High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College
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| Established | 2002 |
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| Type | Public, Specialized |
| Principal | William Dugan |
| Faculty | approx. 53 |
| Students | approx. 440 |
| Grades | 9 - 12 |
| Location | New York City, New York, United States of America |
| Colors | Purple and black |
| Mascot | Dragon |
| Newspaper | Dragθn Tales |
| Website | http://www.hsmse.org |
The High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College (often abbreviated to HSMSE) is one of the nine specialized high schools in New York City. To gain admission, students must take the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. The school was created in 2002, with an emphasis on engineering.
HSMSE was designed to be a small school with only about four hundred students. Created in 2002 along with Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, and High School of American Studies at Lehman College. Originally there were three high schools Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science, and Stuyvesant. The other schools were later created to absorb some of the students who did not get into the top 3 specialized high schools.[1]
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[edit] Classes
HSMSE has a partnership with The City College of New York. This agreement has been downgraded by CCCNY and those considering attending HSMSE should understand that the relationship between the high school and CCNY is tentative and tenuous. It is located on the City College campus, stretching from buildings located from West 133rd Street to West 141st Street along Convent Avenue Manhattan, and uses college facilities for its classrooms. The school is primarily housed in CCNY's Baskerville Hall.[2] The school occupies the basement and cellar of Baskerville Hall, which were renovated for HSMSE by the Department of Education in the summer of 2006. These floors are now open only to high school students.
Most of the classes are college level, and a few offer CCNY college credit. Currently CCNY accepts nine classes given by HSMSE for college credit, down from a previous number of 24. The school offers an intensive courseload that is intended to prepare students for college. Classes in HSMSE are an hour and a half long, and the school day lasts from 8:00 in the morning until 3:35 in the afternoon. Most seniors are dismissed earlier, at 2:05. Students take two 90-minute classes each morning, and two each afternoon, with lunch and an enrichment class in the middle. The enrichment classes at HSMSE are smaller, "lighter" classes that the students choose according to their interests. Current enrichments include Astronomy, Math Team, Drama, Art, Poetry Writing, Web Design, Engineering 101 and Photography, Band, Chorus, Ballroom Dance, MOUS, Science Fiction, Psychology, Philosophy, Public Speaking, Band, Cancer and Society, Science Research, Spanish Culture, and Italian.
HSMSE operates under a "block" schedule. This means that the each student has two different schedules, one for "A day" and one for "B day." The two days alternate for every day the school is open. Students are placed in four core classes for each schedule day, lunch, and an enrichment class that takes place every day. Available foreign language courses in HSMSE are: German , Spanish, and now offered as an enrichment course, Italian .
HSMSE participates in the FIRST Robotics competition and the annual NCSSSMST conference.
All freshmen participate in the annual "Egg Drop Contest", in which students create an egg drop design out of only corrugated cardboard. The top 3 winners are selected by their design performance, which qualify with not only a surviving intact egg but also having the lightest designs. Winners have their names engraved into a plaque in Baskerville hall.
[edit] History
HSMSE was created in 2002 by Randy Asher, former assistant principal of the Mathematics department at Brooklyn Tech. It was intended to be a much smaller school than Brooklyn Tech, with relatively small class size, and an emphasis on math, science, and engineering.
When the school was created, the college provided no building, leaving the school to inhabit a series of red aluminum trailers (modular buildings) located on the southern corner of campus. By its third year, the school had outgrown the trailers and started holding some of its classes in the college buildings. In addition, CCNY started tearing down some of the trailers to build residence halls, forcing HSMSE to completely move out of the trailers by 2006. The school is now primarily housed in CCNY's Baskerville Hall.[2]
Originally, the school day ended at 4:00, but starting in the 2006-2007 school year, a pilot program was introduced to shorten the day to 3:35PM by cutting 15 minutes from lunch and enrichment.
On March 1, 2006, HSMSE's founding principal, Randy Asher, left the school to become the principal of Brooklyn Tech.[3] Mr. Asher was replaced by William Dugan, previously HSMSE's Assistant Principal of Science.
On June 27, 2006, only a few months after Mr. Asher left, HSMSE saw its first ever class of seniors graduate.
In January 2007, the HSMSE class of 2007 saw its first Senior Trip.
To date, there are many extracurricular activities such as Model UN, Key Club, Mock Trial, Fish Club, Philosophy Club, Film Club, Chess Club, Ping Pong Club, NYCunveiled club, Gay-Straight Alliance, Animal Rights Club, JSA and Robotics.
There is also a Student Government with two representatives from each grade, along with a Secretary and Treasurer.
[edit] References
- ^ Krownstein, Gerry (May 2002). "New Exam Schools". New York Stringer (9). http://www.nystringer.com/html/examsch.htm. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
- ^ a b "How to Get To HSMSE!". High School for Math, Science and Engineering. http://www.hsmse.org/info/directions.aspx. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
- ^ Gootman, Elissa (February 8, 2006). "Principal Named at Brooklyn Tech - New York Times". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/nyregion/08principal.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
[edit] External links
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