The 11^th annual MASTER/NASA Academic Olympic’s second round took place on Thursday, July 12, 2001. Ms. Rivas’ Amazing A’s continued their hold on first place. Nathifa Fearon, the group leader, stated, "These students really enjoy learning. They are very motivated."

Round 2 of the Academic Olympics was less contentious than Round 1. Students appeared to be more comfortable with the buzzer system used for current events questions. However, according to Ms. McCabe, "Too many opportunities to gain points were lost because students did not carefully read the NY Times." A positive aspect of these week’s competition was that no points were lost for inaudible answers.

MASTERITES fly kites

Our final day of MASTER/NASA 2001 will take place on Thursday, July 26, 2001. The schedule for our last day is:

• 8:30-9:30        First Class
• 9:35-10:30      Second Class
• 10:35-10:50    Olympics Preparation
• 11:00-1:30      Olympics-B34
• 1:30-3:00        Awards Luncheon- "Pizza is Served"

MASTERITES are reminded that successful completion of all course work and a copy of the Social Security card are necessary if a stipend is to be awarded.

Prizes for the Academic Olympics will be awarded at the luncheon. Ms. McCabe hopes all MASTERITES are now more confident that they can be successful in challenging math and science courses. MASTERITES realize that in order to participate in the current occupational marketplace they must be literate in science and math. (Source: "Breaking the Barriers" by Clewell, Anderson, Thorpe)

I didn’t expect the biology class to be that much fun. I thought we would just talk about DNA and not actually work with it. Adam Campos (Group A)

Disgusting and entertaining! The rat was ugh! The rocket was fun to build and test. Alberto Ramirez (Group B)

We learned a lot about what we are using - cell phones, pagers, etc. Betsy Hernandez (Group B)

In Mr. Byrne’s class we got to be active. I liked the classes about light and lasers. Manesh Ramnarine (Group A)

Time: 7:00 a.m. - Mr. Byrne is seen wandering around Van Cortlandt park attaching "controls" to rocks and trees.

MASTERITES prepare for orienteering in Van Cortlandt Park

Time: 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. - 6 small groups of students set off to search for the controls. Mr. Byrne instructs the students to watch out for coyotes.

Listen carefully or you’ll get lost

What are controls? Controls are markers scattered throughout an area which contain written codes used to prove that a certain point has been found. Each control is allocated a specific amount of points depending on the difficulty in finding it.

The point of this trip was for students to test their map reading and orienteering skills.

John Ramirez, the groupleader of the Chicken Fajitas (Group D), brought walkie talkies for himself and Mr. Byrne. Arnold Mendez, Group D, gave Mr. Byrne the call name "Sensei" which is MASTER in Japanese.

Tran Vu, Zinnia Rahman, and Bryant Chang of Group C and Kevin Jaquez, Annreatta Embleton,

Keerandai Bhawanideen of Group D obtained the highest number of points. They are the students that you would want to get lost with.

John Ramirez stated, "It was a great learning experience for all MASTERITES involved."

1. Hewlett Packard’s researchers are working on a wiring strategy for molecules. If successful, a memory chip design for computers would allow "all of human culture in all of human history (to) fit in something the size of a Coke can."

Source: NY Times, July 17, 2001, "Clever Wiring Harnesses Tiny Switches" by K. Chang, F1-F2.

2. E-mail users have developed a shorthand language of their own. See if you can pass the test:

HAND! =
RUOK =
CUL8R =

Answers can be found in the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Source: NY Times, July, 16, 2001, "New Economy" by Dave Kamsas, C5.

"NASA DAILY" Winners

CONGRATULATIONS!