Colleges become test-optional, relieving students of excess stress

Rebecca Kanfer '21, Paper Sports Editor

April 20, 2020

As the 2020 college admissions year comes to a close, aspiring juniors look onward to their upcoming year of the Common Application and the College Board with one noticeable change. Standardized test scores have become unnecessary and furthermore optional with an application for numerous schools due...

Eighteen seniors to graduate with high honors

April 19, 2018

By Isa Didio ’18   Eighteen Staples seniors have been notified that they will be graduating with the achievement of “high honors,” which means they are at the top 4 percent of the graduating class based upon their GPA. “There are so many intelligent, talented people in my grade,” Paige...

Finding enthusiasm in learning: How being a second semester senior has made me a better student

Izzy Ullmann

March 14, 2017

Izzy Ullmann '17 For three and a half years of high school I found myself refreshing the MyHAC app, anxiously calculating how many points I needed for an A and begging my teachers to round up my grades. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate learning. I was caught up in the typical college game: one where...

Staples seniors recognized for the High Honors Society

March 9, 2017

By Julia Rosier '18 Eighteen Staples seniors received an email on March 3, 2017 notifying them of being in the top 4 percent of their class, which qualified them for the High Honors Society. “I was super excited and didn’t expect it or to even be at the spot where I am,” Julie Kaplan ’17...

Naviance induces stress among juniors

Becca Rawiszer, Public Relations Manager

March 30, 2016

There are plenty of perks to junior year: the arduous effort put into standardized testing preparation, the GPA-demolisher classes––better known as Advanced Placement classes––and the stress and anxiety that comes with the fact that this is the last full year of grades and accomplishments that...

In-between Ivies and “bottom tier” schools – a senior shares the struggle of being deemed “average”

Emily Olrik, Staff Writer

March 28, 2016

As college decisions, both rejections and acceptances, are released, there is a sense of frustration amongst the denied students who were deemed ‘too average.’ The people who received what seems like countless rejections share my similar frustration. Sometimes simply great students go unrecognized fo...

Home Access Center provides too much access

Jesse Levinson, Staff Writer

November 30, 2015

“Maybe if I keep refreshing it a new grade will come out,” I thought to myself as I slouched over my desk in class, discreetly holding my phone between my legs. For what had undoubtedly been the fifth time in five minutes, I methodically dragged my finger down the screen and watched as the app g...

Administration debates class leveling system

Andrea Frost, Breaking News Editor

March 10, 2015

Core classes at Staples High School are offered at various levels to appeal to the learning needs of all students. However, while physics has five different class levels — honors, A, B, AP physics B and AP Physics C — most Staples High School electives listed in the course catalog can only be taken...

Let’s take a break from the breaks

Jack Zeldes, Staff Writer

January 15, 2015

Please don’t get me wrong, I like days off from school. Scratch that. I LOVE days off from school. This year in particular, we have the longest possible December break, a February break, and an April break. Let's also take into account snow days that could happen at any time and the long weekend...

Looking past the grades

Grant Sirlin, Staff Writer

January 14, 2015

I am not an efficient studier. I do everything that administrators tell a student not to do: cramming the night before a big test, staying up until 1 am before a midterm and pittering away precious study time on social media. As to my purpose in school, sometimes I would even call myself more of a grade-getter...

Students grapple with academic stigmas and attitudes

Emily Olrik and Margaux MacColl

November 10, 2014

Every student, every day, walks past the same pink flier hanging dutifully outside guidance. As conversation floods the hallway with students chatting about tests and grades, many may not notice this sign, but it hangs there to remind them of what they may not understand. In bold, black text it reads,...

Hiding Behind Easier Classes: Using and Abusing Course Selection to Garner a Higher GPA

October 1, 2010

It is one of the most talked-about, worried-over and anxiety-filled acronyms at Staples. It strikes fear into the hearts of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors alike. It has even, perhaps, overtaken the CAPT and the SAT in acronym infamy. It goes by three simple letters: GPA. Needless to say, the G...

High Stakes, Higher GPAs

October 1, 2010

Image by Feras Hares via Flickr Editorial There’s something vaguely disturbing about the number of kids who take AP classes simply to boost their GPAs. However, these classes also come with a significant amount of coursework, so to truly reap the benefits of the higher–weighted AP classes requires student...