2 ■ april 2002
features
ncssm I the stentorian
Competition Spring Fever
Shauna Jin
I t’s second semester, and
students from most other
high schools are preparing
for graduation, prom, and
spring break. Here at Science
and Math, it is a completely
different story. Instead,
springtime is a time of inten
sive academic competitions.
For many second semester
seniors there will be no
reprieve from academic
extracurricular activities. The
academic competition season
is just getting revved up and
as usual, NCSSMers are
caught in the thick of it.
“The weekend of
Furman, I had a big paper
due. Instead I went to
Furman. It was a great expe
rience. It gave me an oppor
tunity to chill with fellow
math geeks,” said Chris
Waite-Jones about his experi
ence at the Furman Wylie
math competition.
In just the months of
January through March, many
competitions have already
taken place, including the
Science Olympiad, Duke
Bowl, Mathematical Contest
in Modeling, College of
Charleston, and Furman.
It has been a very busy
spring. This year, on a single
weekend, NCSSM sent two
teams per Competition in three
separate academic competi
tions to represent Science and
Math. On the day of the
Valentine’s Day dance, many
of the students from S&M
were as far away as
Greensboro or even South
Carolina. All six teams did
well in each of the competi
tions.
The Science Olympiad
team participated at the
regional competition held at
Guilford College. Students
who were on the team pre
pared for events extending
across a broad range of scien
tific disciplines including
chemistry, physics, astrono
my, and engineering events.
Thirty NCSSM students split
into two teams and drove
down to Greensboro to com
pete in half a day of science
events against .other high
schools across North
Carolina. The NCSSM team
qualified for the state compe
tition at NCSU following
Spring Break, and will be
sending a team of 15 students.
However, it has not been
all glory. Meng Mao
expressed his disappointment
over his team’s work in the
Mathematical Contest in
Modeling.
“It was pretty grueling
even though I got up late
every day. On the night of the
next to last day, we discov
ered a fatal flaw in our work,
so I stayed up until 3 am
working to fix it. The next
day, we realized we had an
even bigger error. Even so, it
was still a great experience,”
said Meng. The MCM started
at 8 am on Friday February 8,
Ethical Awareness
Continued from
Front Page
dents in charge of judging
honor violations and recom
mending disciplinary action.
Along with writing the
Declaration of Character,
EAG has been very active in
raising ethical awareness
among students, faculty, and
administration. They spon
sored the lecture by Anthony
Weston, author of A Practical
Companion to Ethics, and
orchestrated the ethics
themed schedule of the
January 21 Alt-Day, which
included an SLIOI activity
for juniors and a speaker for
seniors.
EAG also recently spoke
at , the Faculty Council, and
frequently meets with Dr.
Warshaw, along with faculty
advisors within each subcom
mittee.
Over the extended week
end in January, eight group
members went to Boca Raton,
Florida, for a conference with
other schools that have or are
forming honor codes. David
Gould, author of an extensive
book on honor codes, gave tips
at the conference. While there,
the group has not considered
implementing a rat clause in
the Declaration but rather
addresses honor as defined by
the individual. This clause
states that any person knowing
of an honor code violation
must report it.
The faculty and adminis
tration seem very supportive
of the idea of an honor code,
while the student body is
EAG
Anthony Weston, author of A Practical Companion to Ethics, speaks
to students at an EAG-sponsored lecture.
divided on the issue. The goal
for this year is simply to raise
awareness; an attempt to
implement an honor system
will take place next year.
So how will all of this
affect daily life at NCSSM?
The answer is not much, at
first. It may take years, but
the Ethical Awareness Group
is striving to improve our
learning and living environ
ment by confirming the stu
dent body’s ethical values.
UT &100N
Participate in
NCSSM's Bloocl PnVe!
Volunteei- youi- bIoo4 on Wednesday,
May 1 fhom 2-7:30 at school. You must
be at least 17 yeafs-old and moi-e than
110 lbs to participate. E-mail Kn'sten
Pfum Of Dawnelle Piefce to sign up.
■■■
American
Red Cross
Together, we can save a life
and ended at 4 pm Monday
February 11. Three teams of
three from Science and Math
holed themselves up in Watts,
not to reappear until the com
petition was over. NCSSM
has a reputation to uphold in
the Math Modeling contest;
currently, NCSSM is ranked
second in the nation in the
number of Outstanding solu
tions, behind Harvey-Mudd
College.
Even now it is not over,
and students are getting ready
for a second round of compe
titions. Science Olympiad
members are studying hard
for the coming State competi
tion in hopes of becoming one
of two teams representing
North Carolina at the National
Science Olympiad competi
tion. In addition, the Quiz
Bowl team held biweekly
practices in the library confer
ence rooms in preparation for
the Quiz Bowl competition on
March 23 in Luisburg, the day
of prom.
Student
Fee
Continued from
Front Page
the school community aware
of this issue before their vote.
Ultimately, the students
still feel that they were led to
believe that this was a Student
Activity Fee meant for
extracurricular activities.
They have seen it turn into a
general Student Fee, for all-
piuqjose use.
In fact, Alex Baranpuria,
Student Body President,
thinks that SGA's recom
mending vote (actually 12:10
against) would have had a
stronger majority if SGA
members had been informed
of the tentative budget for the
Student Fee.
Furthermore, there have
been queries
How Did We Do
Charleston Math
Competition
1st place. Physics
Brainstorming - Matt Fisher,
Chris Morano, Ben Pahl, and
Igor Gorodezky'
. 3rd place. Computer
Programming - Matt Fisher,
Jadrian Miles, and Chris
Morano
1st place. Level III - Paul
Wrayno
3rd place. Level III -
Jonathan Winn
1st place. Level III team -
Morgan Brown, Jadrian
Miles, Jonathan Winn, and
Paul Wrayno
2nd place, Chemistry sprints
Sumit Kadakia
Duke College Bowl
NCSSM A - (7-3) to consola
tion round finals
NCSSM B - (3-4) to second
round of the consolation
round playoffs
Both - (6-0) against NC
teams, highest scoring NC
teams
Furman Wylie Math
Tournament
Overall - 4th place
Individual - 1st place, Paul
Wrayno
Science Olympiad
Varsity - 5th in the varsity
category
Junior Varsity - 1st in the JV
category, 3rd overall
Mathematical Contest in
Modeling
One Outstanding, one
Honorable Mention, and one
Successful Participant
regarding
the legalities
of a student
fee. During
a meeting
with legal
counsel
Sandy
Rothschild,
she guided us through the
convoluted legal labyrinth
that legitimizes the Student
Fee.
It concludes: "[The
Board of Trustees] may adopt
such other policies and regu
lations as it may consider nec
essary and expedient for the
operation and management of
the affairs of the School."
Presently, most people
agree that there is no chang
ing the Board's decision. It
seems that the only influence
left for the student body is as
a recommending body regard
ing the division of the funds.
At the most recent SGA
meeting, Mr. Litle keenly
observed that this budget is a
direct reproduction of the
Parent's Fund budget; this is
only an additional source to
r i supple-
"Dr. Boarman observes
that an undertying prind-
ple in this dissent is the
trust, or lack thereof, in
the office of the
Executive Director.
ment the
Fund.
D r .
Boarman
has agreed
to take
student
input into
considera-
J
tion so long as it is "based on
actual usage and need, not
emotion." He points out that
"the students don't control the
budget."
Suggestions and com
ments about student needs
were taken at the speak-out.
SGA will be conducting
another school-wide survey in
order to discover the needs
and wants of the students.