“The Pulse of the Student Body” The SpectatorThe Stuyvesant High School Newspaper Volume 111 No. 9 January 22, 2021 stuyspec.com FEATURES ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT The Vaccine Dilemma: NYC’s Journey Back to Normalcy Cyberpunk 2077: Seven Years to Come Out Unfinished With the recent approval of the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines by After years of delay, the highly anticipated (and highly glitchy) “Cyberpunk the FDA, Stuyvesant students are beginning to prepare for receiving the vaccine 2077” has finally hit shelves. Read A&E editor Gavin McGinley’s thoughts on themselves. What’s more—teachers have already begun to take it! the brand new game. SEE PAGE 18 SEE PAGE 7 Facebook Post Ignites Conversation Staff Mental Health is a Regarding Mental Health editorial Two-Way Street By TALIA KAHAN, ERIN LEE, “hey, you’re not alone” and “this students’ mental health during the Winter recess and the con- regions of school life. These in- JENNY LIU, and MOMOCA post really just sums up everything” fall semester received a total of 269 clusion of the first semester have fractions can manifest themselves MAIRAJ as Stuyvesant students recounted responses across all four grades, allowed both the Editorial Board in various forms, such as assign- Additional Reporting by Morris and the larger Stuyvesant student ing more work than the home- Raskin and Karen Zhang body to reflect on the remote work policy allows or expecting learning experiences this past se- students to stay in class well after The Sunday before winter mester. We understand that as a the period ends. Because students break ended, January 3, 2021, a community, both teachers and are only guaranteed a lunch period students are still trying to navigate every other day, asking students to sophomore posted a message to this new virtual setting, and we ap- remain in class even a few minutes the “Dear Incoming Stuyvesant preciate teachers for their kindness after the period has ended takes Class of 2023…We Have Advice!” and consideration for us students. away valuable time that students, Facebook group. The post begins: Teachers’ determination and flex- not teachers, are entitled to. Fur- “Am I the only one who is abso- ibility have allowed Stuyvesant’s thermore, when teachers assign lutely dreading going back 2 school virtual learning to progress at more work than is allotted for tmrw?” and garnered 482 reactions an accelerated rate, efforts that their classes, students are stripped and 374 comments from the rest of shouldn’t be understated. How- of time they could be spending on the student body. “Corona has tak- ever, a minority of teachers have other tasks. With the overwhelm- en a real toll on my mental health presented their students with a ing burden of Zoom fatigue, it is but there don’t seem to be any real very real struggle throughout this especially important that students outlets in school,” the student con- remote period. With the recent find time to de-stress and enjoy tinued. “[EXPLETIVE] the fact Facebook post regarding students’ outdoor activity at the end of that all 3300 of us are just sitting declining mental health gaining the school day. But when teach- here, accepting the way things have significant traction, it is clear that ers assign several hours of online been handled, when frankly what our community must address the work, this becomes impossible our school is doing is not accept- the difficulties they were facing in with questions inquiring about the lack of enforcement of many of and, instead, students stay con- able […][EXPLETIVE] upholding remote learning, addressing top- quality of students’ mental health Stuyvesant’s academic policies to fined in their isolated workspaces the reputation of the hellhole that ics including overwhelming work- before and after the March quar- ensure a smoother, more success- for sustained periods of time. This is Stuyvesant High School instead loads, deteriorating mental health, antine began. The majority of ful second semester. of maintaining the health of its stu- and lack of enforcement of remote Lack of policy enforcement continued on page 3 dents.” learning policies. continued on page 4 is an issue that seeps into several Comments to the post included A Spectator survey regarding NEWSBEAT StuyHacks Holds 10th Art Teacher William Senior Srinath Mahank- Biannual Hackathon ali was recognized as a Re- Wrigley Introduces New generon Science Talent Search Scholar. Virtually By ISABELLA JIA, JAMES previous years. In total, over 150 Comic Art Elective KANG, and RAVEN people signed up this year, a num- (RUIWEN) TANG ber comparable to the 160 partici- By MAHIR HOSSAIN, JUNI The elective will combine draw- PARK, and VEDAANT SHAH ing with storytelling. “[Wrigley] is Social studies teachers pants of last year’s in-person event. StuyHacks X, Stuyvesant’s This year’s hackathon schedul- Additional reporting by Alice teaching Painting right now, and Lisa Greenwald, Lori- Zhu I’m one of his students. He doesn’t and biannual hackathon, was held ing and organization were modified Ann Newman, Robert virtually for the first time from to accommodate the virtual format. really focus on the technique or Sandler were accepted to January 9 to 10. During the event, In previous years, StuyHack’s Janu- Art teacher William Wrigley skill, but he focuses more on the Master Seminars, hosted by participants had the opportunity ary 12- hour hackathon runs will teach a comic art elective start- concept behind it or the inspira- The Academy for Teachers. to attend coding workshops, co- from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 ing this spring. Wrigley, who began tion or the planning. In his comic operate in teams to create soft- p.m. on one day; ware projects, and win prizes. they also host a 24- During a hackathon, partici- hour event in June. On January 19, the pants work in teams This year’s January College to build a proj- hackathon ran over Board announced it would ect within two days from 11:00 discontinue administering a short pe- a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each SAT subject tests and the riod of time. day. The hackathon started optional essay portion of Hackathons with a team-building event, the SAT. also feature followed by workshops workshops, and award ceremonies. panels, and “Because StuyHacks other activities was held virtually over and culmi- Zoom, we decided to Stuyvesant Theater Com- nate in the have a team-building munity (STC) will present judging of activity for 30 minutes virtual performances of submitted Courtesy of Hellen Luo at the start of our first day their Fall/Winter musical projects. of hacking. This enabled “Head Over Heels” on In addi- tion participants to converse January 22 and 23. to the top three with each other and see if they had Iris Lin places and the Best enough common interests to work Game title, other together to create a fantastic proj- / The Spectator awards includ- ed Best ect,” junior and Junior Director of Beginner’s Hack StuyHacks Carol Chen said. “To The January Regents have and Most In- novative. make our event simple for the hack- been canceled. As a result, a StuyHacks X used Zoom ers, we created one Zoom meeting modified weekly schedule to host workshops and Slack to for all the workshops and ceremo- coordinate team communica- nies. Participants were allowed to teaching at Stuyvesant this past se- class, obviously he’s going to teach was released, consisting of tion between the hackers and or- enter and go as they pleased, simi- asynchronous and synchro- mester, also teaches Art Apprecia- us how to draw, but he’s mostly go- ganizers. Though the organizers lar to how they would do so dur- tion and Painting. The new elective nous instructional time. changed StuyHacks to accommo- will be open exclusively to juniors date the online format, partici- and seniors. pant turnout was similar to that of continued on page 4 continued on page 3 Page 2 The Spectator• January 22, 2021 News Stuyvesant Dance Organizations Host Cultural Dance Appreciation Panel By EMMA CHIO, ZUZI LIU, and about dance, but not a lot of them of Hollywood when they think of RAJHASREE PAUL know where the dance styles they the industry; they think of glitz and are involved with are from and the glamor, and they don’t understand Stuy Squad, SING!, Tap Club, background behind [them].” that there are some negative things and StuyArts hosted a cultural The event began with each of that also trail behind that.” dance appreciation discussion panel the speakers introducing themselves Overall, the panelists were glad Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and NASA on December 17, with guest speak- and their respective dance styles. to have been able to participate in ers Eboné Vanityzo Johnson, San- Eboné Vanityzo Johnson is a teach- the event. “When it comes to top- gita Shresthova, and Jason Samuels er and choreographer with a focus ics of discussion like appropriation, WORLDBEAT Smith. The hour-and-a-half-long on hip-hop dance; Jason Samuels things can get really complicated event was organized over Zoom Smith is a tap dancer who teaches, and especially personal and difficult and promoted through Facebook directs, and choreographs unique to talk about quite easily,” Shres- President-elect Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president posts, school e-mails, and teachers, tap dances; Sangita Shresthova is thova said. “I thought that the event with around 120 students and teach- a Bollywood dancer, as well as a was organized in a really friendly, of the United States on January 20. ers attending. scholar, speaker, educator, and cho- open way and that it encouraged Early in the year, the Tap Club reographer.