Meet WHSAD's Students

I have always enjoyed art. Animation and online tutorials have always been a part of my life. In middle school I did a ceramic class, and my teacher encouraged me to continue working in creative fields of work. This experience reinforced my aspiration of becoming an artist. When I joined WHSAD in the 9th grade, I learned about the Pratt Young Scholars program. Pratt teachers came to the school and did a presentation on the program during 4th and 9th period in an architecture classroom. It provides three years of exposure and various types of art and techniques taught by real college professors. The opportunity that the program offered was more than anything that I have ever been exposed to. I applied, interviewed, and submitted samples … [Read more...]

This summer I worked as an intern for an Architecture and Engineering firm through Saint Nick’s Alliance called SRW. I got the opportunity to work with professionals in the field on AutoCAD drawings, site visits, weekly meetings, and more. I’ve learned a lot about professionalism and communication, and the experience has helped me figure out what I’d like in a career.  A lot of what I did was editing AutoCAD drawings, which helped me apply what I learned in class to real life. My supervisor would give me an assignment, I would work on it as best I could, then we would meet again and discuss what still needed fixing. If I ever needed help operating a command, he would help me figure it out. In addition to the experience being … [Read more...]

Why are you attending Cooper Union? I will be attending The Cooper Union in the fall because of the amazing architecture program that it offers alongside being the best financial aid package offered to me. But even before this I had applied to Cooper as an early decision applicant creating a binding contract that if admitted I would attend The Cooper Union. I was confident that I wanted to attend Cooper and that its architecture program alongside its intimate class size was the perfect school for me.  What was the process in applying to Cooper Union? What do you think made your application unique?  The process of applying to The Cooper Union was very tedious. Besides submitting the usual college application, Cooper requires the … [Read more...]

Below, Obadiah shares his thoughts about attending The Cooper Union in the fall. Why are you attending Cooper Union? I want to be able to push the minds of what's acceptable in architecture. What I appreciate about Cooper is its focus on conceptual work. To me, being challenged is all that matters, and I know The Cooper Union offers just that. What was the process in applying to Cooper Union? What do you think made your application unique? Apart from the required essay, unlike other Architectural Programs- Cooper doesn’t ask for a portfolio in their administration process. You MUST complete what they call the “HomeTest”. This consists of a series of 7 very unique questions to which you are given a month to complete. You are able … [Read more...]

On January 6th, at The Armory Hispanic Games, WHSAD Junior, Robert Tirado, came up big in both the 55 and 200 meter events, setting Van Arsdale records in both. The following is an interview in which Robert shares some of his thoughts about the experience and how track and field has been part of his life. Tell the story of when you first became interested in running.  I remember back in middle school I used to race my friends and people in the school for fun, which made me realize that i'm actually pretty good at running. At the time, I aimed to keep going and join the track team in high school. Also, my mom ran back in the day, so another thing that interested me was to be faster than her. We used to race home after school almost … [Read more...]

What activities are you involved in? Why did you join these activities? I joined some of them to help me with getting into a college, for fun and for future career options and opportunities. What are the benefits of participating in these activities? CTA Architects and Makerspace are the ones that matter the most for college and careers. Open houses and lighthouses help me get better and practice my presentation skills and the Polish Castles Book Project I did for fun and because it would help other people since they would have something to put on a resume. How have you grown from participating in these activities? All of the after-school activities have helped me. I got way better at my presentation skills, I got to … [Read more...]

What activities are you involved in? Why did you join these activities? What are the benefits of participating in these activities? How have you grown from participating in these activities? What skills do you still want to develop and how could participating in extracurricular activities help you with this development? What is one memorable experience that you have had from participating in these activities? How do you balance your extracurriculars with your classwork? Aside from school, what do you enjoy doing?  … [Read more...]

What activities are you involved in? -As a Junior I am currently involved in CTA, an afterschool program focused on giving architecture students a taste of how it feels to be an architect. I'm also involved in the film club which brings our imaginations into reality using studio level filming and audio equipment. As a third year, I have also been in the article club and have written articles for the school’s website. I have also taken the responsibility and signed up for Work Learn and Grow, a program run by Saint Nick’s Alliance that helps aspiring teenagers recognize their plans after high school. One of the more fun activities I'm involved in is the Dragons and Dungeons club. A dear friend who is also very invested in Dragons and … [Read more...]

What program are you part of at Coop Tech? Why did you choose to join Coop Tech?  The program that I'm in at Coop Tech is culinary arts. I chose this program because I have experience working in the kitchen, and I want to learn more about cooking so I could cook for myself and my family.  What new information have you learned so far? What do you still wish to learn? Some new information that I learned so far is baking methods and knowing different measurements and different conversions that we use when we are baking. I do still wish to learn more about conversions because it's important to know when to use them and how to use them. I also learned how to make your knife sharp; it's a little dangerous, but it's important to know … [Read more...]

What activities are you involved in? Why did you join these activities? What are the benefits of participating in these activities? How have you grown from participating in these activities? What skills do you still want to develop and how could participating in extracurricular activities help you with this development? What is one memorable experience that you have had from participating in these activities? How do you balance your extracurriculars with your classwork? Aside from school, what do you enjoy doing?  … [Read more...]