York Preparatory School - NYC

Under the rubric Tech Tuesdays: Parenting in the Digital Age, York Prep Technology Coordinator Alicia Weschler designed a curriculum for parents to improve their knowledge of the cyberworld their children inhabit. These informational meetings tackled important issues confronting teens which impact their safety, education, effectiveness, and emotional well-being.

“We find that almost every student is engaged in some form of social network, but many parents are not entirely informed of the impact these websites have on their children and the consequences of participation,” said Principal Chris Durnford. “We wanted to show parents how this technology affects our students and to share with them guidelines and recommendations for prudent and productive Internet use.”

The series kicked off in October with the session “Social Networks: Friends or Foes?” After a look at how today’s new media and technology environment is so different from what’s come before, Mrs. Weschler guided parents through social networks—Facebook, MySpace, Twitter—and examined the short-and long-term benefits and dangers of membership. Parents discussed and shared tips on how to keep their children safe.

Attendees explored how to mine Google’s search engine more fully during “Google Tips and Tricks” in November. Following a brief explanation of how search engines work and how Google comes up with such relevant and thorough search results, audience members were made aware of numerous special features, sometimes hidden, which are extremely practical and enhance the online search experience.

The April gathering on “Cyberbullying” provided facts, cases, resources, and strategies to help parents recognize the forms and warning signs of electronic abuse and to guide them in how to act in case their child becomes a victim—or perpetrator—of online cruelty. Mrs. Weschler spent time highlighting the differences between traditional bullying and cyberbullying and emphasized means of prevention.

A fourth offering in February, “Superparent to the Rescue: Troubleshooting 101,” was cancelled due to inclement weather. The meeting was set to focus on computer hardware advice, suggestion for moving files between home and school, and online reference resources; most likely, it will be scheduled for the next school year. The mother of a sixth grader “won’t miss” future sessions. “I’ve learned so much from the workshops,” she said.

Tuesday, April 13 - With the recent news stories about the challenges of Cyberbullying, York Prep will present a Technology session for parents on Cyberbullying, part of the Parent Workshop Series “Parenting in the Digital Age.”

Poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan speaks to Grades 9-12

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Maria Mazziotti Gillan–award-winning poet, editor, teacher, cultural activist–will speak to Grades 9-12.

She will also conduct a Poetry Workshop with English 10 classes.

Wednesday, April 7 - Mr. Roper’s Parent History Class - 6:30-7:45 p.m. Topic: “The Grid and Its Beauty.”

Thank you, York Prep Students and faculty raised over $400 for “Pennies for Patients” to help The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) support blood cancer research and patient services for local New York City blood cancer patients.

A special congratulations to 11-1 (Mr. Roper and Mr. Steinberg), the winning fundraising homeroom!

Five Senior Scholars graduated in June 2009 having completed the rigorous and challenging Scholars enrichment sequence. By that time, most of them had taken, over the course of three years, a total of 20 special 6-session seminars in an impressive variety of subject matter. In addition, they all fulfilled the requirement of designing and completing a Scholars Thesis in their senior year. These seniors received diplomas “with honors.”

Here is a sampling of past years’ thesis topics:

·         The Wonderful World of Phi: The Golden Mean in Classic Rock Music

·         Going Home: A Cinematic Exploration of My Family History

·         Sweat for Nets: Service Learning and Its Impact on My Life

·         Through the Looking Glass and Into the Rabbit Hole: A Dizzying Exploration of Being a Buddhist in the Modern World

·         The Unaffecting Daydream: Five Scenes from a Drama

·         Grand Theft Auto III: The Art Behind the Controversy

·         Behind Closed Doors: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

·         The Chic Shack: A Hotel Business Plan

·         Can Dogs Think? An Inquiry Into Animal Learning

The York Prep Scholars Program offers the most motivated and able students a marvelous opportunity to work in small groups to explore exciting topics that are not part of the normal curriculum. Each Scholars Seminar is taught by a faculty member who has a particular passion for his/her subject matter. This year’s graduating Scholars will have participated in a rather remarkable set of classes that has included such representative topics as Art of the Italian Renaissance (a two-part series); Fantasy, Dada, and Surrealism; Performing Shakespeare; An Introduction to Organic Chemistry; Multi-variable Systems of Equations; An Introduction to Neuroscience; Thinking Like Leonardo Da Vinci; and Topics in Philosophy (with Mr. Ronald Stewart, York Prep’s Headmaster).

York Prep remains very proud of its Scholars and continues to take great satisfaction in watching them stretch their academic and creative muscles. In addition to the intrinsic benefits of their enhanced curriculum, participants are also receiving a gratifying degree of recognition in the form of college acceptances. Scholars who have engaged the full three-year sequence are now attending such schools as Barnard College, Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard College, Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Pomona College, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, and Williams College, among others.

This is the second year in which York Prep has expanded the program by offering an enhanced pre-Scholars curriculum to qualified 8^th and 9^th graders. They participate in a two-year pre-Scholars sequence that closely mirrors the established one for the 10^th through 12^th graders.

English teacher Paul Sturm serves as the Director of the program. He follows the progress of all participants closely; troubleshoots any problems they may be having in any of their classes; and provides support, counseling, and encouragement.

York Prep congratulates Science teacher Nicole Grimes! The Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) has selected Ms Grimes’ research paper, “Exploring multiple outcomes: Using co-generative dialogues and co-teaching in a middle school science classroom,” for Award V: Implications of Research for Educational Practice. She received a plaque from ASTE at the 2010 Annual ASTE International Conference in Sacramento this January along with a $1,000 check.

January 26, 2010 — York Prep congratulates Science teacher Nicole Grimes! The Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) has selected Ms Grimes’ research paper, “Exploring multiple outcomes: Using co-generative dialogues and co-teaching in a middle school science classroom,” for Award V: Implications of Research for Educational Practice. She received a plaque from ASTE at the 2010 Annual ASTE International Conference in Sacramento on January 16th, 2010, along with a $1,000 check. In addition, the paper will appear in a Springer book entitled Co-teaching in International Contexts, which is the awards issue of the ASTE Newsletter to be published this spring.

“I am beyond shocked yet thrilled at this honor,” said Ms. Grimes. Ms. Grimes looks forward to undertaking her doctoral defense in the very near future.

Ms. Grimes is an asset to York Prep School and her work in the classroom helps York Prep Students develop a competitive advantage in the sciences. Ms. Grimes received the award as part of her ongoing doctoral studies at the Graduate Center, the City University of New York (CUNY) where she is a full-time Ph.D student in the urban education program.

About ASTE. The Association for Science Teacher Education is a non-profit professional organization composed of over 800 members from countries across the globe. The mission of the ASTE is to promote excellence in science teacher education world-wide through scholarship and innovation. About York Prep School. A private coeducational and independent college preparatory day school offering a traditional curriculum for grades 6-12 with a challenging yet supportive atmosphere enhanced by the diversity of New York City. York Prep School is one of Manhattan’s top private schools encouraging diversity and academic achievement in a supportive private school environment. More information can be found at www.yorkprep.org

York Prep’s Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team culminated its 2009 extraordinary volleyball season with a decisive win against the United Nations International School (UNIS). The victory concluded a second undefeated season for the girls’ team in the Girls’ Independent School Athletic League (GISAL) and secured York Prep’s position as the league champions for the fourth consecutive year.

Along the way to winning the overall GISAL Championship, the girls also won the Big Apple Conference with a perfect record. In the combined GISAL tournament, York Prep swept Calhoun in two games and defeated UNIS in one of the best volleyball matches ever played by a York team.

Team captain Julia Dolan led York Prep throughout this winning season. Julia was the best setter in the league and provided exceptional leadership to the squad on and off the court. Veteran Tal Levy had an outstanding season, and her experience helped the younger players develop a strong sense of team play.

Madison Pappas and Marissa Velasquez led York Prep’s offense with unstoppable spiking. Both hitters were relentless and York Prep’s opposition never could withstand their killer hits. Anna Lieberman proved to be a hitting threat from anywhere on the floor but was especially effective at the service line, leading York in service aces. Honour Masters, Taylor Brown, and Rebecca Siegel rounded out the squad’s offense while playing stellar defense.  Willa Baker, Nikki Slesin, and Isabella Arizin all came into games and made big contributions to the team.

Seniors Julia Dolan and Tal Levy have been a big part of the team for the past four years and really will be missed next year, but our younger players like Isabella and the girls from the Junior Varsity team are eager to prove they can keep York’s winning tradition alive.

“The girls became an amazing team and pulled together to play great volleyball,” said Coach Chris Durnford. “They worked very hard this season and earned their success. They are unbelievably dedicated, and I am really proud of everything they have accomplished. The GISAL Championship game against UNIS demonstrated how well they worked together and how truly great a team they are.”

Congratulations to the Girls’ Varsity Volleyball Team, the 2009 GISAL Champions!

A good History teacher brings alive the events in our nation’s past, and a good tour guide can point out the places where they actually happened. At York Prep in NY we are very fortunate to have both—in the same person. That person is Mr. Michael Roper, who illuminates subjects from World History to Constitutional Law and is also a licensed New York City tour guide.

Weekends in autumn and spring find Mr. Roper leading groups of students (he often hosts teachers and parents as well) on tours ranging from the Battery in lower Manhattan to Brooklyn Heights to as far north as West Point and Hyde Park. His “Little Old New Amsterdam” tour includes the Fraunces Tavern, where George Washington resigned his commission after the Revolution, as well as the oldest Jewish place of worship in America. “Little Italy to Cooper Union” is just that, including the Cast-Iron District, Washington Square, and the place where Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that many say “made him president.” Both tours end with a sumptuous lunch at McSorley’s Tavern.

When Mr. Roper’s class visits the Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, each student reports on one of the historical characters who found their final resting place there, from “Boss” Tweed to Horace Greeley to Leonard Bernstein.

Quite apart from the rich history Mr. Roper reveals to be right under our noses, he shares a wealth of intriguing facts about the Big Apple. Did you know that the Brooklyn Bridge is further west than the George Washington Bridge? Or that the East River is not really a river? How did Wall Street get its name? And where in New York City will you find a gravesite that contains more Revolutionary War soldiers than anywhere else in America?

A delightful and physically invigorating way to find out is to sign up for one of Mr. Roper’s extraordinary trips. Check out the tour schedule listed in http://www.yorkprep.org > Edline > Activities > New York City Tour Club.

The past, present, and future of York Prep School came together during a decade-spanning 40 ^th anniversary reunion on Saturday afternoon, September 27, 2008. More than 300 alumni and teachers joined school founders Ronald and Jayme Stewart in the gymnasium, chatted animatedly with long-lost peers while savoring gourmet hors d’oeuvres, and unconsciously tapped their feet to tunes from the ’70s to the present.

Over 20% of total graduates shared in the festivities, with high representation from the classes of 1981 and 1990. All of the former students seized the opportunity to catch up with long-lost friends and classmates. Squeals of surprise and laughter resounded through the crowd as alumni recognized faces and summoned memories. “I was overwhelmed by the whole experience, seeing people I haven’t seen in 25 years!” said Katherine Lucas ’83.

Former students, unfamiliar with the West 68 ^th Street building, were also encouraged to wander around the six floors, where large screens projected slides of candids from years past. Undoubtedly, anyone who graduated prior to 1997 could not help but comment favorably on current spaciousness of the classrooms, hallways, and stairways as compared to the “cozy” quality of the townhouses on East 85 ^th Street where York Prep had resided for 28 years.

Teachers and administrators enjoyed the opportunity to hear they had made a difference and to see that their students turned out well. “It was exciting to see so many people I hadn’t seen in so many years,” said Dr. Robert Reese, a 38-year veteran instructor. “Some faces were instantly recognizable.”

Looking back fondly on the celebration a few days later, Lucas offered her profound appreciation to Stewart and the school. “I can’t express the gratitude and sentiment I have for you, York Prep, and all the teachers who were instrumental in helping me become the person I am.”