Gateway 9 Magical Holiday Party (12/22)

On Monday, December 22, the Gateway 9 students are invited to a short afterschool holiday party, featuring a magic performance by Mr. Munsey. Come share holiday cheer, cookies and cider with your classmates and teachers!

Gateway 10 Movie Night: "The Dark Knight"

On Friday, thanks to the dedicated efforts of our Gateway Student Activities Committee and their supporting parent volunteers, many of our Gateway 10 students will enjoy a screening of the new DVD release "Dark Knight," preceded by plenty of pizza.

An alternative movie choice, next door to the "Dark Knight" showing, will be offered to any students who would prefer to watch a lighter type of movie.

Special thanks to Mrs. Carol Antonelli and Mrs. Carla Webster-Reid for supporting our students through the planning of their first successful Gateway social activity! We're looking forward to more exciting events produced by the students later in the year.

One More Photo from BIDMC

This group photo from our 11/21 afterschool field trip to Beth Israel was shared with me by a Gateway 9th grade student. Great turnout of our 9th grade students on this trip!

Broad Institute Selects Gateway Student!

Congratulations to Gateway sophomore Michael Creese, for becoming the first O'Bryant student ever to be selected to participate in a semester research project at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. In February 2009, Michael will join 14 other high school sophomores from schools throughout the Boston area, to conduct a group research project in microbiology.

Congratulations to Michael for paving the way for future O'Bryant students to join this great program!

Math Team Challenge

Here's a problem that the Gateway math team will be tackling soon. Would you have any idea how to go about this?

You have a board with checkers set up in the standard configuration (i.e. the black squares on the first three rows and the last three rows have pieces on them, while all the others do not). You can make a piece jump over one that's diagonally adjacent to it and remove the piece that was jumped over.

After doing this repeatedly, can you end up with just one piece in the bottom left square?

Hint: This has something to do with what is called modulo (or modular) arithmetic, which the math team has been learning about recently. This is a tool used in number theory, which is a major topic in college-level math.

12/4 G10 Parent Meeting

The next meeting of Gateway 10th grade parents will be this Thursday, December 4, from 6:30 - 8:00 PM in the Science Auditorium. Students who accompany their parents/guardians to this meeting will receive extra credit in math.

Gateway 11/21 Trip to BIDMC Shapiro Simulation Center

This afternoon, 18 Gateway freshmen and sophomores participated in our second visit this year to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Shapiro Simulation and Skills Center. This is a fantastic introduction to the high-tech world of medical training. Gateway students who have not yet had this experience should make sure not to miss it the next time it rolls around.

Thank you to our wonderful hosts, Ms. Emily Beck, Mr. David Fobert, and Mr. Darren Tavernelli!

11/21 Field Trip to BIDMC Surgical Simulation Center

Next Friday (November 21) after school, the Gateway Biosciences Club will be visiting the Shapiro Simulation and Skills Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, to learn about the technology used to train surgeons in leading medical centers. (A group of Gateway students enjoyed this experience during our July 2008 Summer Springboard program.)

This trip is open to all Gateway students, with priority given to regular attendees of our Friday Biosciences club. Space is limited to 20 students. Interested students should click here for the permission slip, which must be returned to Dr. Wu by Wednesday, November 19. The list of participants will be posted outside Dr. Wu's door on Thursday, November 20.

11/19 College Awareness Workshop @ HMS

The Office for Diversity and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School is extending a special invitation to all Gateway students and parents to attend a college awareness workshop next Wednesday, November 19, from 6-7 PM. The room location is Room 227 in the Tosteson Medical Education Center (TMEC) at 260 Longwood Avenue.

Click here for a map of the Longwood Medical Area that contains the TMEC building.

This is an excellent opportunity for students and parents to get your basic questions answered about the college application process, including the financial aid process.

Term 1 Gateway Honors

Congratulations to the following Gateway students who have earned recognition for their academic achievements in the first term of this school year:

Amazing Aces (highest course grades):
Katherine Brea (Advanced Algebra Honors and History 10), Michael Mejia (Geometry), Annie Moy (Chemistry Honors), Obinna Ndugba (Advanced Algebra), Josie Valcin (Biology, ELA 9, History 9), Justin Weathers (ELA 10)

Busy Beavers (highest homework average across four core courses):
Bianca Brito, Katherine Brea, Danielle John, Angellica Meng, Claribel Rosa, Juleissy Pimentel, Manny Rios Alers, Victoria Tanis, Josie Valcin

Shooting Stars (sophomore students moving up decile ranks):
One decile: Renee Baxter, Aldwayne Demontegnac, Shelby Jeanmichel, Sindy Ortiz, Wadea Sakhta, Brendon Tan, Marquette Webster

Two deciles: Anthony Antonelli, Delroy Demontegnac, David Mejia, Obinna Ndugba, Justin Weathers

Three or more deciles: Michael Creese, Tamara Tarshahani

Freshman Students Who Made a Splash (“Golden Duckies”):
Kayla Baquerizo, Alfredo Brea, Genesis Pena, Victoria Tanis

Cum Laude (3.00—3.49 GPA)
Anthony Antonelli, Alfredo Brea, Maya Copeland, Michael Creese, Marleah Cummins, Salma El-Behaedi, Xiomara Garcia, Ayana Green, Danielle John, Cassandra Leveille, Julia Li, David Mejia, Christina Nguyen, Shannon O’Neil, Sindy Ortiz, Genesis Pena, Gjergji Prifti, Manny Rios Alers, Wadea Sakhta, Christelle Salomon, Brendon Tan, Tai Tang, Marquette Webster

Magna Cum Laude (3.50–3.89)
Vicmarys Brito, Katherine Brea, Angellica Meng, Annie Moy, Juleissy Pimentel, Claribel Rosa, Josie Valcin, Justin Weathers, Tiffany Wu

Thanks to all Gateway students for helping celebrate these accomplishments of your classmates. We look forward to honoring many more of you throughout the course of this year.

Revised G10 Action Research Project and Schedule

As announced today to the Gateway sophomores afterschool, the Gateway 10 Action Research Project now is being consolidated into a single classwide project on educational equity in college preparation. As a class, our tenth-grade students will be studying the college preparatory experiences of students across different types of Boston-area high schools, and they ultimately will develop recommendations for addressing inequities that they encounter during their research.

Click here to see the schedule for the remainder of the revamped project, which has been updated on the program calendar attached to this blog. Since all dates are subject to future revision, please continue to consult the program calendar for the most current scheduling information.

Special G10 Events This Week

This week, there are four special events primarily for Gateway sophomores, which I have previously communicated to sophomores and their parents via email:

Wednesday 11/12, Science Auditorium
2:00 - 2:30 Action Research organizational meeting (required)
2:30 - 3:30 G10 Short Film Festival (optional)

Thursday 11/13, top-floor cafeteria
2:00 - 2:45 Gateway 9-10 Honors Assembly
3:00 - 4ish Gateway Student Activities Committee (currently open to sophomores only)

The Gateway late study hall from 3:30 - 5 will continue to run on both days.

Science Research Careers @ Gateway Biomedical Club

Tomorrow's (11/7) meeting of the Gateway Friday Biomedical Club will focus on learning more about different career paths open to research scientists. Our club leader, Dr. Ian Stokes-Rees from Harvard Medical School, will share more of his experiences as an academic scientist.

The second club guest will be Dr. Albert Hsia from Synta Pharmaceuticals, an emerging biopharmaceutical firm based in Lexington, MA. Dr. Hsia has been with Synta since its creation in 2002 (he was the company's third employee), and so he will have some interesting stories to tell about life in a biotech startup company. [Dr. Hsia also happens to be Dr. Wu's first cousin!]

G10 Election Night Event at Wheelock College

On the evening of Election Day (November 4), the Gateway 10 team will be hosting an election night program at Wheelock College. All Gateway 10 students will receive permission forms for this event during school this week.

The event will run from 6:00 to 8:30 PM, and it will include an all-you-can-eat dinner in the Wheelock dining hall from 6:00-6:45 PM. From 6:45-8:30 PM, we are planning election-related discussions and presentations, as the early results come in.

Thanks to Wheelock College and your Gateway 10 teachers for helping us commemorate this historic election night!

Bio Scholars Club Is Coming Back!

The O'Bryant Bio Scholars Club is coming back at the end of this month, thanks to a new volunteer co-leader from Harvard Medical School who has recently offered his time to support this Gateway activity. On Friday, October 31, all interested Gateway students are invited to meet with Dr. Ian Stokes-Rees in Mrs. Shields' room after school (2 PM), to find out about the club's planned fall activities. The O'Bryant Bio Scholars Club will meet regularly on Friday afternoons to provide students with opportunities to learn more about careers in medicine, biomedical science and health.

Gateway Biology I Speaker Series Returns 10/31

On October 31, the Gateway Biology I classes will welcome Dr. Shari Nethersole from Children's Hospital to speak on the topic of diabetes - a very fitting topic for the day of Halloween! All Gateway 9 students by this date will have completed short research papers on diabetes, and so we are looking to a very productive exchange of ideas.

G10 Action Research Workshop - Thursday, Period 3

This week's Gateway 10 Action Research project has been rescheduled for period 3 on Thursday, instead of Thursday after school. Students should stay posted for more details from your teachers.

This is a change that applies to this week's schedule only. Your teachers have not yet finalized any future changes to the original workshop schedule.

Gateway Parent Activities Committee - Thursday 10/16

All Gateway parents are invited to join the volunteer Gateway Parent Activities Committee, which will meet this Thursday, October 16 from 6-7 PM. The goal of this group is to support the development of more social and enrichment activities for all students in the Gateway program. Please join us to learn more about how you can directly contribute to the growth of our program opportunities!

Gateway Math Team Kickoff

Congratulations to our math-loving sophomores who have come together to form the first Gateway 10 Math Team, aiming for this year's American Mathematics Contest (AMC 10) in February. Our team will be coached by Leonid Chindelevitch, an applied math graduate student from MIT.

The team will meet for practice each week on Friday from 1:50 - 2:50 PM in Mrs. Shields' room.

Interested students (Gateway ninth-graders welcome too!) should check out the first set of problems posed to our students by Leonid last week.

And Yet ANOTHER Gateway Blog...

For the Grade 9 Geometry tutorial group that I will be leading on Thursday afternoons, I have created a new blog that will store the review materials used each week.

I encourage all Gateway 9 students to take advantage of the study materials posted on this Geometry review blog, especially as you head into the midyear and end-of-year exams. I have set up the blog archive to be searchable by your textbook chapters.

Yet Another Gateway Blog - G10 Action Research

In the "Links" section of this page (lower right), we have added another blog to help the Gateway sophomores keep track of their weekly team action research assignments.

As this program grows more complex each year, we will need to coordinate everyone's attention on a shared communication space to stay informed about program activities. This year, I am committing my best effort to meet that need with this program blog - please join me in this effort by visiting regularly!

9/26 Calling Sophomore Math Tutors!

This is a reminder that I will be meeting with prospective G10 math tutors today after school (2 PM), in Mrs. Shields' room. The purpose of this brief meeting will be to collect tutor scheduling information and discuss the brief training that will be required before peer tutors may begin working with the G9 students.

9/29 Extended-Day Schedule Starts

On Monday, September 29, the extended-day academic schedules in both Grades 9 and 10 will go into effect.

Gateway 9 students will receive their individual class schedules during school on Friday, September 26. These schedules will include their required weekly afterschool classes in ELA and math. In addition to these classes, all students may be directed into biology and/or history tutoring at any point during the year, at the discretion of their teachers.

Gateway 10 students already have received their Action Research Workshop schedule, the dates of which also are posted on the program calendar in the top right corner of this blog. Each Gateway 10 student also will be invited into a Friday reading circle with Mr. Doreian at some point during the school year. The first reading circle will convene next Friday, October 3. In addition to these required afterschool commitments, all students may be directed into afterschool tutoring with one of their teachers at any point during the year, at the teacher's discretion.

9/25 First G9 Parent Meeting of the Year

The first Gateway Grade 9 Parent Meeting of the year will be held tomorrow, September 25, from 6:30 - 8:00 PM in the Science Building Auditorium.

9/25 G9 Student/Teacher Conferences

Tomorrow afterschool (Thursday 9/25), the Gateway 9 team will be conducting its final round of individual conferences with students, to exchange early feedback on students' experiences in their classrooms. Written summaries of these conferences will be sent home to parents as soon as possible. Due to the logistical difficulty of bringing the entire team of teachers together afterschool, we will not be able to offer makeup conferences for students who missed their conference times over the past two weeks.

The students scheduled for tomorrow will receive reminder slips in their first or second period classes.

We plan to hold a second round of student/teacher conferences in the month of January, to exchange midyear feedback.

9/24 G10 Action Research Project Launch Party!

Tomorrow, Wednesday 9/24 from 2-5 PM in the Science Building, the Gateway 10 students and teachers will launch the G10 team action research projects, which will culminate in a showcase of presentations before the February vacation week. Snacks and pizza will be provided.

9/26 Friday Info Session: G10 Math Peer Tutoring

This year in Gateway, we frequently will use the Friday afterschool time slot (2:00 PM) to provide students with information about valuable extracurricular opportunities.

This Friday (9/26), Gateway sophomores enrolled in Advanced Algebra Honors are invited to sign up to serve as peer tutors to the Gateway freshmen in Algebra/Geometry. We will meet at 2 PM, in Mrs. Shields' room.

Gateway Summer Springboard Trip to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Yesterday, our Springboard program visited the Carl J. Shapiro Simulation and Skills Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. We received a tour of the center's whole-body simulation facilities, which included an ICU simulation theater and a surgical simulation theater. Our students also were afforded the rare opportunity to try their own hands at surgical skill trainers. The "Bean Drop" challenge sparked some friendly competition among the students, to see who could deposit five beans in the small bucket opening in the shortest amount of time. (I have to admit that I have no idea who won!)

If you look closely at the video screen, you can see the bean about to drop in the bucket:
A big thank you to Dr. Mark Zeidel and Ms. Emily Beck for arranging this visit for us, and to our Shapiro SASC hosts Mr. David Fobert and Dr. Alex Derevianko. You had so much knowledge to share with us that we extended our stay beyond the original ending time, and we wish we could have stayed longer!

Gateway Summer Springboard Trip to NU Earthquake Engineering Lab

This afternoon, our Springboard program visited Professor Mishac Yegian's earthquake engineering lab at Northeastern University, hosted by Prof. Yegian's graduate student Seda Gokyer.

Ms. Gokyer warmed up our group with an engaging introduction to civil engineering, topped off by an "apple on a stick" demonstration of natural frequency and resonance. The Gateway students then divided into four teams for a building competition on the lab's earthquake-simulating shake table.

All of the teams demonstrated excellent focus and teamwork during the design and construction phase.


When the team designs were tested with increasingly jarring earthquake simulations on the shake table, we found our winner:

For their excellent efforts and good sportsmanship, all teams were rewarded with their own earthquake rides on the shake table:

Gateway Summer Springboard Trip to Harvard Medical School

As we head into our second year of Gateway at the O'Bryant School, we have introduced a two-week Summer Springboard institute to smooth the academic transition into our ninth-grade program. Emmanuel College has generously opened up its campus to our students for this experience. This central LMA location provides us with the opportunity to combine our morning academic classes in English and math with career and college explorations in the afternoons.

This afternoon, the twenty Springboard participants plus staff visited the campus of Harvard Medical School, just down the street from Emmanuel College. We began with a guided tour of the Warren Anatomical Museum, inside Harvard Medical School's Countway Library of Medicine. (This is the second time in the past two months that the Warren Museum has hosted groups of Gateway students, and we are most grateful for this unique opportunity to look back through the history of medicine!) Dr. Sheila Nutt of HMS' Office for Diversity and Community Partnership then provided our new Gateway students with a brief introduction to the many high school enrichment opportunities offered through their office. As we did last year, we will continue to keep Gateway students posted about all of the HMS enrichment opportunities available throughout the school year.

We then concluded our visit with a hands-on experience in HMS' Gilbert Medical Simulation laboratory. The photos below follow Team Hines' efforts to stabilize a patient experiencing an asthma attack. (I regret to report that in the other room, Team Figueroa lost its patient who was suffering from a heart attack.)

A big thank you to Dr. Sheila Nutt for arranging this amazing early Gateway experience for our new students!

At first, students were a bit nervous about touching the simulation dummy...

...but that didn't last very long, after we saw all of the medical equipment that we were allowed to try out on the dummy.

We had to figure out how to work as a team, in a "crisis" situation...

...and it certainly helped to have an expert talking dummy to give us key advice along the way ("I want to talk to my primary care physician!").

Gateway Term 4 Honors

Congratulations to the following honorees at this week's Gateway Term 4 Honors Assembly:

Amazing Aces (highest course grades):
Katherine Brea (Biology and Geometry), Salma El-Behaedi (History) and Christelle Salomon (ELA)

Busy Beavers (highest homework grades—4 core courses):
Katherine Brea, Annie Moy, Brendon Tan, Claribel Rosa

Courageous Climbers (greatest course improvements):
Renee Baxter (Biology), Maya Copeland (History), Ramsel Lara (ELA), Tai Tang (ELA), Isaiah Vance (Biology), Marquette Webster (Geometry)

Students Who Made a Splash (“Golden Duckies”):
Renee Baxter, Michael Creese, Sindy Ortiz, Marquette Webster

Cum Laude (3.00—3.49 GPA)
Vicmarys Brito, Marleah Cummins, Ramsel Lara, Julia Li, Angellica Meng, Sindy Ortiz, Christina Perry, Lydia Price, Gjergji Prifti, Wadea Sakhta, Brendon Tan, Tai Tang, Marquette Webster

Magna Cum Laude (3.50–3.89)
Katherine Brea, Pierline Durand, Salma El-Behaedi, Annie Moy, Claribel Rosa, Christelle Salomon, Tiffany Wu

At this final honors assembly of the year, we recognized the efforts of all fifty students and our dedicated team of Grade 9 teachers, for their hard work and achievements throughout the year. Thank you for making our first-year program a resounding success!

So Many Labs, So Little Time to Post...

The month of May has seen a whirlwind of lab activities in the Gateway program, both inside and outside of school. We began at the very end of April with a two-day visit by Dr. Kathy Vandiver from MIT's Center for Environmental Health Sciences, who led us through a bacteriophage hunting activity sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Phagehunting Program at the University of Pittsburgh.

During the month of May, Gateway students also have enjoyed the opportunity to return to the Broad Institute three more times, to undertake lab activities ranging from C. elegans (roundworm) genetics to phylogenetic tree construction to transformation of plasmid DNA into bacteria.

Trip to MIT Museum and the Broad Institute!

Today, the Gateway biology classes traveled to Cambridge on a joint visit to the MIT Museum and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. This field trip was packed with hands-on activities related to genetics.

At the MIT Museum, the students explored protein synthesis using both LEGO manipulatives and computer simulations.

At the Broad Institute, the students engaged in a DNA fingerprinting (genotyping) laboratory activity, using the technique of gel electrophoresis.

In May of this year, the O'Bryant Bio Scholars Club will be heading back to the Broad Institute for more lab activities, so stay tuned for more updates on the laboratory adventures of the Gateway students!

Thank you to Kathy Vandiver, Jon Bijur, and Megan Rokop for helping organize such a fantastic field trip for the Gateway students! We look forward to repeating this experience with next year's class!

Gateway Term 3 Honors

Congratulations to the following honorees at this week's Gateway Term 3 Honors Assembly:

Amazing Aces (highest course grades):
Pierline Durand (Biology), Annie Moy (Geometry), Christelle Salomon (ELA and History)

Busy Beavers (highest homework grades—4 core courses):
May Bumar, Salma El-Behaedi, Julia Li, Annie Moy, Christina Perry, Claribel Rosa, Wadea Sakhta, Brendon Tan, Tai Tang, Tiffany Wu

Courageous Climbers (greatest course improvements):
Anthony Antonelli (Geometry), Renee Baxter (Biology and ELA), Kevin Herman (History)

Students Who Made a Splash (“Golden Duckies”):
Alex Brown, Delroy Demontegnac, Christina Perry, Lydia Price

Cum Laude (3.00—3.49 GPA)
Vicmarys Brito, Pierline Durand, Kanjo Kamara, Julia Li, Angellica Meng, Wadea Sakhta, Brendon Tan, Tiffany Wu

Magna Cum Laude (3.50–3.89)
Salma El-Behaedi, Annie Moy, Claribel Rosa, Christelle Salomon

Congratulations to these students on your excellent work this past term, and thank you to all of the family members, classmates and teachers whose support helped make these successes possible!

Happy Pi Day at the O'B!

Today, March 14 (3.14), mathematicians around the world celebrated Pi Day, in honor of the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. All of the math teachers at the O'Bryant sported Pi T-shirts and planned special classroom activities in honor of the occasion.

Along with many other O'Bryant math classes, the Gateway Geometry classrooms held pi recitation contests to celebrate Pi Day, with the first-place winners in each class winning pi(es) - although I believe Mr. Figueroa gave out cakes instead!

In the first-period class, Vicmarys Brito took first place by reciting 48 digits correctly, using the "paired numbers" memorization strategy. Here's a link to Vicmarys' winning recitation.

In Period 2, the early recitations were far off Vicmarys' mark, until the students were told her winning number. It then became a point of class pride to top Vicmarys. Justin Weathers carried the day for Mrs. Shields' homeroom by blowing out the competition with a recitation of 70 digits on his third try. Here's a link to Justin's victorious recitation - he spoke very softly, so listen carefully!

Congratulations to all of the students who were brave enough to stand up and put their best pis forward today!

Science Mentoring at Harvard Medical School

Congratulations to the four Gateway students who have been selected to participate in Harvard Medical School's Mentoring for Science 9 program! Kishma, Kanjo, Christina and Justin will be working with HMS faculty, graduate students and medical students for the next twelve weeks, developing their laboratory skills and learning about careers in biomedical science.

Job Shadowing at DFCI

Six Gateway students visited two cancer research laboratories at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as part of Boston PIC's Groundhog Job Shadow Day. Three of our students were hosted by the lab group of Dr. Pascal Braun, who visited our Biology I classes back in October, while three other students visited the lab group of Dr. Constantine Mitsiades.

All of the students enjoyed hands-on explorations of biomedical research techniques and materials, including gel electrophoresis, bacterial cultures, lab rats and nematodes!

A big thank you to all of our supporters at DFCI: Pascal, Stuart, Ryan, Matija, Anne, Constantine, Dr. David Hill, Dr. Larry Shulman, Robert Amelio, Candace Burns, Alicia Garcia, and Karen Burns White. Special thanks go out to Terry Alleyne for welcoming our Gateway freshmen into her O'Bryant Job Shadow Day preparations this year. We look forward to getting many more of our students into job shadowing in the LMA in the near future!

Gateway Term 2 Honors

Congratulations to the following honorees at today's Gateway Term 2 Honors Assembly:

Amazing Aces (highest course grades):
Katherine Brea (Biology), Pierline Durand (History), Annie Moy (ELA and Geometry)

Busy Beavers (highest homework grades—4 core courses):
May Bumar, Manny Rios Alers, Wadea Sakhta, Brendon Tan, Tai Tang

Courageous Climbers (greatest course improvements):
Tiara Amarante (Biology), Anthony Antonelli (ELA), Pierline Durand (Geometry), Obinna Ndugba (History)

Students Who Made a Splash (“Golden Duckies”):
Maya Copeland, Marleah Cummins, Obinna Ndugba, Brendon Tan

Cum Laude (3.00—3.49 GPA)
Kishma Andrew, Vicmarys Brito, Jasmine Campbell, Maya Copeland, Salma El-Behaedi, Shelby Jean-Michel, Angellica Meng, Sindy Ortiz, Gjergji Prifti, Manny Rios Alers, Wadea Sakhta, Brendon Tan, Tai Tang, Tiffany Wu

Magna Cum Laude (3.50–3.89)
Katherine Brea, Pierline Durand, Annie Moy, Claribel Rosa, Christelle Salomon

Congratulations to these students on your excellent work this past term, and thank you to all of the family members, classmates and teachers whose support helped make these successes possible!