Back to Artwork Line Back to Sections Lillian Dolan - What is Line - 5 By Lillian Dolan November 1, 2020 Photography Volume 1 Issue 1 This picture captures the light shining through the blinds onto a chair. It was taken around golden hour.

Back to Articles News Back to Sections Giving Back: Donate to SADD's Annual Food Drive By Shinedip Kundlas Volume 1 Issue 2 November 24, 2020 Image provided by Island Harvest In the United States before the pandemic, approximately 13.7 million households experienced food insecurity at some point during 2019. A household that is food insecure has limited or indefinite access to enough food to sustain a healthy life. Children especially are more likely to face food insecurity than any other group in the United States. That is about 35 million Americans who were either incompetent to acquire enough food to meet their needs, or unsure of where their next meal may come from. For about a third of these households, gaining access to food was so inadequate that their eating habits were interrupted, and food consumption was reduced greatly. The rest of these households were able to acquire sufficient food to avoid complete disruption from their eating patterns but had to manage by eating a smaller portion of varied diets or utilizing food assistance programs like P-EBT benefits. However, the coronavirus pandemic has only worsened the problem. According to a group of Northwestern University researchers, food insecurity has doubled as a result of the economic crisis passed on by the outbreak, hitting as many as 23% of households earlier this year. In particular, on Long Island, food banks are reporting a nearly 50% increase in their food distribution since the start of the pandemic. Island Harvest is one of the largest hunger relief organizations on Long Island. The organization relies on over 100,000 hours of annual service that volunteers offer to help Island Harvest in their mission to end hunger and reduce food waste. Once again, VSN’s SADD club is working with Island Harvest to sponsor a food drive. Non-perishable items needed include Canned Soup/Stew, Canned Beans/Dried Beans, Peanut Butter/Other Nut Butters, Rolled Oats, Canned Fruit in Juice/Dried Fruit, Canned Tomatoes/Vegetables, Canned Tuna/Chicken Brown Rice/ Instant Rice/Quinoa, Nuts/Seeds, Shelf Stable Milk/Milk Substitutes, Whole Grain Pasta, Pasta Sauce, Box Cereals (Low Sugar), Olive/Canola Oil, etc… Help feed Long Island this holiday season by dropping off non-perishable food. This is the opportunity to give back the community and help a family who may not be as fortunate. SADD will run the food drive from November 16 - December 16th. Donations can be dropped off at the Faculty Entrance, Gym Lobby, and in Room 113. Like Anne Frank once said… “No one has ever become poor by giving” BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles News Back to Sections TOPSoccer at the Valley Stream Soccer Club By Manal Layachi Volume 2 Issue 6 April 14, 2022 Image provided by www.liherald.com TOPSoccer stands for “The Outreach Program for Soccer.” It is a program for young adults and children who have intellectual and/or physical disabilities. My father, Azzedine Layachi, founded this program for the Valley Stream Soccer Club for my brother Zak. He founded it in September of 2014. My other brother, Elyas, and I volunteer and teach the kids the fundamentals of how to play soccer; I’ve been doing it since I was 5 years old. My favorite part is spending time with the kids and helping them. When they smile, it fills me with joy. Here are some questions that my father answered for me: What inspired you to found this program? My own son and kids like him who would miss the opportunity to play sports. What is your favorite part of each session? The parachute. That is the favorite for all players, and it involves teamwork, singing, and turning in circles as a group. Do you like helping others? Yes. That is one of our purposes in life, to be there for others. Why do you like teaching kids how to play soccer? It is my passion and I want the players to acquire that passion too. It is an easy sport to play. Will you continue to do this for the rest of your life? For as long as I can. A lot of new kids sign up and it feels good to make a change. Anyone can volunteer, even if you don’t know how to play soccer. All in all, I love this TOPSoccer program and helping others, and I can’t wait for the season to start! BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Sports Back to Sections Volleyball Clinics By Aleeza Dhillon Volume 2 Issue 4 February 10, 2022 Original photography by Aleeza Dhillon For the past few weeks, our school district has hosted volleyball clinics to improve the skills of seventh and eighth graders. With help from the volleyball coaches at all schools and older students, all participants have improved. We started by teaching the girls all the skills they would need to be the best they could be on the court. After that, we scrimmaged with them, which gave the coaches a sense of what they needed to work on. By the last session, the girls were playing actual games and displaying successful use of their skills. I attended many of these sessions, and the improvement was apparent. Not only did these girls become better players, but they also became better friends. On and off the court, their sportsmanship and friendship were evident. They bonded with each other through their love for the same sport. No doubt they will make selections for the next volleyball season much harder for all coaches! BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Science & Technology Back to Sections Pi — It’s Waaaay More Than You Think! By Elyas Layachi Volume 2 Issue 5 March 28, 2022 Image provided by New Atlas Introduction March 14th of every year is the date all mathematicians and math-lovers yearn for: Pi Day. Its name comes from the number its date creates: 3.14, the first three digits of the mathematical constant pi. It’s an endless number, and while we use pi in our math classes, do we really know what the number is, its origin, and its uses in the real world? After reading this article, you will know everything there is to love about pi, in addition to a few fun facts! Brief History of Pi British mathematician William Jones is responsible for giving the value pi a Greek symbol, but the actual number comes from centuries of secular thought and experimentation. According to exploratorium.edu, the number has been around for almost 4000 years, with the ancient Babylonians (1900 – 1680 BC) being the first to try to find pi’s value. They calculate the area of a circle by taking three times the square of its radius, which gave pi a value of 3, but they approximated it to 3.125. In the same period, the ancient Egyptians found the area of a circle using a formula and produced 3.1605 for their pi value. However, it wasn’t until Archimedes of Syracuse that pi was accurately calculated. He was one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world, and, simply put, he used the Pythagorean Theorem (a^2 + b^2 = c^2) to find the area of a circle and the value of pi. Although he did not find the exact value of pi, he knew he was close, and produced a value between 3 and 1/7th and 3 and 10/71. Today, Syracuse is known as the creator of pi. Pi Uses Today What an interesting history! It’s crazy to think that it took the world’s most renowned mathematicians and minds, along with centuries of thought, to produce merely an approximation of the real value of pi. You may ask, what’s the importance of all this? I’m never going to need pi in my life, so why is it such an important number? Well, depending on what profession you’re thinking of pursuing, you will most likely need pi. Astronomers need pi for estimating the sizes of planets, architects and construction workers need pi to design buildings, pi was used to calculate the size of your car wheels, and even plumbers need pi form piping and tubing! Furthermore, sports manufacturers need pi to determine the amount of material needed to make a basketball or soccer ball. Anything that involves circles, cones, spheres, and cylinders needs pi. Fun Facts about Pi Pi is the most recognized mathematical constant in the world, with scholars considering it “the most important and intriguing number in all of mathematics.”1 Since the exact value of pi can never be calculated, we can never find the accurate area or circumference of a circle.2 Since pi is an irrational value, computers have been used to calculate it to more than 22 trillion digits!3 Conclusion I hope you guys learned something new about pi! I sure did, just from doing research for this article! So the next time you see pi on a math test or in class, take a second to appreciate the value of the number, the centuries it took for its value to be discovered, and its many uses in society. Happy Pi Day! BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Art & Culture Back to Sections Creating a Kinder World Through Art By Alena Moreira Volume 1 Issue 6 March 18, 2021 Original artwork by Alena Moreira This is the goal of the Memory Project, a nonprofit organization with the simple purpose of promoting intercultural insight and kindness between children of different social backgrounds around the world through art. Their main program, sharing the same name as the organization, involves the creation of photographic or realistic portraits of children involved in the program. These children are often in orphanages, refugee camps, or similar situations, so the Memory Projects seeks to gift the children a little keepsake – a little memory – to give them something beautiful and personal to hold onto despite the difficulties they face in their lives. One could argue that the money and effort put into making these portraits would be better spent on living necessities, such as food and water, rather than marks on paper, and they might be right. However, we cannot underestimate the power of a simple act of kindness, even something as small as a drawing made with the happiness of only one person in mind. The process of making a memory project portrait is simple and straightforward. Teachers who reach out to The Memory Project organization are shown the children and countries that are involved and can choose a group based on if its timeframe works well with the teacher’s and their students’ schedules. Once a country is chosen, The Memory Project emails (postal mail, before covid) individual photos of the children, which include their name, age, and favorite color. Students then choose one (or more) of the children to make a portrait of. These portraits are all 2D media, including pencil, pastel, and even painting, and must be on 9”x12” paper or unstretched canvas. When finished, the art students write the child’s ID code and name, attach a photo of themselves and write their name with little message to the back of their drawing, along with an outline of their hand to symbolically touch the hand of the child who receives the portrait. These portraits are then sent off with a requested $15 per portrait; however, classes who cannot afford this contribution are still accommodated so they can participate, as the organization’s goal is to include as many artists as possible despite the financial struggles they may face. Started in 2004, The Memory Project portraits are a high level or advanced project, meaning the students who participate must be talented enough to make highly realistic portraits. While art is accepting to people of all styles and abilities, the reality of the program is that the children involved wouldn’t like to receive a beginner-level drawing of themselves or an abstract interpretation of what they look like while their friend receives a photorealistic and expertly drawn portrait. However, The Memory Project offers another program for artists K-12 and of all artistic levels. Called the Art Exchange, this peacebuilding program involves a one-to-one exchange between American students and kids from culturally different countries, including Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Nigeria. Check out our North Star Gallery (the Artwork tab at the top of the page) to see past and current submissions to the Memory Project. North’s Art Honor Society has sent portraits to Malaysia and Venezuela, and is currently sending portraits to kids in Cameroon, a country in Central and West Africa. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Editorial Back to Sections DeBlame is on De Blasio By Craig Papajohn-Shaw Volume 1 Issue 3 December 16, 2020 Image provided by AP News, background image by Craig Papajohn-Shaw Taking office in 2014, self-proclaimed progressive Bill de Blasio (D) entered the mayorship of New York City with the hope of further building on the success of his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg (I). De Blasio, now 59, has completely let the city run rampant. His family values and unprecedented progressive agenda at that time, were all he required to be elected as, debatably, the most powerful mayor in the United States. De Blasio’s directionless agenda is clear in the sanitation as well as the homeless problem in the city. While some may want to believe that his progressive agenda of universal Pre-K, extended paid sick leave, and overseeing the 15-dollar minimum wage hike was a step in the right direction, his insincere, arrogant, behaviors and decisions should not be present in a leader. De Blasio’s low approval ratings, hovering around the 40 percent range, can be attributed to the severity of the homelessness problem as well the sanitation of the city. In 2018, a report released by BusyBee, which combines data from the Environmental Protection Agency, displayed infographics that indicates New York City leads other cities in its “dirtiest index” of 427.9. While this is horrendous in itself, it should be noted that the mayor has also done the bare minimum to fix the rising homeless problem. With over 40,000 New Yorkers living on the street, one would think the mayor would put many of his efforts into mending this issue. This is not to mention there is an all-time high of 20,210 single adults sleeping in shelters. It was back in December of 2019 when De Blasio made a promise saying, “We will help every last person experiencing long-term homelessness off our streets and we will do more than we ever thought possible to bring them home.” He said he would do this by implementing a six-point plan that would marshal critical resources. Since then, the homelessness rate has risen, and while this spike can be partially attributed to the pandemic, the mayor has not solidified further plans or proposed new legislation to help the homeless. Altogether, the response to COVID-19 was mediocre from the mayor. To start off, on March 16 he would attend his Brooklyn gym, even though he can exercise at a local gym in Manhattan instead of traveling over 15 miles each way. It is worth recalling that on this day closures around the nation, including New York City, were beginning to be implemented, with Governor Cuomo expected to close gyms and movie theaters that day. A spokesperson for the mayor stated on the 16th, “The mayor wanted to visit a place that keeps him grounded one last time.” The selfishness of his personal schedule displayed his limited priority for the global pandemic. Furthermore, de Blasio’s attention-seeking attempt at a run for President, where his highest poll ratings in the primaries hit barely one percent, was a distraction from the issues citizens in his own city were facing. Some of de Blasio’s most infamous public embarrassments include the multiple occasions during which he clashes with politicians in his own party such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (NY-14), Representative Max Rose (NY-11), and especially with New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo (D). The strained relationship between him and the governor is prolonged and counterproductive. Throughout the pandemic, there were debacles between himself and the governor, such as when De Blasio announced on April 11th that the New York City public school system would continue distance learning for the remainder of the year. Cuomo quickly opposed this statement, stating, “You can’t make a decision just within New York City without coordinating that decision with the whole metropolitan region, because it all works together.” This is just one instance of many during his six-year tenure in office that the mayor has had issues with the governor. His unwillingness to compromise and follow the chain of command demonstrates his incompetence as a leader, or what many view as petty politics between two politicians that negatively affects so many New Yorkers. With only a year left in office, the race for his seat is in contention with approximately 17 people pledging to run. With COVID cases in New York City once again on the rise, the mayor needs to work cooperatively with politicians, especially those in his own party, in order to help his citizens get through this crisis rather than focusing on his cherished political publicity stunts and power plays with Governor Cuomo. BACK TO TOP

Back to Artwork Chalk Pastel Peppers Back to Sections Chalk Pastel Peppers- Ava Sloane Ava Sloane November 6, 2023 Chalk Pastel Volume 4 Issue 1

Back to Articles Editorial Back to Sections Sophomore English Class: 2A, or Not 2A, That is the Question Noa Cordova Volume 4 Issue 3 March 13, 2024 Image Provided by Vecteezy Scheduling season is upon us, and recently we’ve been tasked with picking our classes for the upcoming year. For those who know which classes they’d like to take, the process is a breeze. For others, it may be a difficult decision. I remember the winter of my freshman year when the guidance counselors presented us with our options for our sophomore English classes. For students in English 1A, our options were English 2A or AP Capstone Seminar. Based on the explanation provided, English 2A would essentially be a continuation of English 1A, and AP Capstone Seminar would be a research-based class. Needless to say, both of these courses offer much more, but these were the main ideas I kept in mind to help guide my decision, and I ultimately chose English 2A. In hopes that our sophomore readers will find it useful, I’ve outlined factors I’d consider as a freshman who is undecided about their choice of English class for 10th grade. Coursework As indicated by the name of the course, AP Capstone Seminar is an Advanced Placement course, so it entails a faster-paced course and heavier coursework than a traditional English course. The coursework you can manage is for you to decide, and counselors and parents can provide additional guidance. Apart from the amount of coursework, the kind of coursework is essential to consider when choosing between AP Capstone and English 2A. AP Capstone is research intensive; there are group and individual research projects and presentations as a part of the course. If you’re someone who enjoys researching collectively and independently, a research-based course like AP Capstone may be for you. Personally, I felt research projects would add stress to my sophomore year, and I knew there would be plenty of presentation and research opportunities throughout my school career, so I didn't feel the course would enhance my high school experience. English 2A resembles your typical English class with both fiction and non-fiction literature analysis with an emphasis on writing and grammar skills; if a traditional English class seems fitting, and if you love fiction, English 2A may be a better choice. Remember, you need to choose the class that will work the best for you and enrich your high school experience the most. Structure As a traditional English course, English 2A follows an organized, set curriculum suitable for those who prefer a more structured learning environment. AP Capstone, as a research-based class, allows for more freedom in terms of coursework. Based on experiences my classmates and sophomore sister shared with me, it seems that the independence the course offered made it appealing to them. Whether you prefer a little more structure or more freedom is for you to decide. Opportunities for creative and academic freedom are abundant here at North, and you may choose to take advantage of them through other classes as well besides AP Capstone. English electives are a great way to balance structure and freedom if you’re leaning toward English 2A rather than AP Capstone. Exams The structure of the English 2A course does come with its benefits in terms of future exams, including standardized tests, the Regents Exam, and AP exams. English 2A is a more grammar-intensive course, meaning that teachers will spend more time on grammatical aspects often assessed on the SAT and ACT, including punctuation, clauses, redundancies, and prepositions. Although many colleges and universities have become test-optional for admission, you may still opt to take one of these standardized tests and find the knowledge from English 2A helpful in the verbal section. While not everyone chooses to take the SAT or ACT, high schoolers must take the English Regents in their junior year of high school. English 2A definitely prepares you for these exams, as the course incorporates Regents prep into the curriculum. Although AP Capstone focuses on argumentation skills in writing, the argument essay is only one of three tasks required of students on the Regents exam. English 2A not only focuses on argumentation skills through writing but also text analysis and reading comprehension skills-the other two tasks tested on the regents. Naturally, your junior year English teachers will review these skills before the regents, but I found the prior knowledge useful as a junior who took the January Regents exam. Future English Classes Fast forward to the winter of your sophomore year, and assume you chose AP Language and Composition for your junior year English class in anticipation of taking AP English Literature your senior year; a majority of students who take either English 2A or AP Capstone decide to continue their English studies with AP Lang and AP Lit. AP Lang concerns itself with non-fiction texts more familiar to AP Capstone students in terms of genre; however, much of AP Lang focuses on rhetorical analysis which is more prominent in the English 2A curriculum. As a current junior in Mrs. Brodsky’s AP Lang class, I can't count the times she’s started her sentences with “if you had me in 10A” when discussing something grammar-related. In my opinion, this emphasizes that English 2A provides a strong foundation for students going into AP Lang. As for AP Lit, I can't speak from experience as I have not taken it yet, but classic literature is at the heart of the course. Students who chose English 2A would likely be more familiar with AP Lit texts as we were exposed to works like To Kill a Mockingbird , Othello , and Of Mice and Men . Although AP Lit texts are new for most students, AP Capstone students may find the genre more foreign unless they are avid fiction readers outside of school. I found the English 2A coursework enriching as it had a diverse curriculum that incorporated various aspects of English education into one course. One course is not necessarily superior to the other; it is a matter of individual needs and preferences. Guidance counselors, parents, and teachers can serve as trust-worthy consultants when making your choice, but ultimately you are in control. Talking to upperclassmen about their experiences in AP Capstone and English 2A may also help you get a better sense of which one is for you. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Polaris Back to Sections Here Comes the Street By Nora Chery Volume 3 Issue 1 November 7, 2022 Image provided by Adobe Here comes the street The street that never lies Beneath the simmering crimson sun. Beyond the street The street turns to grass Beneath the time where words and paper never Shackle us. Then comes the grass The grass that never dies Under our tired feet. BACK TO TOP