Encompassed – Bronx Science Stories

“It’s a pretty special culture in Queens. For the Chinese American families I grew up around, there was a special coveted nature about these three schools. Every summer, it was sitting in a corporate classroom going through test prep materials […] I realized that I never really had a sense of independence, or the ability to do identity forming and figure out who I was […] My little brother went on the same road as me with the test prep to get high marks and get into the schools […] I made sure, before he went to Stuyvesant, that we went on a hiking trip, just sat and talked about how he was feeling about high school, just things that any kid who’s embarking on this crazy high school experience has to talk about.”

“Being at Bronx Science, we were afforded privileges that most other high school kids don’t have. We’re not being body scanned all the time, we’re not being suspended, we don’t have a school to prison pipeline. Simultaneously, though, how does it reflect our school if a kid is struggling and instead of being taught remedial classes or having extra help, they’re just kicked out?”

“One thing about being in pageants is that people think you might not be the brightest. And once I mentioned I went to Bronx Science, they’d be like ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ And I think that went a long way to show people you can be pretty and smart at the same time […] My platform during my reign was empowering youth through education. Because I had such a great experience at Bronx Science, I wanted to make sure that other youth had the same opportunities.”

“I’ve always really loved music […] A lot of the arts funding got cut when I was a junior so the band and orchestra and a bunch of groups were significantly reduced. I got cut from orchestra, and stopped playing […] That was always in the back of my mind […] We created this program called Building Beats, where we fund and provide music education for underserved students in New York City, from elementary to high school, teaching them to build beats and life skills.”

“I’m now the Associate Producer at the Public Theater in New York City […] and when I think about my mother growing up in the Dominican Republic with no medicine, the youngest of nine, or my dad growing up in rural Spain, tending cows, and then them coming over here and meeting at a church dance in Jackson Heights and then trying to make a new life for themselves, I feel so lucky to be pursuing what I want to be pursuing, and I feel like I totally owe that to the education I got and the people I was surrounded by.”

“I was definitely an overachiever, or maybe ‘was’ is the wrong word–I’m still going strong. It’s a funny thing to say in City Hall […] I knew that I never wanted to learn how to type, because I would end up in some sort of secretarial or clerical job. So I purposely took metal shop, which probably changed my life. First of all, I learned how to solder, which meant that when I later went to Silicon Valley I knew how to solder circuit boards […] At the time it didn’t stick me as particularly useful, but later I realized that was really valuable.”

"The lens through which I remember my Bronx Science experience is not necessarily through the lens of being denied any opportunities, institutionally speaking […] I don’t think a high school has the job of molding a complete and separate society, that breaks away from issues that are grounded in the real world. I think the best a high school can hope for is at least educate people so they can see across those lines.”

“There was the joy of the insight of solving something. It came quite a bit in Math team […] There was usually some sort of very ugly, brute force way you could try to solve a problem, and then there was a really elegant way. I didn’t always find the elegant way but when I did, it brought me that same satisfaction […] My brain was already switching so much between topics, which every student does, but I think a good part is that I became very comfortable using both sides of the brain.”

“Dr. Maskin was a history teacher, who had a very unconventional approach which stuck with me, and sometimes I still think about it, because he had a way of weaving pop culture into the lesson plan. I forget exactly what we were learning, but it was about the Roman Empire. He played Tears for Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World,’ and then was like, ‘write an essay about how this applies to the Romans,’ which I thought was great. I think that kind of approach to writing I still have, because I write about pop culture.”

“I experienced Bronx Science as an oasis of great conversation and imaginative inquiry. I don't remember ever feeling inhibited about asking basic questions. I also don’t remember actually doing any homework. I think we did it on the subway in the morning.”