/Portals/2/logos/__TFMF_hqlrghrvfkcmfjvboe5431ne_3ce4a4eb-c7a9-4703-bed8-5b0bbad439c4_0___Selected.jpg en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 07:48:27 GMT 15 By Sarah Marlow '08 and Melanie Steinhardt '09
Newcomers, welcome to the huge school with an exceedingly large student body known as BHSEC! If you have made it into late-October, you are probably doing some things right, but a few felicitous recommendations by upperclassmen can only help. So sit back, relax, listen to some supremely wise upperclassmen, and try to think of questions you might, and will, ask us. The first thing you MUST do to have a great time at BHSEC is make sure your friendliness level is somewhere between "Obnoxiously Antisocial" and "Creepy Harasser." Smile in the hallways, try not to hug around an unsuspecting third party, and if there must be PDA or an argument don't do it in the middle of the hall or in front of a door. Speaking of doors, hold them for the people behind you; it's chivalrous. It's also important to treat upperclassmen as peers. That means that you should not be intimidated by them, because they have a lot to offer. But be sure to be respectful, because one thing a BHSEC college student hates is a superiority complex. This means when you overhear a group of Year IIs energetically discussing post-modernism, only interrupt when you have something relevant! Don't just go up to the group to interject "I used to have a song about post-modern girls on my iPod by the Strokes!" You obviously have something intelligent to say, so show us your intellectual side and we can all be friends. To really enjoy your BHSEC social life (ha!) is one thing, but enjoying your classes is another. There are a great many actions you can take to guarantee an enjoyable class time experience, but there is one piece of advice you will hear over and over and over again, until it is as worn into your mind as the phrase "non-traditional high school," TIME MANAGEMENT. It's true. Time management extends further than knowing that if you're on the 8:48 V train from W. 4th and run approximately three blocks, jump over one mailbox and speed walk the rest of the way, you'll end up in your seat in your English class on the 5th floor at exactly 9:01. Actually doing homework at home is incredibly underrated. The shocked face of the Bard 9th grader when they register that YES, that paper DOES need an annotated bibliography, and NO, it cannot be done on the M14D in the morning, is sadly common. So stop procrastinating! Another great piece of information to use to your advantage: befriend your professors. Let them see how intelligent, witty, and hard-working you are! Talk to them after class! Bring them apples, they're in season! It's the small gestures like complimenting Dr. Matthews' new shade of hair that really make a teacher-student relationship great. You might even consider dressing up like your favorite teacher for Halloween. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! And if that's just too crazy, there's always the chance that you will, in fact, end up wearing the same costume as one of your teachers, essentially making you Halloween doppelgangers. These suggestions are actually based on facts, like almost everything else you'll encounter at BHSEC. Indeed, keeping your mentors close is a rewarding move that will help you in the future. Not only will teachers be more friendly and comical with you, you'll also have a reason to say "I took the bus with Mr. DuCett last week, and we totally bonded over our shared viewing of everything Sally Fields!" Few people have mastered the art of perpetually stealing food from their friends—to those few souls, congratulations—so bring food with you. A sandwich, chips, fruit, Fruit by the Foot (Fruit by the Yard, to be technical)—anything to ensure that you don't pass out during those six-hour stretches between free periods. Tupperware becomes your best friend here at BHSEC, but if you don't have the means of bringing lunch with you, there are options outside your backpack. School lunch, for one, is not so bad and has a variety of foods from which to choose. Avenue D is home to many completely greasy but delicious take-out restaurants, and of course there is the blue truck. Ashraf (OSH-rof) runs the foodmobile, and his selection of candy as well as inexpensive coffee will keep YOU running throughout the day. Given that the nearest train station is nearly a mile away, the odds are that you're getting some kind of exercise anyway, but why not go further? Go out to the Astroturf at lunch and play Frisbee, or perhaps, if you're in the right mood, see just how far you can throw your book bag. In any case, consider yourself extremely lucky—not just to be at BHSEC, but that there are kind upperclassmen willing to hand out free advice. Heed it or beat it. Feel free to email us with any other questions concerning BHSEC, advice, the baking of snickerdoodles, or Britpop, all of which we are experts in. smarlow@bhsec.net melanie.steinhardt@verizon.net ]]> Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:44:00 GMT