JUNIORS

Adobe Print Production
In this double period class, juniors will utilize Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign to create a wide range of graphic designs such as logos, book covers and posters. Students will also have to use their knowledge of the elements and principles of design in order to come up with creative solutions for their projects.

At the end of their first semester, juniors will have to take an Adobe Photoshop Certification Test. It is an online test that students may have to pay $120 to take.

In addition, students also have the option to create an AP Studio Art 2D Portfolio. The portfolio consists of 12 concentration pieces and 12 breadth pieces. A “concentration” consists of a series of pieces that share a common theme. One theme, for example, could focus on poverty and its effects on the human mind. A “breadth” demonstrates a student’s ability to use various kinds of artistic tools and mediums such as photography, painting, collage and pencil drawing.  5 quality pieces (pieces that are sent directly to the Collegeboard, as opposed to being sent digitally) are also considered in the grading process. The portfolio is due May 11^th and will earn a student college credits if he/she earns a score of 3, 4 or 5.

SENIORS

Film
This is a single period class where seniors will use a wide range of equipment to create various film projects such as commercials, documentaries, music videos and short films. Cameras, tripods, lighting equipment and various props are available in room 1N4 for students to borrow. Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects are used to edit and put together film while Adobe Story is used to assemble a script.

At the end of their first semester, seniors will have to take an Adobe Premiere Certification Test. Like the Photoshop certification test, it is an online test that students may have to pay $120 to take.

Animation

This is a double period class that teaches seniors to create 3D models and animations using Autodesk Maya. Students will learn how to create entire sets such as bathrooms, living rooms and outdoor environments

A student's Maya project.

with the help of online tutorials. Students will also be able to design their own 3D characters and create skeleton rigs to allow them to move.

Starting 2013, this course will cover more content than the one taught in 2012 due to the extended schedule and termination of the Web Design and Flash Animation courses.

Brooklyn Tech has sixteen majors: Aerospace Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Biological Sciences, Bio-Medical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, College Prep, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Industrial Design, Law and Society, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Media, Social Science Research, and Software Engineering. All majors have required classes that a student must take. For example, College Prep students must take the PLTW Principles of Engineering in their Junior year, although College Prep students have more freedom in this major and are able to choose their AP classes.

The major selection process is entirely online. Students are selected for their majors based on rankings. The selection process varies with each major. The product of the formula is called a Power Index (abbreviated as PI). The computer uses PI to rank the student. This online process for majors begins after the Major Showcase.

On the school website, there is a link to Daedalus on the upper row, sixth tab. Students must log onto their student account and once logged in, there is a page with various. Underneath “School”, there should be a “Major Selection” link. On the Major Selection page, a list of your preferences is on the left and a chart is on the right. The chart shows your PI, last year’s cutoff PI, and your ranking for each major. To change your preferences, click on a major and click the “Move Up” or “Move Down” buttons provided at the top and bottom of the list. When you are finished with your list, click on “Submit”. This is not your finalized list; you are able to change it until the deadline, which is about a week after the Major Showcase. After the deadline, the option to change your list is locked and the last update you made is your final.

Do not be disheartened if your desired major has seventy seats and your ranking is less than seventy. Although many people are ahead of you in ranking, they could choose another major last or not want your desired major at all. About 70% of students are placed in their first choice. Also, if you are rejected in every major, you will automatically get placed into College Prep. If you want to apply to College Prep, you will always get accepted. Put College Prep ahead of the majors you are certain you do not want at all. If you want to know more about the majors, go to the school website and click “Majors” underneath the “Academics” tab.

At the P.S.A.L. Cross Country City Championships, seven tech girls competed in the varsity race, placing fifth as a team in a field with twenty different teams. The runners placed 4^th, 37^th, 38^th, 39^th, 41^st, 49^th, and 95^th, just missing a team spot at the NY State Federation Championships. Gathering a total of 159 points, our cross-country team only came in behind Curtis High School, Port Richmond High School, Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, and Townsend Harris.

Leading the team was Junior Anne Laure White, placing fourth in the varsity race of theP.S.A.L. Cross Country City Championship. White showed dominance throughout the season;  she placed first at races like Mayors Cup Cross Country Championship and Brooklyn Borough Championships. White also qualified individually for New York State Federation with a time of 19:59.83.

Other runners such as Rebecca Baron, Isis Wyche, Rachel Francis, Winny Chen, Janice Fong, Ji Sun Lee and Lisa Je contributed significantly to Tech’s success at many races during the cross-country season. At Brooklyn Borough Championship, these runners helped Tech take first place among 16 other teams in the borough.

St. Vincent’s third album delves into new lyrical territory and takes her usual psychedelic sound one step further. The music coupled with her beautiful, soft voice creates a comfortable atmosphere that contrasts the rather serious and confusing nature of the words she sings.

9. Rolling Blackouts – The Go! Team

The Go! Team consistently puts out records that are equally jaunty as they are awe-inspiring, and Rolling Blackouts is no exception. Through a combination of original in-studio composition and pre-recorded pep rally cheers and television theme songs, they create perfectly danceable tunes with a nostalgic vintage sound.

8. Thursday – The Weeknd

            It’s been a very ambitious year for The Weeknd, a Canadian artist who released his first three mixtapes within the span of nine months. Blazing his way into the music scene with his critically acclaimed debut House of Balloons, I personally believe The Weeknd outdid himself with his middle album, Thursday. His distinct style combines elements of R&B, house music, and progressive rock, resulting in a truly surreal listening experience. The trippy sound sets the mood for the album’s “story,” which tells of a girl who becomes addicted to drugs and partying past the point of no return.

7. The Year of Hibernation – Youth Lagoon

The one-man band of Youth Lagoon crafts incredibly soothing melodies over calming accompaniment as the singer bares his soul through the lyrics. Each song is utterly heartfelt and honest that it’s hard not to be saddened by the otherwise beautiful music.

6. 21 – ADELE

Adele examines the phenomenon of love from every perspective in her sophomore album, 21. Her strong, husky voice carries the listener through tales of newfound love and heartbreak in a contemporary jazz and blues style.

5. Wounded Rhymes – Lykke Li

            Swedish artist Lykke Li branches out from her traditional style with her second album, but still clings to those important, distinguishing elements. Her almost tribal beats are still ever present in the backbones of several songs, and her echoey voice continues to permeate each track. However, the general mood of the album is less somber and saddening compared to her debut. The songs are more upbeat and have a happier tone, even though the subject matter is sometimes equally bleak.

4. Angles – The Strokes

Angles is the fourth album from The Strokes and ushers in a new but welcome change in their musical style. Shifting from lo-fi, guitar-heavy punk trends, cleaner and more produced tracks allow their usual upbeat and lively songs to be perceived in a different light. There is evidence of maturation in the composition as they push their own limits and produce more intricate songs.

3. Camp – Childish Gambino

His first studio album to date, Camp is Childish Gambino’s honest account of his troubled past and present. His lyrics are still as clever and piercing as they were on his mixtapes; however, indie rock song samples make way for original backing tracks and choral arrangements. Gambino has a clear message for his listeners: obstacles in his past do not affect his performance and will not hold him back from his ambition.

2. w h o k i l l – tUnE-yArDs

A great transformation from her home-recorded debut album, Merrill Garbus’s follow-up, under the moniker tUnE-yArDs, is entirely studio-produced and exposes a different side of her personality. Garbus combines elements of different genres she has encountered in her life experiences, most notably her rhythms from her time spent in Africa. Her fearless experimentation with music creates a fully unique record, which she uses as a medium to express her strong social commentary. But at the same time, you can tell she’s just having fun with it.

1. El Camino – The Black Keys

            The Black Keys have kept a distinct and consistent sound throughout all seven of their albums, and El Camino does not disappoint. Rather than getting stale, their blues-rock sound is revamped in their latest album with new and creative rhythms and arrangements. Time and time again, The Black Keys have proven themselves to be an incredibly adaptable duo while still managing to stay true to themselves and create completely original music.

Some that didn’t quite make the cut:

The Rip Tide – Beirut

Showroom of Compassion – CAKE

Cults – Cults

The King Is Dead – The Decemberists

Audio, Video, Disco. – Justice

Blood Pressures – The Kills

Middle Brother – Middle Brother

The King of Limbs – Radiohead

12 Desperate Straight Lines – Telekinesis

Goblin – Tyler, the Creator

The gym department has caused quite the stir among Tech students in recent weeks. The main issue is a troublesome rumor that gym report card grades will be averaged into GPAs.

A treasured feature of Tech’s longtime gym policy is that, even though you must pass the class to get credits to graduate, gym is not included in your final marking period average. A low gym grade does not bog down your report card.

As a result of several student complaints, the current gym grading policy was called into question at the beginning of this year. It was then determined that the current gym grading policy is, in fact, illegal.

The current policy, as taken from the gym contract each student signed in September, states, “For each day of non-participation, a mark is recorded on your grade sheet. The more non-participation the lower the grade.” A fixed number is subtracted from your final grade for every unprepared mark, which has been found to violate state law regarding physical education.

A new policy that is legal and incorporates the grades into final averages is to be drafted. The logic behind this decision is that students will not only work harder in gym class, but their gym grades will help raise their overall grade point averages. Students are experiencing mixed feelings about this new policy.

There are some students who believe it’s absolutely ridiculous that this policy might be passed. They believe the grade should not be averaged in on the report card until a new grading policy has been created. “Gym grades are going to be averaged in? In the middle of the school year? If anything, they should start next school year!” says Karina Peraffan ‘13. For others, however, gym is considered an easy high grade to achieve. “I’m glad that I now have a reason to try my hardest during gym. They should have enforced this policy years ago!” says Salma Haque ‘13. This policy is really causing disagreement even among Tech students.

Gym grades will not be averaged in on the report card until a new grading policy has been created. However, that new policy is expected to be complete by the second term of this year, and to give it a trial run, averaging will not actually be implemented until next school year.

The elimination of credit recovery for gym has also caused a bit of panic, especially among seniors. The Student Government had it abolished to send a message to students that cutting gym is for squares. If you expect to pass gym and receive the credits you need to graduate, then you must attend gym and be properly dressed. Many seniors have been given two gym classes in their schedules as the alternative to credit recovery over the summer. However, this may be a more difficult way for seniors to receive full gym credit by year’s end.

The musical was entirely student produced, so those with Tech theater experience took top positions and leading roles. Director Sasha Kazachkova, star of the spring musical for the past two years, competently led her peers to a great show, all the while owning the stage as the role of Pink’s Shadow. However, the cast and ensemble also seemed to be full of newcomers making their Tech stage debut. Leading actor William Suarez delivered a solid performance as the role of Pink, alternating from singing with a slightly hoarse – but still strong – voice to screaming in agony when appropriate. His voice fell perfectly in tune with Kazachkova’s, creating almost soothing harmonies to offset the play’s dark nature. Simona Zhukovski, also new to the stage, easily stole the show with her graceful movements and beautiful voice completing her lovable portrayal of Pink’s mother.

The extremely talented “orchestra,” comprised of only six men, flawlessly played through the show without missing a beat, complementing the energy of the actors onstage. Aside from a few songs where actual recordings were used, each song was indistinguishable from the original album track.

The play’s events were not easily understood without a quick skimming of the synopsis found in the Techbill, but it did not take away from the enjoyment of the show as a whole. Scene transitions were a bit clunky and disorganized, and some choreography was sloppy, but the “Young Lust” scene was enough to make up for it. It was clear that those five dancers painstakingly rehearsed those moves and executed them with extreme precision.

Competing against some of the best runners in the city, Tech had seven runners in the 5K varsity race; Samuel Philbrick, Kai Wagoner Oshima, Maksim Horowitz, Harris Van Alterman, Kenneth Rodriguez, Luis Rosado, and Artur Balanovskiy. Finishing with a total of 170 points, our runners placed 13^th, 23^rd, 39^th, 43^rd, 52^nd, 53^rd, and 95^th, with Philbrick and Oshima taking the top spots with times of 17:37.01 and 17:48.95, respectively. Brooklyn Tech finished behind 5 teams: Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, Midwood, Thomas Jefferson Campus High School, and Curtis High School.

In the JV 5K race, a myriad of Tech runners competed, with most occupying top spots. In a race with over 200 runners, the top places from tech were 13^th, 18^th, 25^th, 39^th, 42^nd, 51^st and 56^th.  Sophomores Johnathan Walker and John Thoma Hinchen were the top places in the JV race, with times of 19:33.82 and 19:43.79. Our JV team finished fifth, behind Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Midwood, and Staten Island Tech.

Tech had two varsity runners qualify for New York State Federation Championships, Oshima and Philbrick, who ran times of 18:15.1 and 18:39.3 for the 5K.

There are four main principles of reform in this act. The first principle is increased accountability. By punishing the schools for not doing well, the act gives the school and teachers a reason to try and teach as best as they possibly can. The second principle is increased flexibility over the funds given; the schools can choose to use their funds in any area in which they need improvement.. The third principle is expanded options for parents, in which the parents receive a “report card” of the school that their child is enrolled in. If the parents believe the school is doing poorly, they may transfer their child out of the school. The last principle is the heavy emphasis on good teaching and good grades.

On paper this may seem reasonable and efficient. However, in reality, this act is mostly ridiculous. First, if a school is not doing well, decreasing the funds might encourage better teaching, but does not necessarily guarantee it. If funds are decreased, teachers would have fewer supplies to use and would not be able to teach as well as if they had supplies. Teachers would be forced to teach only what is on the standardized tests, which would improve scores, but the students would not learn anything practical from it. For example, on the state tests of New York and Michigan, almost 65% of students did not understand math problems that were about the concept behind a topic (ie. the Pythagorean Theorem). Students are taught how to solve problems, but they are not taught the most important part of the problem: the concept. Also, the tests scores could be manipulated by making the tests easier. Rumors of Bloomberg lowering the difficulty of the Regents have been heard, although not yet proven. Lastly, there could be corruption in the grading system. The New York Post reported, “Four city high schools have been under investigation since as far back as January 2010 for alleged Regents tampering or scoring inflation that could have fraudulently boosted their graduation rates…”

The increased flexibility of funds seems wonderful from a distance as well. However, if school funds have been decreased, there may not be enough room for a budget that could improve teaching. If schools are punished by decreasing the funds, schools that have been doing poorly would be too busy trying to survive on such a lowly budget that they could not afford to improve. Furthermore, there can be abuse of such liberties of funds. For example, recently, Mr. Asher has spent some money on improving the William H. Mack Library on the fifth floor for  important meetings. It looks fantastic; the floor is bright and the tables and chairs have a new woody scent. And yet, the library still lacks computers and a printing center. The old tables and chairs were not as appealing to the eye as the new ones, but at least they still serve their purpose. They were in perfectly fine condition. The money spent on wood would have been used more practically on computers, printers, and new books. Additionally, the artistic areas in Brooklyn Tech have been neglected because it is not funded as securely as the sports in Brooklyn Tech. Mr. Asher has put his efforts in improving sports of Brooklyn Tech because at the moment, it is getting the most funding. The increased flexibility in Brooklyn Tech is harming the educational system, not helping it.

The third principle is a truly reasonable idea. It would benefit the parents to see which schools provide the best education for their children. However, the flaw in this principle is that the data given to the parents is unfairly gathered. For example, judging the school’s academic process on only one test is too objective. It is simply too much pressure on just one exam. All children have different strengths and weaknesses and one may perform better on the test than another. A series of exams would be more fair. Also, it is unfair that only numbers seem to matter. Exams are not the only important factor in education. The participation of students should be recorded, for example. If many students participate, it is a sign that they find the class interesting and helpful. If they feel interested in class, it means that the teacher is doing his or her job correctly.

The last principle emphasizes good grades and good teaching. However, nowadays, good grades seem to be overemphasized. There are many students who copy homework and learn nothing. They use their calculator to store important test information and cheat to many extremes. Yet, they manage to get a good grade and are, in fact, proud of it. The meaning of education seems to fade away as numbers dominate the educational system. Ironically, there are students who have the opposite dilemma. These students study hard and understand the topics, but are alarmed by such emphasis on how well they do in exams that they do poorly on. The emphasis on good teaching has its own flaws as well. Good teachers have years of experience in teaching and know what methods students respond to best. Recently, schools have been firing these “old” teachers and replacing them with new teachers. Bronx Science has done so, thinking that it would be a good teaching experience for students.. Brooklyn Tech may possibly be the next target.

Although it has good intentions, the No Child Left Behind Act is wrecking the educational system. This act has already affected many Brooklyn Tech students and hopefully will be altered to be more realistic and beneficial. There are many examples of how this act is failing. For example, The New York Daily News states that nearly three-quarters of CUNY freshman are taking remedial classes. It was evident that most freshmen were unprepared for college and were not taught to the correct standard. “About 74% of first time freshman who graduated from city schools and are attending CUNY’s community colleges needed remedial classes this year after exams deemed them unprepared for college level work…CUNY also sets its passing rate for the national placement exams lower than the national average.”  (NY Daily News).  The Programme of International Students Assessment of last winter has shown that in science, America is just above average by one point, ranking 23^rd with a score of 502. In the reading, the U.S. is moderately above average at 17^th rank, with a score of 500. In the math section, the U.S. is at 32^nd rank with a score of 487, which is 10 points below average. “We have to see this as a wake-up call,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. “The U.S. came 23^rd or 24^th in most subjects. We can quibble, or we can face the brutal truth that we’re being out educated.” (New York Times.)

Mr. Asher oversaw the recent re-furnishing of the library. Since last spring the library has had new tables and chairs to accommodate more students. But in the process, he also canceled all of the school’s periodical subscriptions, referring to them as “outdated.” Important newspapers such as The New York Times and medicine periodicals are no longer available for students to use for their assignments, something which has upset many seeing as how there are several teachers who ask for printed newspaper sources for their assignments.

And though Mr. Asher promotes the movement to digitalize the school, the library has been neglected. “If we’re lucky, seven out of twelve computers are up and running” comments a librarian. The tech squad will sometimes come in to try and fix them, but what they do is only temporary before the computers break again. What they do then is switch out the computer for an equally old one. For a school of over 5,000, with 1,000 students in a single lunch period, 12 outdated and often broken computers are simply not enough: “I believe students deserve to have a better, up-to-date technological library” says Mr. Grandt, one of the librarians. Junior Lisa Starikov agrees, “I go there to try to find some information online or in a textbook or something, but I can do neither because the computers don’t work and the reference section is outdated and understocked. It’s completely contrary to what a library should be.”

Students aren’t the only ones steering clear of the library. Teachers, who sometimes use the older books to teach their classes, avoid staying there. “More tables means more kids,” says Mrs. Laudi, “and there are not enough librarians to watch over them. We are beyond capacity six periods a day.”

Students and teachers alike believe that the library needs more publicity. People need to learn to appreciate the library, something that Mr. Williams is trying to raise remediate by having more speakers and more events held in the library. An “Appreciate the Tech Library” week might be in the making. But for now, the 5^th floor library remains a myth to some who have never stepped inside, as real as the roof’s swimming pool.