Inside: Unveiling A New Campaign To Honor Principal Baumel’s Legacy! WINTER 2018 STUYVESANT ALUMNI SPECTATOR FLASHBACK FEATURE: STUYVESANT’S JOURNEY TO 345 CHAMBERS The old school on East 15th Street Principal Abraham Baumel 1983–1994 One of the rooms for shop class This school year marks the 25th The 15th Street Building school at its founding was that of anniversary of Stuyvesant’s move a manual training school, but long from the old building on East 15th The old building on 15th Street, before the time I became principal Street to its new campus in TriBeCa. which housed Stuyvesant students the focus had changed to math The Alumni Association would like to from 1907 to 1992, was emblematic and science.” Recalling the machine remember this important moment in of the Industrial Age. The facilities shops on the third floor, Principal Stuyvesant history and honor the man, included sawing machines, wood Baumel marveled that “you could Principal Abraham Baumel, who was shops, and metalworking shops. power a city with the control panels instrumental in making this happen. Even though the building was in those rooms. But the courses were advanced for its time, no one expected no longer part of the curriculum.” He Stuyvesant to remain there for the wanted to convert those rooms into next 85 years. Over the decades, IN THIS ISSUE more classrooms instead. numerous principals tried to improve In the 1980s, Principal Baumel, the facilities, including a significant along with a group of students, v Speech & Debate needs your renovation to expand the building’s faculty, parents, and alumni, formed help! capacity in 1957. However, no amount the Stuyvesant Coalition. Together, of renovations could change the v Meet Dr. Gene Jarrett, they went through numerous ideas fact that the building housed nearly Dean of NYU for improving the school’s physical double its 1,500-person capacity. facilities, but when they realized that v Alumni mentors teach When Abraham Baumel became none of those would work, the only students vital life skills! principal in 1983, he was well aware alternative was to move to a new site. of how outdated the facilities had v Stuy Love Stories become. “The general focus of the continued on page 3 The Alumni Spectator 1 The Stuyvesant High School Message from the President, Soo Kim ’93 Alumni Association is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. This year marks the 25th Anniversary So with that perspective in mind, Abe of Stuyvesant’s move from 345 East set out to make sure that Stuyvesant 15th to 345 Chambers. My Class of 1993 would always be considered #1. Our had the fortunate distinction of having current building is just one lasting Board Members spent three years in the old building element of his work. In retrospect, I and one in the new. We were the first cannot fathom the effort to navigate Soo Kim ’93, President graduating class in the new building. the politics and bureaucracy to plan, Eleonora Srugo ’04, 1st Vice President much less fulfill the vision of finding a Frankly, I found the shiny hallways of Dan Egers ’03, 2nd Vice President new location befitting the top school the new building disorienting. Just when Kent Kim ’05, Treasurer in the city. The beauty of his legacy our senior class had finally figured out Brett Lewis ’02, Secretary is that we take it for granted that we our favorite positions in Stuy Park and Shakil Ahmed ’98 are the top public school in the city, if the Auditorium, we were cast into a new Christina Alfonso ’01 not the country. We don’t question it. Edward Balaban ’69 environment where we were essentially Nicholas Bavaro ’85 all freshmen. I missed the Old Stuy. Abe helped us to believe. And that created the virtuous cycle where, due to Peter Boyce II ’08 There was something so authentically that belief, we succeeded, and due to our Harold Diamond ’78 New York about the hopelessly outdated success, the following generations wanted Jukay Hsu ’02 “technology” labs and the running track to exceed. All of what Stuyvesant is and that required something like 40 laps to Vanessa Liu ’92 represents today is due to this legacy. Harry Malakoff ’62 reach a mile. It was our badge of honor: it Anna Nikolayevsky ’88 made sense for Stuyvesant to be housed Given that the 25th Anniversary of the Bart Schwartz ’64 in an overcrowded building that was move to the new building is upon us, this Stuart Spodek ’88 amongst the oldest of NYC high schools. is a great time to celebrate Principal Abe Elina Tetelbaum ’03 Stuyvesant was defined by its students: Baumel’s legacy. We are announcing a Boaz Weinstein ’91 selected amongst the top test takers in campaign to raise funds to dedicate the the city to learn and grow together. Like pedestrian bridge over the West Side New York herself, we didn’t need fancy Highway in his honor and hang a plaque The Alumni Spectator optics to define ourselves as the best. at the school entrance to the bridge to memorialize all of Abe’s achievements. Abraham “Abe” Baumel was our Editor-in-Chief principal then. I didn’t know him, but I The fund will be used to help our Edward Balaban ‘69 grew up with the misguided notion that current principal, Eric Contreras, the only time you speak to the principal accomplish his own Baumelian mission Staff is when you were in trouble, so I spent to upgrade the current Stuyvesant Rachael A. Biscocho ‘12 my time avoiding him and the rest of technology curriculum (unchanged since YanJie Hou ‘06 the administration. Sadly, Abe passed before either principal) to be relevant to Sarita Prakash away in 2015, but we in the Alumni our times: replacing Mechanical Draft, Kofi Lee-Berman ’17 Association have been recently spending Metalshop, and Woodshop with Robotics, time catching up on his rich legacy with Nanotechnology, Renewable Energy, Contributors the help of his grandsons, Matthew Hydroponics, and CS Programming. Yes, Baumel ’09 and Aaron Ghitelman’09. gritty is cool and authentic, but let’s get Paulina Klubok ’19 real: our kids deserve better. So many Arpita Nag ’18 Abe Baumel became Stuyvesant’s come from families where public schools principal in 1983. He had previously are the only choice, and Stuyvesant as a chaired the Physics Department and school gets the same per capita funding been a teacher at that other high school as any other public high school in the The Alumni Spectator is in the Bronx. Now for some sacrilegious state. We know that Stuyvesant students trivia that many of us may not know: can achieve even in an outdated building funded entirely through Stuyvesant was not always considered from 1907, but what are the possibilities the top public school in NYC. Actually if we alumni can come together to help before the school went co-ed in 1969, membership dues and them achieve their potential? Stuy was not the consensus choice alumni giving. amongst those choosing between the specialized high schools. For decades, Thank you for your students with the highest test scores regularly chose to attend that other high continued support! school in the Bronx. 2 SThe Alumni Spectator Flashback Feature: Stuyvesant’s Journey to its New Campus continued from page 1 The Beginning of 345 Chambers Installing the TriBeCa Bridge With these agreements hashed out, the Coalition started planning for the building design. Two architecture firms - Cooper Robertson & Partners and Gruzen Samton First floor entrance of 345 Chambers Street Steinglass - collaborated on the design. Coincidentally, In the Coalition’s search for a new site, they came across one of the firm partners,Peter Samton ’52, happened the Battery Park City Authority, which offered Stuyvesant to be a Stuy grad himself. For months, architects came to a 1.5-acre lot on Chambers Street. Back then, Battery Park Stuyvesant to interview students and faculty and observe City, built on the landfill from the World Trade Center how the building was being used. Principal Baumel also construction site, was still relatively underdeveloped. The visited a number of schools in the city and throughout the offered space was generous, but the Coalition was worried country, including Thomas Jefferson in Virginia, to gather about the location of the site west of a busy, multilane ideas and designs for the new building. highway (West Street). The Coalition knew Stuyvesant students all too well and feared that some would foolishly run across a busy highway to avoid being late to class. Principal Baumel and the Coalition pressed Principal Baumel and the Coalition pressed hard for the construction of a pedestrian bridge over the highway hard for the construction of a pedestrian and only agreed to the move when the city authority bridge over the highway… and fought to promised to fund the construction of the TriBeCa Bridge. ensure that the bridge would be opened 24/7 The original plan also called for the bridge to only be open so that students leaving the school after a during school hours. But Principal Baumel knew that most Stuyvesant students’ days do not end with their last class. late practice or club meeting could still safely He fought to ensure that the bridge would be open 24/7 traverse West Street. so that students leaving the school after a late practice or club meeting could still safely traverse West Street. Construction began in 1989, took three years, and ended up costing $150 million. The new facilities included 65 classrooms, 12 labs, a theater to seat 866 people, and a dining hall for 700.