2 ■ may 2002
features
the stentorian | ncssm
President
Wait-list Causes
Students to Worry
Continued from
the Front Page
pletely independent move,
and it looks as if I will be the
only SGA board member in
Hill. As far as I know, I am
one of the only people moving
to 1st Hill next year, and while
I will be an active and positive
member of my hall, I am not
subscribing to any Hill crowd.
I believe that last year's SGA
members only represented a
small group of the students at
our school. When I try to
imagine myself in any of the
variety of cliques
present at
Science and
Math, I can
always find at
least one member
of our SGA that I
trust to voice my opinion.
There is no question that we
are a diverse group, but as all
of our new members get to
know one another better, it is
becoming apparent that we all
came to work diligently
despite our differences for a
goal that will benefit all. Our
SGA is beginning to come
together and to trust one
another. I hope this trend will
grow throughout our campus
among students and eventual
ly among staff and faculty.
As I understand it, the
student body does not trust the
administration. Another one
of SGA's broader goals for
next year is to establish a
strong link between the
administration and students.
The administration has a
P^What I really
want next year is
trust.
tough job. They are the ones
who find the money to run this
school, hire the teachers that
stretch our minds, give us the
roommates we grow with, but
they also are the ones that
have to put their foot down
when some of us make mis
takes. I have experienced this
firsthand. Three of my
fnends, one which I was very
close to, are no longer at this
school because they made bad
decisions. I was angry when
this happened, and the admin
istration was an easy scape
goat for
me. To
this day
I am
not sure
these
people
should have been removed
from our school, but the fact
is, they made choices and
were aware of the conse
quences. Personally, I believe
this school is somewhat quick
in its decisions to kick people
out and I hope to discuss it
with members of the adminis
tration, but this is a school of
excellence, and we must
uphold standards of excel
lence. As I am learning, SGA
works very closely with the
administration at times, and it
is important for us to trust
them and the administration to
trust us. I have a feeling that
despite our efforts, some
things will change next year
that I may not be thrilled
about, and probably the rest of
the student body won't be
either. However, when these
decisions are made we will
always have the student voice
heard, and heard loudly. If
things do not go our way, we
will have to trust that there
were higher forces of the
bureaucracy at work. We
must understand that as stu
dents, we think we know what
is best for us, but the adminis
tration must take into account
the student body. There will
be inherent differences in
some of the student body's
views. The solution and bridg
ing of these differences will be
communication, and this is the
challenge for SGA next year.
Our objective is to communi
cate these differences and
changes as soon as we can and
to promote understanding
between everyone.
In conclusion, what I
really want next year is trust.
We all have differences in the
ways in which we choose to
live our lives, and we have
different goals. Every student
is different in these ways, as
well as the faculty and staff.
As a community, it is impor
tant that we accept these dif
ferences. "No man ever quite
believes in any other man.
One may believe in an idea
absolutely, but not in a man."
While you may not believe in
me, or SGA, or Dr. Boarman,
my request is that you believe
in the ideals of this school and
community, and that you sup
port this community to ensure
its growth and improvement
in the coming year.
Anna Goldstein
L ast fall, things were
going welt for Larry
Whysall at Eastern
Wayne High School. He had a
part-time job and was taking
two courses at a community
college. Yet he had higher
ambitions, so he applied to
NCSSM. Eager to drop every
thing and accept the greater
challenge, Larry opened his
admissions packet. What he
read was startling.
"You are number 21 on
the wait-list."
Each year, 80 sopho
mores receive the same
shock. The wait-listing sys
tem consists of a list of 40
males and a list of 40 females.
These students are ranked by
the number of points they
earned during the selection
process.
I set out to see what hap
pens to the students who sur
vive the wait-list and come to
NCSSM. 27 juniors and sen
iors replied to a survey about
their wait-list experience, and
10 of them feel that coming to
NCSSM was academically or
socially more difficult than it
was for other students. The
issues facing them include
missed class time, social
estrangement, and low confi
dence.
Many wait-listed stu
dents are contacted late in the
summer, as the original final
ists decline their acceptance.
Others, like Larry, have to
Vice President
Continued from
the Front Page
is, why me? What does Justin
Fleming have to offer his
peers, his class, and his
school, as Vice President of
SGA?
We'll start out with why
we have an SGA at all. It's
because the adults at this
school are a separate group.
They don't live with us, they
don't eat our food or talk to
our friends, they aren't loaded
down with homework, sports,
social life, and everything
else that is Science and Math.
They don't know what makes
us happy, what makes us mis
erable. Short Pause> So we
need a bridge. A group of stu
dents that will be able to inter
pret and translate what we
need so that the adults can
understand. A group of kids,
that will know when we can
compromise, and when we
absolutely need change.
But what good is a bridge
if nothing goes across it?
SGA is not here so that five
seniors can walk around giv
ing each other high-fives
about how they got more
votes than fifteen other sen
iors. It's not about our college
apps. It's here to make our
lives easier. Slowly> The
biggest reason people feel
cynical and bitter about this
whole process is they feel like
nothing gets accomplished.
The problem is, people not
caring leads to people not try
ing, which means nothing
gets fixed and no one trusts
SGA. So what do we do.
Flat intonation, not like a
question> Key cards in Hunt,
in-room policies, levels for
absences, high homework
load...these are all things
people complain about, but no
one knows how to fix them.
Did you know that our admin
istration is trying to decide on
when to have the internet
turned off each night? No
doubt everyone has some
thing to say about that. Guess
what: right now, your voices
aren't being heard. Pause>
So what do I want next year?
I want to know what you have
to say. I want to be in a posi
tion where I can make sure
that Dr. Warshaw, Dr.
Boarman, and Dr. Barber
aren't lost somewhere when
policies that will affect us are
being written. Half of the
decisions that go wrong go
wrong because no one told the
decision-makers how things
look from our perspective.
Like I said before, they're a
different group of people. We
need to tell them what's on
our minds.
The bridge goes both
ways, too. How often do you
know what's going on? How
many board meetings have
you attended? How many
times have new rules been
locked into place before you
even knew they were being
considered? Administration
doesn't tell us these things
because we've never shown
them we care, outside of our
random vandalizations and
forum protests. Wouldn't it be
great if we were all on the
inside, via SGA? Wouldn't
you like a summary every
now and then of what the
board and the administration
were thinking about doing?
We can make it feed on itself,
with your student government
listening to the people in
charge, telling you what's
going on, then listening to
you and affecting real change.
This is why you're voting this
week. This is why I'm talking
to you right now.
So why me? What makes
me think I can do things any
differently than they were
done this year, and last year,
and every year before? There
are many things I could say. I
could claim to be smarter than
someone else. I could claim
to care more than someone
else. I could tell you that I
know more, or that 1 am a
harder worker, but you
wouldn't believe it. Pause>
Because it isn't true. Short
Pause> This isn't about me.
wait even longer.
"I assumed I would be
accepted during the summer.
This obviously didn't happen.
It made me both hopeful and
angry, because I was going to
have to make-up work, but I
also desperately wanted to be
here." Larry was eventually
accepted and finally started
classes on August 28, two
weeks into the first quarter.
Cheryl Zapata had an
even more unusual experi
ence. She initially received a
rejection letter. After attend
ing her old school for two to
three weeks, she was accepted
to NCSSM. The transition
was hard.
"I never completely felt
like I made up that work,"
Cheryl admits.
As their classmates were
becoming comfortable and
finding their place within the
NCSSM community, Larry
and Cheryl were struggling to
catch up on homework.
"I wanted to take pro
gramming," Larry recalls,
"but because of all the make
up work I had to do, I simply
did not have the time."
Even students who arrive
on time are affected by their
former wait-listed status.
Elizabeth Stillwell has had to
doubt her own academic abil
ity after being on the wait-list.
"Now when I make bad
grades or feel out of place, I
Continued on
the Back Page
It's about what I am. I am a
student at Science and Math.
I like some teachers, I don't
like others. I think some rules
are right on target, and I can't
stand others. I have home
work that I don't want to do,
and sleep that I didn't get
around to last night. Sound
familiar? I should be your
Vice President because I see
things that need to be
changed. I should be your
Vice President because I lis
ten to what other people say. I
should be your Vice President
because I am willing to stand
up in front of you today, and
ask you to give me your trust.
You say you don't know me?
Let's change that, and get to
know our school in the
process. I have nothing to
offer except honesty, nothing
to pledge except effort, noth
ing to take except your criti
cism, and nothing to promise
except that I will listen to you
and do my best for you,
because we're all in this
together.