By Byron Ramos
The 1 Million Project gave chromebooks with MiFi to East High School students so they can do their homework whenever they need to. The 1 Million Project is a non-profit group that uses the Sprint PCS network to help students, best known as MiFi. To this day, the use of the chromebooks granted by the 1 Million Project has made a positive impact to a great extent in the East community because thanks to that our East students can do their assignments with great flexibility whenever and wherever they want to do them. In large part this is also thanks to the MiFi that chromebooks include which allow us to use them outside of school and where we don't have normal internet access. At East it is very beneficial to have the support of Ms. Zurlo who was responsible for the dissemination of the chromebooks and supports the technology aspect of this project.
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By Keren Montero The graduation rate has increased from 28% to 69.6% and still going up here at East. It is expected to be above 70% for the class of 2020. Before the EPO program had combined with East 4 years ago the graduation rate was just at a 28% and now it is a 69.6% and still rising within just 4 years. Things like the 22.5 campaign and the 80 campaign where students who got an 80% or higher on any of the Regents exams received a shirt to show off and their names on the bulletin board, played a big role in the success. The 22.5 campaign was made up to inform students how the 22 credits and 5 exams they need to graduate. It made graduation requirements more transparent so that students know where they fall and what they need to work hard towards to reach graduation. Most importantly, WE made this possible. The teachers, students, and staff. We were fortunate to be given tools but they wouldn't matter if we didn't put them to practice. So props to the teachers that stay up late making lesson plans for his/her class, the ones who have some rough days with their students but come back the next day and say, “Today is a new day, let's make it great.” And a big shout out to the students! Former, present, and future seniors who wake up at 5am to stand outside for 15-25 minutes in different conditions to wait for the bus. The ones who push themselves to come to school and get work done. Principal Blocker says that one thing that has helped increase our graduation rate is, “parents pushing their kids to finish and more kids realizing that graduation is attainable and that with effort they will be a graduate forever.” So all the work we as students and teachers are doing is not taken for granted! Keep working hard because we are seeing the outcome of it! By David Carmichael The students of East High school have many resources to access and help with college and SAT practice. These resources provide ways for a senior (or even juniors) to get a head start on college. The school has always had a College Prep Center that has helped many seniors in the past. The CPC has given help such as career & college searches, college application assistance, financial aid assistance, and personal statement assistance to name a few. This year we have websites like the Common App, and Naviance to help with tracking college applications, and applying to colleges and it also allows your counselor to help guide you. Websites like Khan Academy helps students practice for SATs and give them a potential to earn some early financial aid while they practice for the SAT. The other big website that helps is Collegeboard. They provide step-by-step guides for college help and access, and they also help with AP courses and PSAT and SAT score management. East also has the Gear Up program which works with helping students prepare and apply for college, and they also go on college visits. They most recently took a trip to New York City to visit colleges. There is also Talent Search, and Upward Bound. These are all part of the pre-college programs connected to the U of R and they are located and run out of B110 the counseling suite. There’s plenty of programs that help from academic advising, application assistance, SAT/ACT registration, tutoring, college tours, stem internships, enrichment programs and more. By Ho Mach
Many seniors at East High don’t care about the class of 2020 and not everyone is involved as we should be. When you think of senior year, it’s the final and biggest year of our high school careers. Well, not every final senior year is like this. Especially at East High. I can say boldly without a doubt that not every senior cares about our class of 2020. It feels like we should participate and be involved but we aren’t. One example would be when our class tried to host our first senior trip at Bristol Mountain. The trip cost about $4,000. It seemed impossible but one generous person would offer to pay all of it if every senior was involved. Even if it was a dollar, we all could’ve gone if everyone was to play their part. Sadly, not everyone paid and personally I wasn’t surprised. Not every senior knew about the trip. Not all East High students have access to the internet or has joined the Google classroom. That is another barrier which makes it harder for seniors to access information and news on class trip. This entirely made me rethink about the class as a whole. I expected going into senior year to be fun, where everyone is committed. Yet, not everyone is involved and don’t want to be. Not every urban kid wants to head to a mountain to not even ski but to team build, which doesn’t sound fun. We should make the seniors more involved by having the voices of students that are unheard heard. I can say that we still have time to do this right. It’s our final and only year we have left after all. By Tyron Manning How is family group impacting East High School overall? Some people think it’s impacting East High School in a positive way and some believe its impacting East in a negative way. Some positive thoughts about family group at are students expressing their feelings and communicating with their peers, which results in fewer fights in the hallways. The teachers are expected to do a group peace circle and ask questions about students’ weekend and what their feelings and thoughts are for the day. Some bad ways family group impacts East High are, kids ask teachers for food and bring food to their 2nd period classes, which disrupts the educational process. Some students don’t like family group because it is boring to some students. Some students think they need to do more physical actives in family group, such as playing sports in the gym instead of sitting down inside a classroom. Teacher Mr. Cybulski states that some days he enjoys family group, but some days he does not like it because of some of the activities that are being asked of high school students to perform. He feels like it could be better if we did more school wide activities that are age appropriate for high school students. He thinks this effects our school in a good way and a bad way. Some positives he says is that it gives students an opportunity to build relationships with adults and scholars that they normally don't see throughout the day. Also it gives scholars a “go-to” person to talk to if there's an issue in school. A negative effect of family group is students are beginning to believe it’s a teacher’s responsibility to feed their family group kids. This results in students leaving their family group in search of another family group that is serving food that day, which is not the point of family group at all. By Destiny Vara Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection is a program that East offers to students in grades 7-12. They offer opportunities such as job training, job placement, tutoring, summer programs, college visits, and even some after school programs. In order for you to be a part of Hillside, you have to be in grades 7-9 and get a form from one of the advocates in D140, get it signed by a parent/guardian, then bring it back by the due date. In order for an advocate to help with employment, you need to be in the program for at least 6 months and be at least 15 years of age. Tutoring happens every Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30pm to 4:30pm (yes, they hand out bus passes). There is an after school program for boys, called NGYM, which stands for New Generation of Young Men. It is usually in session on certain Mondays. There is also an after school program for girls, called SHE, which stands for SisterHood of Excellence. It usually happens on certain Mondays as well. For any of the programs you attend, there will be someone that takes you home after. There is also an Arts Committee, which doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it's really interesting and eye opening. It involves exposure to different art forms such as plays, musicals, African drumming, dance, storytelling, etc. Another service they offer is mentoring, where you can develop a one-on-one relationship which can be really beneficial because it's nice to have somebody with real life experience to talk to. You can find more information by talking to an advocate in room D140, research it online, or ask peers that you know are already in the program. An advocate once said, "Graduation. College. Career." and honestly that's something I want to follow as I continue to grow each day. By Tierney Callerame
Lack of sleep can cause students to not pay attention and sleep through their classes causing bad grades, summer school, low GPA/ test scores, falling behind a grade, and late graduation. Lack of sleep can also effect a student’s mental health and cause depression and have less motivation for school functions and activities. Counselor Ms. Dubiel talks to students on a daily basis who might be dealing with lack of sleep. She states, “In my opinion, I believe sleep is deeply connected to how students AND staff function in school. A lack of sleep impacts an individual's ability to concentrate on things such as school work, but it also makes it difficult for us to regulate our own emotions. I am a true believer that if we are not emotionally prepared to learn, it is that much more difficult to sit through a class and stay motivated to do the work.” She talks about how she has definitely seen a difference in how kids function based on the amount of sleep they've gotten. She has seen students not able to physically stay awake while they are talking and it's due to a severe lack of sleep. By Ashley Kerwin Staying after school can be literally fun and games, but at the end of the day you have work to do in order to be a formal club. You don't need to be a formal club but if you do, you have guidelines to follow. If you want a stipend (money from the school district to fund your club), then you need to complete a few things. Clubs change every year depending on who wants to take charge of some of these clubs are created by students and some are created by the staff. All the rules are created by staff.
These guidelines include a presentation at the end of the year of all the things you did in the club. Also students elected representatives (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasury). Another requirement is the club must meet a minimum of 10 times throughout the year and have a minimum of 10 students in attendance at every meeting. And lastly you must take and submit minutes which is basically a record of what you did during the club. These are the things you need to do in order to get a stipend and become an official club. By Nazier McDonald In 2015 the University of Rochester (U of R) partnered with East High School to form an Educational Partnership Organization. The partnership has improved student participation in classes and better prepared students for graduation. As a result, graduation rates have tripled since 2015 and in 2019 the graduation rate was actually 69.6%. The U of R has brought a variety of resources to help the students in need such as Hillside, after school homework help, and even support classes. Due to the extra class time and activities students can get involved in, scholars are well on their way to walking the stage within the four years of high school. Students also go to school longer. Their day is 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. This gives time for 72 minute periods. Those longer periods help teachers give extra support and instruction to students so they do well in classes. Students also have access to a University of Rochester’s Clinic right on campus and can get medical treatment at school. Another beneficial thing U of R did was form family groups which give students two “carents” to help them with personal problems and get additional help for classes. I, Nazier McDonald who will graduate this year, can actually say the U of R has changed me and the way I've learned. In 2015, my seventh grade year, I was motivated very little to complete work and turn it in. But since the U of R took over, teachers will speak to me and motivate me to do well and make use of my goals in life. |
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