countdown winners:
#1 Rishabh D [7]
#2 Vidur J [7]
#3 Helen L [8]
Next step: MATHCOUNTS State Competition at RPI Saturday, March 18!
Hunter has 9 students who were named Junior Science and Humanities Symposium semi-finalists. They will be competing in the semifinals on February 5th and winners will move onto the finals and then to Nationals. Congratulations and good luck to all the semi-finalits! Students and their project titles are below:
Prithi C.
A Pipeline for Batch Processing Foundation Medicine Mutation Data
James C.
An Analysis of Low-Surface-Gravity Brown Dwarfs and Field Dwarf Color
Benjy F.
Modeling the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Phytopthora infestans on a Regional Scale
Dylan L.
Designing and Testing a Novel Drug Targeting the Distinct Metabolic Roles of the Isoforms of PPARgamma
Nancy L.
Antibacterial Polysaccharide-Based Hybrid Nanoparticles for Efficient Anticancer Drug Delivery
Helen L. and Abishrant P.
Modeling the Spread of Zika Through Twitter Analysis
Sophia Z.
Discovering Molecules that Contribute to Cryptococcus neoformans Virulence
Amanda Z.
Novel Screening Test for Melanoma Using Computational Imaging
We are excited to announce that HCHS senior Dylan L. was named one of 40 national Regeneron Science Talent Search Finalists (formerly Intel/Westinghouse), our nation's most prestigious recognition for high school research students.
Dylan's research on obesity and diabetes found a key difference between two versions of a receptor that regulates fat development. He then designed and synthesized a drug that he demonstrated ablates the harmful effects of the bad form of the receptor while maintaining the levels of the good form of the receptor when given in conjunction with another known diabetes medication, leading to a future drug treatment for obesity and diabetes.
Dylan will be competing in the finals in March for up to $250,000. Please wish Dylan congratulations if you see him. It is certainly a very exciting moment for him and for our school!
Congratulations to Nina P., who championed the tournament in Varsity Lincoln Douglas debate and also won top speaker. Also in VLD, Michele L. reached double-octafinals. In Novice Lincoln Douglas, Scott K. made it to double-octafinals.
In Varsity Public Forum debate, Maria T., Maddy C., Amala K. and Clara K. all advanced to elimination rounds, and David M. and Lizzie M. reached finals. David was also 10th place speaker and Amala was 14th.
In Varsity Policy debate, Jake S. and Elaine C. made it to octafinals, and in Novice Policy, Shayan A. and Khushi J. made it to semifinals. Shayan also won 10th speaker.
Congratulations to HCHS 7th grade student India Y. for winning the Manhattan Spelling Bee! She won by correctly spelling the word lugubrious Also moving on to the Citywide Spelling Bee is our 8th grade student Sofia M. who tied for 5th place and Owen S-D from the HCES school who also tied for 5th place. Congratulations to our spectacular spellers!
See below for more information about this year's Manhattan Spelling Bee.
The HCHS Forensic Science class, with teacher Ms. Gonzalez, took a field trip to Rockefeller University where they performed a DNA lab with former HCHS Science Teacher, Dr. Disan Davis.
HCHS is proud to celebrate the five Regeneron STS Semifinalists and their years of hard work and dedication.
The Regeneron STS competition, (formerly known as the Westinghouse or INTEL STS competitions) is the nation's most prestigious STEM research competition.
Congratulations to Alex, James, Serina, Dylan and Nancy!
In coordination with the Hunter College Organic Chemistry department, HCHS students were invited to conduct labs in the more sophisticated lab failities in Decmber. Here they are taking melting points of various organic compounds.