Thursday, July 29, will see the culmination of the ninth Academic Olympics Competition. With newspapers, notebooks, compasses, rulers, and a heavy dose of team spirit in hand, MASTERITES will compete for the coveted "First Place" standing.

So as we prepare for the final round, it is hoped that not only was this an enjoyable experience, but also it was a learning experience in that students acquired a great deal of knowledge. Remember, all students who took part in the MASTER Program this summer are winners!

Daniel Maldonado of Group C successfully challenged an answer provided by Group D during the 3^rd round of the Academic Olympics. Daniel presented Ms. McCabe with documentation to justify his questioning of an answer. Therefore Group C’s score will be adjusted by +20 and Group D’s score will be adjusted by -20.

As the MASTER Summer Program draws to a close, Ms. McCabe wants to praise the accomplishments of all participants.

Staff and students alike have worked diligently and with a zest for learning. The friendships MASTERITES have formed combined with the camaraderie exhibited during the Academic Olympics will serve you well as you prepare for careers in the next century.

The instructors have presented a series of stimulating and informative labs exposing students to experiments and data unavailable in the traditional high school setting. They have made the four weeks fly by and have brought excitement and great enthusiasm to the program.

We are proud of our MASTERITES interest in pursuing activities which are academically challenging. Endeavors such as MASTER/NASA will reflect well on future college applications.

Wishing you a very healthy and happy summer. We hope you will complete your summer reading while undertaking some very restful and pleasant activities.

1. Did the movies "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" alarm you? Do you fear a catastrophic asteroid impact with the earth? Well, now in order to help the public understand the likelihood of a specific asteroid colliding with the earth, a new scale, Torino Impact Hazard Scale, has been developed. The scale’s range is from 0 to 10 with zero indicating no chance of impact and 10 indicating certain impact. This is one time, it’s not good to call something a "TEN"!

2. Can your brain really be full? Dr. H. Lee Swanson recently authored a study which suggests that as we age, memory storage capacity decreases. Sorry students, you won’t be able to use this as an excuse for your teachers because the diminishing of storage capacity usually occurs after the age of 45.

Randel Halsey, Christine Borrero, Chris Reid, Colleen White, Jenny Thermadam.

Congratulations to Colleen White and Randel Halsey who won the "NASA DAILY" three times!

"I’ll be back next summer. I love the competition. I learned to like reading the N.Y. Times"
Seryi Betancourt

"Ms. Rivas’ class allowed us to do a lot of creative thinking, to interact with other students and to see how well we could think on our own."
Sonia Pinzon

"Mr. Chessler has a good sense of humor. In his class we were independent thinkers."
Tiana Mack

"I now know how to pick a shampoo and hand cream because of Ms. Dinneen’s and Mr. Weisman’s Environmental Science class."
Aissata Diaby

"Ms. Rivas treats us like adults in class. Normally teachers don’t treat you like this."
Alexander Castillo

"We learned that complicated things can be understood."
Luis Kow

"The N.Y. Times improved my vocabulary."
Henry Brown, Jr.

"We actually left the class to experience the REAL concept of navigation. I really liked Mr. Byrne’s class."
Charly Taveras