the stentorian
Volume 14, Number 1
NCSSM, 1219 Broad Street. Durham, NC 27705
December 16, 1994
Around the
world and back
By MAGDA KOTEK
Students attend conference in California
News Editor
International
■ The United States has decided sup
port the lifting of current economic em
bargoes against the former Yugolslavia.
Washington has also thought about send
ing 10,000 Amrican troops to helpevacu-
ate U.N. peace-keeping troops from war-
tom areas. Meanwhile the Serbs con
tinue their attack on Bihoc.
■ After the peaceful exit of the Cedras
junta, Jean Bertrand-Aristide was peace
fully restored as President of Haiti. In
the same week, Aristide renounced his
priest-hood.
■ Israel and Jordan finally signed peace
accords. In the same region, twenty-two
couniries and three international aid or-
ganizations have pledged $125 million
in aid to Yassir Arafat and the newly
formed nation of Palestine.
National
■ After elections in November, Repub
licans gained control of both the Senate
and the House. Among those unseated
were Democrats Diane Fienstein of Cali
fornia and Tom Foley of Washington.
On the state level. Democrat governors
Ann Richards and Mario Cuomo were
given the boot. Republican Oliver North
though was not elected senator of Vir
ginia.
■ With new-support from Republicans,
President Bill Clinton ratified the Gen
eral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) by an almost two-thirds vote in
Congress. The bill plans to internation
ally cut tariffs by a third, remove trade
quotas, and protect intellectual prop
erty.
■ The nation prayed and shed tears for
two boys presumed kidnapped in Union,
SC. After a weekofsearching the mother
see AROUND THE
WORLD, page 2
By AMY ELLIOTT
Business Manager
From October 19-23, four NCSSM
students represented our school at the
conference hosted by the California
Academy of Math and Science (CAMS).
The eighteen participating schools each
presented a separate project focusing
on social issues in America, such as
education, health care, housing, vio
lence in schools, and the environment.
The trip itself, including plane tickets
and the registration fee for the NCSSM
delegation was paid for by the Parent’s
Fund.
The delegation from NCSSM in
cluded Sarah Fieler, Neil Golson, Linh
Tran, and Stacy Vogel (all seniors),
with Dr. Steve Warshaw, advisor. The
project was “Technological Advances
in Surgery and their Socio-Economic
Impacts.” These students, however,
were only a few of the students working
on the project. Others students also put
hundreds of hours into making the
project a success, including Phong
Doan, Marci Gambrell, Carla
Locklear, Aaron Massey, and
Trina Walters (all seniors).
The decision of which stu
dents would go to California
was made by the students
themselves, by a vote of seven
of the project members. Al
though several other students
worked on the project, they ab
stained for various reasons.
The consortium is a group of
approximately 47 schools that are
either residential or magnet pub
lic schools that focus on math, sci
ence, and technology. The schools work
together to improve education in these
areas. Cooperation, not competition,
was the reason for this conference. Dr.
Warshaw said, “Collaborative projects
are a goal for the consortium.”
The work began in August when Dr.
Warshaw offered the conference to stu
dents in his biotechnology seminar and
to others through the daily bulletin. All
of the project members worked equally
on the project, regardless of which mem-
i
Neil Golson, Sarah Fieler, and Stacy
Vogel, three of the representatives from
bers would attend the conference, up
until the day that the students left. The
project drew upon the Triangle’s re
sources in medical technology. Stu
dents interviewed many area experts at
Duke and UNC to keep the project cur
rent with recent technological advances.
In addition many of the project mem
bers used their enrollment in the
mentorship program to research
the project.
To the four 'NCSSM students
that attended, the conference was
disappointing. The expectations
were not clear and many schools
came to the conference with
little or no prior research, a
far cry from the hundreds of
hours that project mem
bers at NCSSM spent on
the project. Sarah
said, “I thought it
would be a really
good conference, but
there were probably
only five schools with real
projects...Had the communication be
tween the heads of the conference been
better, it could have been really good.”
She did point out that NCSSM had a
good showing at the conference, “Our
[presentation] went well because we
were well prepared.”
While in California participants
NCSSM at the California Academy of
Science and Math present their project.
shared the project with other
NCSSSMST schools and participated
in an innovative tour of Los Angeles
called Urbanscape. This program was
a walking tour of the city designed to
reinforce the idea of students making a
positive change in the social problems
of America. Linh pointed out an im
portant aspect of Urbanscape: “We
bought fruit and whenever people’came
and asked for money we gave them
fruit.” Although they enjoyed
Urbanscape, other participants felt it
was unnecessary. “Literally, we just
walked around L.A.,” said Stacy. Sa
rah added, “it didn’t relate at all to the
project.”
In addition the conference included
a free day to explore California. The
students watched the taping of a televi
sion program called “Daddy’s Girls”
and played volleyball on the California
beach. Linh said, “the free day was the
best part.”
The project group is now working
on a presentation for an upcoming ALT
Day, and may enter the project in a
contest sponsered by the North Caro
lina Student Academy of Science, with
a possible community service element
added. Interested students arc encour
aged to contact a group member to help
with this project.
Inside this Issue...
Volunteering in the community
Diverse student body celebrates holidays
Parents’ Fund
page 2
page 6
pages
New album reviews
IM Sports Update
Fall Sports Update
page 9
page 10
page 11