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):
Meghan Comeau (Advanced Algebra Honors), Candice Gonzales (Biology), Judy Le (Geometry), Jie Hao Liang (ELA 10),
Cuong Linh (ELA 9), Christina Nguyen (Chemistry Honors and History 10), Lorenzo Perez (Advanced Algebra), Jemmie Tejeda (History 9)
Busy Beavers (highest homework average across four core courses):
Amy Chen, Meghan Comeau, Judy Le, Cuong Linh, Samantha Michel, Christina Nguyen, Kristen O’Brien, Patricia Rosa, Jemmie Tejeda, Josie Valcin
P.R.I.D.E. of Gateway Awards (“Golden Duckies”):
Agostinha Depina, Guy Francois, Melissa Jean, Sayyida Jean-Charles, Patrick Joseph, Jie Hao Liang, Queenie Rigaud, Jordan Young
Cum Laude (3.00—3.49 GPA)
Kwaku Afari, Michael Allen, Bianca Bertrand, Barry Bhagwandeen, Alfredo Brea, Katherine Brea, Bianca Brito, Xiomara Garcia, Candice Gonzales, Ayana Green, Kamela Hysa, Melissa Jean, Sayyida Jean-Charles, Julia Li, Jie Hao Liang, Iryelis Lopez, Frankline Mardi, Michael Mejia, Kerlie Merizier, Samantha Michel, Thalia Montalvo, Kristen O’Brien, John Paul, Genesis Pena, Lorenzo Perez, Manny Rios Alers, Patricia Rosa, Yaritza Sanchez, Suzette Schand, Jemmie Tejeda, Lomorng Thaing, Jeremy Wong, Tiffany Wu
Magna Cum Laude (3.50–3.89)
Amy Chen, Meghan Comeau, Judy Le, Cuong Linh, Christina Nguyen, Christian Peguero, Josie Valcin
Thanks to all Gateway students and staff for helping celebrate these accomplishments of your classmates!
Immediately after our awards ceremony in Roland Hayes and post-ceremony pizza party, our teachers and students went right back to work with a Grade 9 binder cleanup party, a Grade 10 girls' group closing celebration (RAWR), and a Grade 11 time management workshop. No rest for the weary ;)
Gateway Honors, Term 1
Scenes from BU/Gateway HPREP
After two months with no postings (sorry!), the Gateway blog is back in action, with updates on some of the activities that have been keeping us very busy.
In collaboration with the BU School of Medicine's SNMA chapter, we launched a BU-Gateway HPREP program earlier this fall. This new activity has attracted over 25 committed participants to bimonthly sessions that have included a trip to the BUSM anatomy lab and a group outing to the AAMC Minority Career Fair.
Who is this mystery Gateway student shrouded in surgical garb?
Colby College Admissions Event @ HMS
Calling all science-loving Gateway students, especially from the Class of 2011! Colby College in Waterville, ME will be hosting an admissions information session at Harvard Medical School this Wednesday, September 23, starting at 3:30 PM in room Tosteson 250.
Colby is actively promoting CAPS (Colby Achievement Program in the Sciences), a new initiative to support underrepresented minority students (including first-generation college students of any ethnicity) who major in science at Colby.
Colby College also happens to be the alma mater of our own Ms. Style!
Ms. Style and Dr. Wu will be attending this event, and we hope to see a great turnout from Gateway students in all three classes!
HPREP is coming to Gateway!
This fall, we are very excited to roll out a new school-based pre-medical activity for Gateway students. In partnership with the Student National Medical Association chapter of Boston University's School of Medicine, we will be offering an O'Bryant Gateway edition of HPREP (Health Professions Recruitment and Exposure Program), a nationally known mentorship program connecting high school students with medical school students.
Interested students should make sure to attend our sign-up meeting on Monday, September 21, at 2 PM on the Gateway side of the top floor.
Here are a few of the BUSM medical students who want to meet you!
Gateway 11 hits AP Chemistry!
It's hard to believe that many members of our first Gateway Class of 2011 are now embarking upon their first college-level academic experiences. Please enjoy the featured "Chem Is Try" video on Mrs. Drurey's O'Bryant AP Chemistry blog, produced by our very own Vicmarys Brito and Renee Baxter.
Good luck to ALL of our Gateway juniors enrolled this year in AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP United States History, AP Statistics, AP Spanish Language, and even a few dual enrollment courses at our Gateway partner, Emmanuel College. We are looking forward to your great achievements this year!
Done with Exams!
Congratulations to our rising sophomores and juniors for completing your final exams for the year!
Gateway Honors, Term 4 - First Summas!
Congratulations to the following Gateway students who have earned recognition for their academic achievements in the fourth term of this school year:
Amazing Aces (highest course grades):
Alfredo Brea (Geometry), Katherine Brea (Chemistry Honors), Sindy Ortiz (ELA 10 and History 10), Brendon Tan (Advanced Algebra Honors), Josie Valcin (Biology, ELA 9 and History 9), Isaiah Vance (Advanced Algebra)
Busy Beavers (highest homework average across four core courses):
Kiara Bennett-Guallpa, Alfredo Brea, Katherine Brea, Annie Moy, Genesis Pena, Claribel Rosa, Brendon Tan, Victoria Tanis, Josie Valcin
Cum Laude (3.00—3.49 GPA)
Kayla Baquerizo, Kiara Bennett-Guallpa, Alfredo Brea, Vicmarys Brito, Meghan Comeau, Agostinha Depina, Pierline Durand, Salma El-Behaedi, Xiomara Garcia, Anamol Gurung, Danielle John, Cassandra Leveille, Frankline Mardi, Michael Mejia, Sindy Ortiz, Juleissy Pimentel, Gjergji Prifti, Wadea Sakhta, Fatima Salmi, Yaritza Sanchez, Brendon Tan, Adrienne Thornton, Jeremy Wong, Tiffany Wu
Magna Cum Laude (3.50–3.89)
Ayana Green, Christina Nguyen, Genesis Pena, Claribel Rosa, Christelle Salomon, Josie Valcin
Summa Cum Laude (3.90-4.00)
Katherine Brea, Annie Moy
Thanks to all Gateway students for helping celebrate these accomplishments of your classmates!
4/24 College Visits to Babson and Wellesley
During the Friday of April vacation week, seven of our sophomores were treated to special tours of Babson College and Wellesley College, both in Wellesley, MA.
At Babson, our students met with two highly successful Babson undergraduates who are deeply involved with Babson's multicultural student life. We learned about Babson's distinctively hands-on business curriculum, in which all freshmen students are engaged in running their own student companies.
At Wellesley, our students were welcomed into an American literature class that happened to be discussing a work of fiction that our students had encountered earlier this year in ELA 10 (Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried). It was certainly a challenging experience to keep up with a college-style discussion, in which only one word was written on the blackboard for the entire 70 minutes. (The word was "teleological.")
Special thanks to Ms. Style for the hard work that she put into planning this trip for our students!
The SAT-II Lifestyle
Kudos to our eight sophomores and five college tutors who dedicated most of a beautiful Saturday afternoon to preparing for the upcoming SAT-II Chemistry test.
Good luck to all of our sophomores who will be taking SAT-II tests in various subjects this coming Saturday, May 2!
4/16 MassArt Trip
Last Thursday, our Grade 9 math enrichment class visited the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, to experience the math-themed student exhibit entitled "Means of Accumulation."
The MassArt students who developed this exhibit led our students through a series of activities to directly engage them with the works of art and the artmaking process. When we return to school, our students will tackle new projects of their own that respond directly to the ideas expressed in the MassArt exhibit. We will find some time and place soon to showcase the artwork created by our own students!
Thanks to Professor Sandy Weisman and Ali Nebel of MassArt, Lisa Lang of Northeastern, and all of the MassArt students who have contributed their time and energy to supporting our afterschool math/art explorations this spring!
Gateway Honors, Term 3
Congratulations to the following Gateway students who have earned recognition for their academic achievements in the third term of this school year:
Amazing Aces (highest course grades):
Alfredo Brea (Geometry), Katherine Brea (Advanced Algebra Honors and Chemistry Honors), Yaritza Fajardo (Advanced Algebra), Ayana Green (ELA 9), Christelle Salomon (ELA 10 and History 10), Josie Valcin (Biology, History 9)
Busy Beavers (highest homework average across four core courses):
Frankline Mardi, Michael Mejia, Annie Moy, Genesis Pena, Wadea Sakhta, Tai Tang, Tamara Tarshahani
Freshman Students Who Made a Splash (“Golden Duckies”):
Meghan Comeau, Pascal Delpebrice, Michael Mejia, Yaritza Sanchez
Cum Laude (3.00—3.49 GPA)
Michael Allen, Kayla Baquerizo, Alfredo Brea, Bianca Brito, Vicmarys Brito, Meghan Comeau, Marleah Cummins, Pavel Dzemianok, Salma El-Behaedi, Xiomara Garcia, Ayana Green, Anamol Gurung, Danielle John, Cassandra Leveille, Julia Li, Frankline Mardi, Michael Mejia, Christina Nguyen, Sindy Ortiz, Genesis Pena, Juleissy Pimentel, Gjergji Prifti, Wadea Sakhta, Yaritza Sanchez, Brendon Tan, Victoria Tanis, Adrienne Thornton, Justin Weathers, Tiffany Wu
Magna Cum Laude (3.50–3.89)
Katherine Brea, Annie Moy, Claribel Rosa, Fatima Salmi, Christelle Salomon, Josie Valcin
Thanks to all Gateway students for helping celebrate these accomplishments of your classmates!
Back from Loon Mountain!
In our program's first foray into adventure sports, a group of Gateway sophomores traveled today to Loon Mountain (NH) for a day of skiing and snowboarding. 
While our novice skiers and boarders spent much of the morning sprawled in the snow ... 
... it was thumbs-up by the afternoon, when our beginners graduated from the bunny hill and up to the main slopes. 
Here is a little blooper with audio for your amusement:
Special thanks to Mr. Hines and Mr. Tran for chaperoning this trip, and to our friends at Y.E.S. (Youth Enrichment Services) for putting this group trip together for us!
Now that it's almost spring, who's up for some mountain biking with Y.E.S.?
3/26 Special Visit from BUSM "Early Admissions" Med Students
Attention all Gateway students who have ever thought about medical school!!!
On Thursday March 26 from 5-6 PM, prior to our all-Gateway family meeting, we will be hosting a special visit from five members of Boston University School of Medicine's Early Medical School Selection Program (EMSSM). These are students who have earned early admission to BUSM after their sophomore years of undergraduate study at historically black colleges and universities. Students in this program spend their senior undergraduate years at Boston University, making an early transition into medical school.
Come learn about the kind of personal commitment to excellence that is required to make it all the way to medical school. Some of the students in EMSSM also participated in Gateway-like programs in high school, and they may have interesting perspectives to share with you about "life after Gateway."
Whitehead Institute High School Biology Program
If you have enjoyed previous field trips to the Broad Institute, we encourage you to sign up for the Whitehead Institute of MIT's High School Student Program, which occurs every year during the April school vacation. The Whitehead Institute is one of the world's leading biomedical research centers, and it is right next door to the Broad Institute. Registration is open now for this year's program, and it is first-come first-served.
Back to the Broad Institute and MIT Museum (3/13)
Yesterday, the Gateway ninth-grade class enjoyed a field trip to the MIT Museum and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. At the MIT Museum, we learned about protein synthesis in the Legos-based learning lab designed by Dr. Kathy Vandiver from MIT, who led us through this activity along with her colleague Jon Bijur. At the Broad Institute, we learned how to conduct DNA fingerprinting using the technique of gel electrophoresis.
Many thanks to Dr. Vandiver, Jon Bijur, Dr. Megan Rokop and Kate MacSwain for organizing such a wonderful experience for our students!
Pride of the O'Bryant
We are incredibly proud of our school community's participation in tonight's Boston School Committee budget hearing at English High School. Thank you to all O'Bryant students, parents and staff who came out to support our school. Our "roaring" O'Bryant welcome to Superintendent Carol Johnson truly showed the heart of our school.
G10 Summer Science Opportunities Meeting
On Tuesday at 3:30 PM in the top-floor cafeteria outside my office, there will be an informational session for all Gateway sophomores interested in learning about summer science opportunities.
All G10 students, especially those earning honor roll-level grades, are strongly encouraged to attend. This is going to be an extremely competitive summer in which to obtain a meaningful job, internship, or pre-college opportunity.
Spring Programs at MIT
As of 8:00 PM tonight (February 17), registration is now open for MIT's two spring enrichment programs for Boston-area middle and high school students.
The Spark program is a one-day extravaganza of workshops on a diverse array of topics, often very kooky ones. This year's Spark program will be held at MIT on Saturday, March 7, from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Past Spark offerings have included "Swing Dancing," "How to Survive a Zombie Attack," "Snap, Crackle, BOOM! A Fiery Introduction to Chemistry," and "Things from Australia that Can Kill You."
The HSSP program is a semester-long program of weekend classes. The Spring 2009 HSSP program will run from Saturday, March 14 to Saturday, May 2. Classes are between 1.5 and 2 hours long and run for 8 to 10 weeks. Past HSSP classes have included "Politically Inclined Math," "The Chinese Artistic Experience," and "Advanced Computer Game Hacking."
For more information and to register, please visit the home page of MIT's Educational Studies Program and look for "Spark/HSSP Registration." If you choose to register for one or both of these programs, please make sure to fill out the online financial aid form, as these programs should be free to all O'Bryant students due to our school's participation in the free lunch program.
More Upcoming Medical/Science Explorations
Congratulations to our five Gateway freshmen students - B. Brito, S. Hussein, D. John, O. Oyedeji, and J. Valcin - who represented our program admirably at today's Job Shadow Day at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
For students who were not able to participate in this event, please stay tuned for the next opportunity to visit Dana-Farber. Our Dana-Farber contacts currently are working to confirm an afterschool field trip opportunity for Gateway students to visit their Department of Radiology.
This coming week, we have a Friday afterschool opportunity for students to visit the Harvard Medical School/Partners Healthcare Center for Genetics and Genomics. Permission slips will be distributed in all Gateway science classes early next week, and I also will email the permission form to all Gateway parents with email addresses. We may need to pick out of a hat for this one, as limited spaces are available.
Upcoming Medical/Science Explorations - Grade 9
As I will announce in tomorrow's Biology classes, a number of opportunities are now available for Gateway ninth-graders to explore their interests in medicine and biomedical science.
First, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has invited us to send a small number of ninth-grade students to participate in their Job Shadow Day on January 30. Applications will be distributed to interested students tomorrow, and they will be due back to Dr. Wu by the end of Friday, January 23.
Secondly, we will be nominating students to participate in Harvard Medical School's Mentoring for Science 9 program, which meets afterschool on Wednesdays during the spring. Students will be asked to express their interest in this program during Biology class tomorrow, and applications will be due to HMS on Tuesday, January 27.
Finally, all ninth-grade students are invited to enter Harvard Medical School's Reflection in Action contest, in which students explore medical/health themes through original artistic works. Students who submit winning entries will be invited to participate in a daylong symposium at Harvard Medical School in April. Interested students are invited to meet with Dr. Wu tomorrow afterschool, in Mrs. Shields' room.
First Gateway Academic Night (1/15)
This Thursday, our Gateway program will host its first Academic Night for Gateway families, to showcase the creative projects that have been undertaken in the Gateway classrooms this year.
All students who are accompanied by an adult family member will receive extra credit (details to be determined by our teachers later this week). Also, all students who volunteer to help our teachers set up and break down this event will be rewarded with pizza before the start of the program!
