Volume I Number 4
The North Carolina School of Science & Mathematics
Stentorian Interview
April 13, 1982
Stentorian:
Lindstrom:
The Stentorian has chosen to interview Rena Lindstrom,
guidance counselor at NCSSM, as it was felt that her views
might add a different perspective to life here.
Stentorian: The college planning process has begun for
this year's juniors. Will you do anything
differently for them than for this year's
seniors?
Lindstrom: Yes, I will let someone else do it for me.
Seriously, I think I will give more respon
sibility to the students this time around.
This was the first year that we have done
this and I carefully checked all the appli
cations which we processed to make sure
that everything we sent out of this office
was in top form. Next year, I hope to train
the students to do as much as they can and
I will act mainly as a resource.
Do you think that starting this early helps
people in the process?
Oh, for sure. This year no one applied to
more than six schools. Starting early
usually helps people narrow down choices to
a reasonable number by the time application
time rolls around. Last year, for example,
at the first college workshop, thirty-nine
people expressed serious interest in MIT.
This year, six applied. People change their
minds and starting early allows for that.
Stentorian: How would you characterize a successful
student at NCSSM?
Lindstrom: I would say that a successful student here
has a large amount of self-discipline and
also a social facility.
Stentorian: What do you mean by social facility?
Lindstrom: I mean someone who is comfortable with others
and not isolationist. I think someone who has
difficulty relating to others will have a
. harder time adjusting here. It's not impos
sible but it will be harder.
Stentorian: How would you rate the school's performance
thus far?
Lindstrom: I think that the school has to deal with an
internal conflict that most institutions do
not deal with. That is, it has to function
and plan for the future simultaneously. Thus,
the school has to be very flexible to experi
ment since one can never know all. I think
it has done well considering this.
Stentorian: What do you see as the biggest problem facing
the students here?
Lindstrom: It is difficult to live on an isolated campus
in a new city and find ways to recreate.
Opportunities for this are limited and this is
a large problem. Yet, on the other hand, this
causes the formation of meaningful friendships
and this is important.
Stentorian: Do you think this causes the students themselves
to have problems?
Lindstrom: Yes, many people here have problems dealing
with stress and anxiety due to this. However,
compared to other gifted students I have known,
these students do not organize as a unit to
seek out desired activities. Many people
complain a lot and act very dissatisfied, but
there seems to be a lack of group initiative
given the energy and brilliance of students
here. I think the students would benefit from
more group involvement with the NCSSM community
as there seems to be such a lack of community
spirit.
Did You Know?
by Meg Gatling
You've probably started thinking about what you're
going to do over spring vacation, and you've probably
dreamed about jumping into your private jet and zipping
across the country to the exclusive resort of your choice,
such as Atlantic City. But you knew full well that you
couldn't, right? Wrong. You could slide out your
inflatable pedal plane (almost as good as a private jet)
from under your bed and pump your 105-lb. craft at 8 mph
all the way, if Fred To has perfected his Phoenix airplane
in time. This London engineer has already designed and
flown Solar One, an aircraft rxm by photovoltaic power
(the direct conversion of solar radiation into electricity),
and has now built a 102-foot wingspan craft which a single
pedaler can power, while his friends pilot the plane
with a remote-control'^transmitter on the ground.
But once you get to Atlantic City, you're bound to
be thirsty from all that pedaling. Nothing that a few
glasses of water can't cure, right? Wrong. You'll be
gambling your health as well as your money if your water
comes from one of the wells that has been contaminated
by chemical wastes seeping from Prince's Pit, a 22-acre
dump northwest of Atlantic City into which nine million
gallons of chemical wastes have been poured. These
poisons have traveled h mile over the past decade and
have already reached some of the municipal wells.
So if you avoid the water with benzene and arsenic
and arm yourself with plenty of interferon, you should
live forever, right? Wrong. Interferon isn't what the
press cracked it up to be, a miracle drug manufactured
by recombinant DNA that could overpower cancer and viruses.
The scientists who were studying interferon were happy
to find, though, that this drug is effective in treating
some types of cancer and other diseases, especially
viruses. Researchers suspect that each type of inter
feron (there are at least 20) is best suited to fight a
specific form of cander or disease. Including multiple
sclerosis, hepatitis B, and chicken pox. Kari Cantell,
a pioneer in interferon for twenty years, thinks that
this drug is more effective as a preventive agent than
as a treatment.
Maybe you're too busy trying to grow up to worry
about your health. Well, there's good news for you,
too. Thanks again to recombinant DNA, growth homone is
now available to children whose pituitary fails to
produce this bone-and tissue-developing chemical.
Treatment for hypopituitarism used to entail the extraction
if growth hormone from one cadaver per week per child
for approximately ten years at a cost as great as
$100,000, but synthetic growth hormone will soon be
available by the vat; a mere three shots a week for
five or ten years and you won't be looking up to anyone.
Meanwhile, the organic molecules from which life on
earth arose are taking-their time about developing on
Titan, Saturn's largest moon and the only moon in the
solar system with a substantial atmosphere. The results
of Voyager I's encounter with Titan in November of 1980
show that Titan is the only body in the solar system
besides earth that is known to have a surface partially
covered with liquid. On Titan, the liquid is methane.
Titan's atmosphere, which contains C, N, and H, is
denser than earth's, and has maintained an environment
similar to that wich existed on the planets soon after
their formation.
Continued on page 2
Editor Box
Editor-in-Chief; Saralyn Hawkins
Assistant Editor; Keith Beasley
Layout Editor; Sean Campbell
Features Editor; Darryl Hendricks
News Editor; Hih Song Kim
Sports Editor; Brad Ives