01D Pretty Crazy Election. Am I Right?

On Monday, November 7th, the night before the Presidential Election, 01D-Wing sat down to discuss the craziness of this year's election. Students had the opportunity to ask questions about different aspects of the election process and the candidates and I tried my best to answer them. Some of the topics discussed included:

• Why does the electoral college exist?
• Are local and state elections more important than the presidential election?
• Why is it important to vote if Hillary is going to win Illinois no matter what?
• Is this really the nastiest presidential campaign in the history of America?
• Is Hillary a criminal? What exactly is she accused of doing?
• Does Trump really have any chance of becoming President with no experience? 

We had a pretty good discussion about politics in America and the students were enthusiastic to learn more about the democratic process.

Thanks,

Joe Mastrocola

Resident Couneslor

1501D Wing

D-Wing Starts the Spookiest Month of the Year!

D-wing is kicking off the new month with a brand new bulletin board! With the coming of fall and all the spooky festivities therein, the wing-guides created a board featuring Halloween Fun-Facts. Such bone-chilling facts include: "Frankenstein has been entertaining readers and viewers since 1818!" and "Vanilla Ice was born on Halloween in 1967."

D-Wing's Halloween Fun Facts

Coming activities include:

• A student-led seminar on sleep by our own Gabriel Bryk
• A wing-wide poster project on self-expression
• A wing panel in making both light of, and sense of, this tumultuous election
• The end of our semester-long movie tournament, with Rent! upcoming and finishing with the blockbuster Sharknado!

With a month so influenced by Mary Shelley, let's close out this post from a Percy Shelly (lightly altered): 

"My name is [D-wing], [wing] of [wings]. Look on these [bulletin boards] ye mighty, and despair!"

Well that's it for this time. Have a great month and an amazing Halloween!

Best wishes,

D-wing guides,

Dan Marten and Lucas Urbanski

D AND C WING CRUSH SEXISM WITH REVOLUTIONARY BROTHER/SISTER WING PROPOSAL

Hi, friends!

On Thursday, D wing proposed to our new sister wing, 01's very own C wing! Or, rather, we subverted patriarchal standards and had them propose to us. Both wings read their own clever poems and Diego dramatically jumped through our giant patriarchy poster. It was a fun and symbolic time for both wings. :)

Lucas, D wing

01D Underrepresented American History Trivia Program

Hi 01D Parents,

I wanted to update all of you on a fun program we did this past Wednesday. During my time as a history teacher, I've found that state curriculum typically ignores the accomplishments of people of color and women in American history. In an attempt to celebrate some of these accomplishments, I hosted a trivia night on 9/14 for our wing's students to compete in. The wing was broken up into three teams (Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors) and they competed to answer the most trivia questions. It was a close race but in the end the Seniors pulled ahead and won the trivia night. The students had a great time and learned a lot about the accomplishments of some men and women who typically get ignored when discussing our nation's history.

I've posted some sample questions below if you are interested in seeing how much you know:

What woman helped reform the prison system and created the first generation of American mental asylums?
Who was the gay rights activist who started the “It Gets Better” campaign?
Who was the first African American elected to the Supreme Court?
What island was often referred to as the Ellis Island of the West due to the high number of immigrants who were processed there?
Which civil rights activist co-founded the National Farm Workers?
Which Olympic athlete is considered the greatest all-around athlete of all time, despite having his Olympic medals revoked?


Thanks,

Joe Mastrocola
01D RC