High School Placements, a first draft

This month, BEAM students found out where they will be attending high school.  We are pleased to announce that, so far, 35% of our 8th graders will be attending highly selective high schools and 51% will be attending selective high schools.  We say "so far" because a number of students, due to extenuating circumstances and the logistics of the process, are still awaiting a high school placement and we hope those numbers will go up as students are settled.

BEAM will have students attending:

Bard High School Early College (10)
Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics (6)
Brooklyn Technical High School (5)
The Beacon School (4)
NEST+m (3)
Academy for Software Engineering (3)
Bronx High School for Science (2)
University Heights High School (2)
High School of Math, Science, and Engineering at City College
LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies
Manhattan Village Academy
Pace High School
Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics
Hostos-Lincoln Academy of Science

Congratulations are also in order to three 9th graders who are transferring to even stronger high schools.  In the fall, Amanda will be attending Brooklyn Tech, Eric will be attending Manhattan Center, and Mayra will be attending University Heights. 

We are so proud of them all!

MATHCOUNTS 2016

February was MATHCOUNTS month all over the country.  BEAM sponsored teams at interested partner schools, making sure that students could participate without worrying about the cost of sending a team.  In all, we paid for teams to attend the competitions in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. 

We want to draw particular attention to 8th grader Kaya Moore who received an honorable mention at the Bronx MATHCOUNTS tournament.  Last week, Kaya found out that he will be attending the Bronx High School of Science next year.  Nice work, Kaya!

AMC 8 Results

As you may recall, students took the AMC 8 contest back in November, and we wanted to report on how they did!

The AMC 8 is a 25 question contest, and it's quite challenging.  This year, 149,277 students nationwide took the contest.  The median (middle) student scored 8 -- less than a third of the questions answered correctly!  To score in the top 25% percentile, students had to score at least 11.  Only 90 students across the world got a perfect score. 

Of the 12 students who took the contest, 9 scored above 8 questions correct, putting them above the nationwide average.  Good work, everyone!  We are particularly impressed by Ahmed, whose score of 13 puts him the top quartile nationwide. BEAM is sure this a sign of future success yet to come.  

An Evening of Dinner and Board Games

Every winter, BEAM brings together program supporters and students for an evening of dinner and board games.  An elegant board games party?  Yes, you heard that right!

This winter, we saw folks playing Swish, chess, Ricochet Robots, Blokus, Apples to Apples, and Set. 

Over games and dinner, the adults got to hear just what it was like for students to participate in BEAM. After dinner, a panel of students answered questions from the audience about their experiences at BEAM, in high school, at other programs, and their goals for the future. 

It was a lovely event.  We hope you can join us next year!

Winter Party

With all of our important academic events, it's great to also make time for BEAM students to come together and just hang out!  Every December and June, BEAM hosts a party for students in grades 8-12 to get together with their friends, eat, and play games. 

It was wonderful to see old friends and new get together!  Enjoy some photos of students and staff having a great time together:

Saturday Office Hours

Every Thursday and one weekend a month, BEAM hosts "Office Hours".  Just as in college, students can bring anything they're working on and receive help or advice from staff and volunteers. 

Here's a list of things we worked on this weekend at Office Hours:

• Ayinde helped students prepare to take the SCAT next weekend, the first step to attending summer programs at the Center for Talented Youth (CTY)
• Amy helped Jahleel with Algebra 1
• Lynn helped Veronica with 8th grade math homework
• Ryan helped DeVaune with Geometry
• Dan led the monthly Math Team meeting, with the 8th graders preparing for MATHCOUNTS

Students also had time to take a break and eat a snack with friends. 

By the time BEAM students get to college, they will be in the habit of seeking out help as needed!