Meet WHSAD's Students

Sophomore correspondents, Mayra Gomez and Maya Ortiz, conduct student of the month interviews and write-ups. Diego Sernadas is currently a junior at WHSAD where he was surprised to find out he had been selected as a student of a month for his communication abilities. He says his favorite class is Chemistry where Ms.Bui is a calm teacher while still being strict. He says he is trying to work on going back to what his freshman grades were. Over his last three years, his highlight is freshman year since he started out very strong. He thinks that he has had a great experience in this school while still growing as a person. He was able to put his games aside and definitely focus on his work since this is one of his most important … [Read more...]

Sophomore correspondents, Mayra Gomez and Maya Ortiz, conduct student of the month interviews and write-ups. Tyasia Brooks, currently a senior at WHSAD, loves this school because it has a lot of great opportunities and even if you were to fall off they give you a lot of chances to rebuild. She feels like she deserves being student of the month for January because teachers have seen her at her lowest moments and have seen her grow as a person. Despite every negative thing in life, this school has helped her go through it. Although her grades may not be the best, she keeps going and she thinks many people have noticed all of her effort. She says she had this one teacher who helped learn that grit was the perseverance found within … [Read more...]

Brandon’s English teacher, Mr. Rodriguez, says, “Brandon is the epitome of consistency. He keeps his complete focus on each and every task given to him in ELA. Since September, he has submitted every assignment early or on time.  Not only has he submitted all of the assignments early or on time, the work has been, for the most part, exemplary.” Brandon is hard working. He always hands in all assignments the day they are due. His advice to students who are finding their school work to be difficult is to attend office hours. One thing that helped him become a more punctual person was having a set calendar so he can visually see the exact amount of time he has for each assignment. Brandon meets once a week with this teachers as it’s his way … [Read more...]

Justin believes that he was recognized for being punctual due to his hard work. One thing that helped him to expand his learning was getting more involved in his academics. He takes visiting his teachers very seriously, and to him it’s one of the main reasons why he is excelling in his classes. Another important factor that goes into more structured work is interacting with this peers. He gets added opinions on his work which helps him to see what he can better in his writings. If he doesn’t meet the due date for his assignments, he takes advantage of our WHSAD Gmail accounts. He sends in the work as soon as he completes it. He also emails his teachers when he needs help with a certain topic. Justin feels his experience at WHSAD was a very … [Read more...]

2016 graduate Nicholas Cruz recounts his experience at WHSAD and how it has come to launch his career. I am now a first-year apprentice in local 580 which is a NYC union for Ornamental Iron Workers. I graduated from WHSAD in 2016. I am currently doing layout for window walls in Coney Island. At the same time, my union sends me to take classes twice a week after work at our training facility. While I was attending high school, I actually didn’t know what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I want to learn how to weld. I wanted to get my welding license, so I ended up going to Coop Tech, where I learned about unions and  their different trades. I heard about Local 580 ornamental ironworkers, and I just went for it. I applied for the … [Read more...]

Noak Newbery is currently a freshman at WHSAD. Before Noak started his freshman year at WHSAD, he was enrolled in WHSAD’s Summer Bridge Program. Below Noak recalls his process while designing a cantilever bed.  I started my initial design process roughly a month ago. My inspiration for the project stems from my interests in furniture design. I wanted to design a piece of furniture which could be practical and minimalistic. My work and experience in WHSAD's Summer Bridge Program helped me in my design because I had to think of my design in a more realistic approach and how things would interact.  Floor plans helped me with my design because I had to think about how the bed frame would be on the other side of the wall. During the … [Read more...]

WHSAD Senior Christopher Maldonado was named NY1 Scholar Athlete of the Week for the week of May 20, 2018. Below, Christopher shares his thoughts as to why he was nominated, and Mr. Rotondi, Christopher's baseball coach, shares his thoughts as to why he nominated Christopher. Additionally, there is a link to the NY1 feature.  I believe I was chosen mostly because I want to make a big impact in my community and based off of my resume I have done that. I have gone to New Orleans and helped the victims recover from Hurricane Katrina. My job there was to help refurbish schools because the paint was chipping off the walls. Basically, I had to beautify the school that was still being heavily impacted by Hurricane Katrina because they … [Read more...]

My main goal in WHSAD is to try and get out of high school alive. This is an important achievement for me because I want to live a long life and live an enjoyable life. I believe that by doing my best in class and on future exams that end goal is becoming possible. Every day I work towards trying to make money to invest in my future. Though school may be stressful I find that by listening to music, most of my stress is relieved. The fact that it’s easy to achieve a high GPA is what I believe makes WHSAD such a unique and special learning environment. WHSAD gives you the opportunity to strengthen your skills. You get the opportunity to try and pursue careers and, more specifically for me, one in electricity. I believe I was personally chosen … [Read more...]

Cindy Mendoza is the WHSAD Senior of the month of May. Mr. Powers, Cindy’s English teacher, had this to say about her: "Cindy perseveres. There is no task too difficult or too tedious that she cannot complete. Her work ethic excels far ahead of those around her. We could all learn a thing or two from Cindy Mendoza." Below, Cindy shares her thoughts on being the spotlighted Senior for May and what makes WHSAD a special place. My main goal in WHSAD is to graduate on time. This is an important achievement for me because it's going to move me forward with my life, and I need to graduate in order to go to college and get a career. I believe that by passing all my classes with above a 90 that end goal is becoming possible. Everyday … [Read more...]