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Byram Hills High School

At Byram Hills High School, Scholars Think Globally

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Global Scholar students attend We Day for youth leaders at the Barclays Center –attendance by invite only

While STEM pursuits are enthusiastically encouraged these days, there are still students who love – and wish to find rigorous academic challenges – in the humanities. To better serve those students, a team of educators at Byram Hills High School has developed a three-year humanities track called Global Scholars. It’s research-based, and each year is “completely different,” according to program co-founder Duane Smith, chair of the English department for Byram Hills high school and middle school–grades 6 through 12. Smith designed and implements the Global Scholars program with Jennifer Laden, social studies chair, and Melissa Stahl, world languages chair.

This school year, 150 students will be involved with the Global Scholars program which is generously supported by the Byram Hills Education Foundation. “It really took off so quickly, and it said to us that this is something that is meeting a need,” Laden said. The three-year program starts with a seminar year that provides an overview of global issues. This first year is the most teacher-led while still emphasizing student-led learning, and most often taken by sophomores.

There are multiple entry points, though, so students can still join if they do a year or two of the program, although all first-year students in the program start at the beginning, with the seminar year. “We think year one is a great course for anybody,” Laden said, explaining that juniors and seniors are welcome to take the course.

(L-R): Isabelle Levy, Madison Gummer and
Ellie Margolin led a workshop on how
climate change affects human rights at
Iona College

A Focus on Global Competency Skills

From the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Smith and his colleagues developed three units for the first year of the program, in poverty, the environment and human rights. Students in the Global Scholars program find an area to explore more deeply within one of these three categories. “Within these units, we work on global competency skills,” Laden said, such as analyzing multiple perspectives, studying global issues and communicating ideas well.

“We want to expose the students to the problems facing this 21st century world and give them the preparation to do research, take action and communicate their ideas,” Smith said.

“The students are charged with choosing a topic that they are interested in,” Smith said, such as air pollution or sex trafficking in the U.S. The second year is the “action research” year. Much of this year is self-guided work by the students, and they learn time management while doing much work on their own in order to meet due dates. Students do independent research and “start to develop and implement an action plan,” Laden said.

Isabelle Levy’s area of interest is the lack of school supplies in Costa Rica, an area she said is considered to otherwise have a strong educational system. “I like that I can explore topics I wouldn’t get to explore in my other classes.” Levy, a senior at BHHS, said. Levy also enjoys the opportunity to do independent research. She has had a bake sale to raise funds and is currently selling bracelets and expects to assist La Escuela Balsaville in Costa Rica with a donation of hundreds of dollars so that school supplies can be purchased.

Student artwork exploring human rights
issues in Yemen

The Birth of the Program

Smith said the naissance of the Global Scholars program came from a conference at Harvard on global competency that he and some colleagues attended in the spring of 2016.

“Our mission was purposeful in that it was basically a charge from the former superintendent – he said the humanities were basically on the dark side of the moon and he wanted us to focus on the humanities. He wanted us to think big,” Smith said, adding that the current superintendent, Jen Lamia, has also been supportive of the endeavor.

Besides utilizing UN ideas, the teachers have drawn on sources such as the Asia Society, which offers a framework to guide those seeking to “understand the world through disciplinary and interdisciplinary study.” The Global Scholars program uses this framework to “guide the learning.” It has four parts: investigating the world, recognizing perspectives, taking action and communicating ideas. The third year of the program, that’s part of what students do: communicate their ideas to other students in the program, in part by leading workshops.

Creating Global Leaders

“The big goal is to develop leadership qualities, capacities and skills,” Laden said. Third-year students work as mentors for first- and second-year students to “put their leadership skills in action. Additionally, they will continue the action plan and see it through to fruition.”

“I really like it because it’s really different from the other classes,” Ellie Margolin, a senior at BHHS in her third year of the program, said. Margolin is focusing on water conservation issues in the U.S., originally inspired by an interest in the water issues in Flint, Michigan. But besides her personal area of study, Margolin said she has enjoyed the focus on discussion in the Global Scholars program, and also a trip she took with fellow students during her sophomore year to the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center at Iona College in New Rochelle, where they attended a variety of seminars on human rights issues.

The following year, as a junior, Margolin returned and with two other students, led a seminar on climate change. Margolin also said she enjoys the unconventional assessments employed in the Global Scholars program. “There’s always an audience that’s not just the teacher,” Laden said. Students have shown their work in a public art exhibition and entered podcasts in a contest sponsored by NPR. This way, it’s clear that work is being created for a broader impact – not just done for a teacher.

“Our sophomore class coming in is roughly 200 students and we have roughly 60 students who have signed up for the program,” Smith said. “That’s a huge testament to the need for a global competency program – and it’s a testament to the kids in the school who really want to make a difference. We’re thrilled that we’re tapping into something that’s an important part of the development of our students.”

“We’re continuing to work on it and reflect on what we do,” Smith said, with input from students as well as colleague-to-colleague. “We have to rely on a feedback circle.”  “It’s a great collaboration between professionals and we’re collaborating with the kids in developing the program,” Laden said. “They’re really creating the program as much as we are.” “I love the program,” Margolin said. “It’s absolutely amazing.”

Global Scholar students attending a Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center conference

Spiral Giving Teaches Local Children About Philanthropy

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What makes a philanthropist? Google the word and a bevy of images of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Oprah Winfrey pop-up making us believe that a philanthropist is well known and extremely rich and that to earn the label of philanthropist one must make a huge financial impact to society. Two Chappaqua women, Sue Fuirst and Julie Gerstein, set out to show how even small donations can have a big impact on our community, and while doing so dispel the idea that only the super rich can be philanthropists.

In 2015, Fuirst and Gerstein introduced Spiral Giving as an extracurricular program to the Greeley and Byram Hills high school communities. Their program teaches the fundamentals of philanthropy through a specially designed curriculum that focuses on the value of local impact.  “We discuss the needs of our neighbors and donate money to local charities through a grant-awarding process that the students themselves administer,” tells Gerstein. Spiral Giving participants learn to embrace the many needs in and around our community and realize that they have the power to make a meaningful, measurable impact. While doing so, they gain an understanding of the nonprofit and philanthropic landscape of Westchester County.

Fuirst and Gerstein feel that service projects and volunteerism help to teach charity and benevolence, but often worry that these are seen as one-off events–something that is checked off as done, not something that one does. Spiral Giving was formed to help teens identify the social issues that matter to them and to provide them with the tools necessary to make a difference in this increasing backdrop of need.

Girls (L to R): Sami Miller, Chloe Greenstein and Natalie Bass

Leadership Opportunities for Participants

Spiral Giving also provides communication and leadership opportunities and encourages stewardship around giving back. Orestes Rellos, a senior at Horace Greely High School, is a third-year participant and Peer Leader at Spiral Giving. Rellos comments, “Spiral Giving is all about personal growth and leadership development, while learning about the needs of various segments of our community and doing the greatest good by giving back. Giving back takes on even greater meaning and personal application as we, the students, contribute the money that funds Spiral Giving grants. We request, review, and approve grant applications. Spiral Giving is about us, students learning, understanding and then helping our community.”

Over the past four years Spiral Giving has awarded 22 micro-grants to Westchester-based charities and nonprofit agencies. The students recently awarded a grant to Lifting Up Westchester, a nonprofit that assists those struggling to overcome the challenges of poverty, homelessness, and hunger, and provides support that leads to greater self-sufficiency. Anahaita Kotval, Executive Director of Lifting Up Westchester commented, “I love that Spiral Giving engages its student members to critically think about what funding an issue really means and that they are empowering young people to help those in need.” Learning about the various agencies’ budgets has exposed the students to something that was previously unfamiliar.

Bailey Todtfeld, another Peer Leader, says, “Spiral Giving is unique in that it shows us the business side of nonprofits, a side that teenagers rarely see. Learning about nonprofits as a business has taught me the importance of responsible usage of funds and the challenge of sustainability within organizations.”

Inspiring the Next Generation of Philanthropists

At the heart of Spiral Giving is the issue of how parents and educators can work together to inspire the next generation to become engaged in issues surrounding them. Spiral Giving wants the next generation to become invested in their future and to feel empathy for their neighbors.  Fuirst believes, “This is often a challenge in communities such as ours, where basic needs are small and personal wants are big.  Places where the discrepancy of wealth between towns is often large and affluence can lead to misplaced values.”

Spiral Giving illustrates how individuals can become a philanthropist.  By giving teens the power to make an impact at this formative time in their lives, Spiral Giving has the ability to alter the perception of high school students and show how each person has the potential to change a life, strengthen a community, and make an impact on the world.

Spiral Giving’s grants are funded by Spiral Giving 501c3 through student fundraising, collective giving and private donations. Please visit www.spiralgiving.org to donate or learn more.

Strong Showing at Upstate Science Competition for Byram Hills Teens

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L-R: Emma Lucchino, Joshua Freedman, Renner Kwittken

Byram Hills High School’s Joshua Freedman won the top prize and a $2,000 scholarship and Renner Kwittken finished fourth at the Upstate New York Junior Science and Humanities Symposium last month.

The strong finish allows both seniors in the high school’s three-year Authentic Science Research Program to advance to the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico in late April.

At the regional competition held on March 27 and 28 at the University at Albany, Joshua and Renner were among the six finalists who competed by giving 12-minute presentations on their research. Joshua competed in the biomedical science category; Renner’s work was in the biochemistry category.

“I am very proud of them both,” said Stephanie Greenwald, Director of the Byram Hills Authentic Science Research Program. “They worked extremely hard at articulating complex scientific research so the public can understand the work they’re passionate about. It’s always nice to see more students in the science research program being recognized for their outstanding work.”

Joshua’s research focused on targeting nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and treatment. His project involved creating a novel targeted anti-cancer nanoparticle that binds to a receptor only expressed in cancer. He found that his nanoparticle specifically bound to cancer cells in vitro. In the future, this could allow doctors to create sharper and more accurate images of tumors.

Renner’s work also involved nanoparticles. The goal of his research was to enhance the delivery of nanoparticles, small medicines that are less than the width of a strand of hair. He synthesized three novel nanoparticles and improved their delivery using a standard FDA-approved chemotherapy drug, cyclophosphamide. His results were found in mice models and could potentially work in clinical trials, moving nanoparticles into the forefront of anti-cancer therapy.

In New Mexico, Joshua will compete with an oral presentation. Renner will be a poster presenter.

Also in Albany, Byram Hills senior Emma Lucchino won third place as a poster presenter. She analyzed the relationship between the bacteria living in our gut and in our immune system.

Byram Hills High School Senior Wins Prestigious Rising Scientist Award

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on the Use of Avatars for Helping Teens with Autism

Byram Hills High School senior Ellen Amico was honored by the Child Mind Institute and the City University of New York with a 2018 Rising Scientist Award.

Ellen was one of five high school students in the New York metro area to win the award, which is presented to students who “demonstrated extraordinary promise in research in the fields of child and adolescent mental health or pediatric neuroscience.”

Byram Hills High School senior Ellen Amico was one of five New York-area students to win a Rising Scientist Award.

“Each recipient of the Rising Scientist Award shows drive, commitment and vision for the future of mental health and neuroscience,” said Dr. Harold Koplewicz, president of the institute. “At such a young age, these impressive students already have the motivation and the promise to make strides towards changing the way we look at and treat mental health disorders.”

Ellen received the award and a $2,000 scholarship at the On the Shoulders of Giants Scientific Symposium this past October, the institute’s annual celebration of scientific achievement in child and adolescent psychiatry, psychology and developmental neuroscience.

Through the Byram Hills Dr. Robert Pavlica Authentic Science Research Program, Ellen conducted research aimed at improving the ability of people with autism spectrum disorder to recognize emotions. She tested whether computerized avatars are an effective teaching tool in emotion recognition.

“It felt good to be recognized for my work,” Ellen said. “Working with people with autism was a great experience, and I loved it.”

As part of her research, Ellen worked with a mentor at Vanderbilt University, studying teenagers with and without autism. The subjects viewed videos of human faces and computerized avatars.

“Avatars are used a lot in research and treatment for people with autism spectrum disorder, but no one so far has tested to see if avatars are similar enough to humans,” she said.

The research found that “they are similar to humans and they’re a useful tool in cosimulating real-world interactions for people with autism spectrum disorder,” she said. “A real-world interaction can be a source of anxiety, but replacing it on the computer in a virtual way, it’s less anxiety-inducing, and they can practice.”

“Hopefully other researchers can use my study to back up or support their use of avatars in treatments they may create for people with autism spectrum disorder,” she said.

In addition to recognizing the winners for their scientific contributions, the award also honors students for their leadership and extracurricular involvement. The award is given by the institute and the Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Byram Hills High School Inducts 22 Seniors into Cum Laude Society

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Inducted into the Cum Laude Society (L-R front row): Samantha Abbruzzese, Ellen Amico, Abigail Binder, Alan Chang, Zachary Cogan, Rahul Gupta, Tyler Harp, Isabelle Ilan, Elyse Kanner, Emma Lucchino, David McDaniels, (L-R back row): Sydney Nepo, Pietro Perez, Brent Perlman, Lindsey Perlman, Griffen Rakower, Jonah Schwam, Hayley Siegle, Dylan Starker, Nicole Tissot, Zachary Tuzzo and Spencer Weinhoff.

Twenty-two Byram Hills High School seniors were honored for their academic achievement as they were inducted into the Cum Laude Society during a ceremony this past October.

In congratulating the newest members of Cum Laude, Principal Christopher Walsh noted that the requirement for being inducted into the Byram Hills chapter is straightforward: It’s the students who comprise the top 10 percent of the class, based on their weighted GPAs.

“Fairly simple mathematics, but their paths are anything but simple,” he said. “Behind each GPA, there are stories of perseverance, struggle, growth and enlightenment, late-night studying, weekends spent with schoolwork, extra time with teachers after school and many other sacrifices that helped them get here.”