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2009: Rising Star Public High School

Prepped for College
Partnership with Hunter gives seniors an academic boost

The city’s public university system has thrived in recent years, but that is only half the story. Schools like Hunter College have worked to build strong learning institutions at the high school level as well.

One extraordinary result is the Manhattan Hunter Science High School, based in the Martin Luther King Educational Complex on Amsterdam Avenue near West 66th Street.

Part of the city’s “small schools” movement, Manhattan Hunter Science provides a special focus on science, but with a broad range of required and elective studies. These include dual-credited courses taught in collaboration with Hunter College professors.

“The most illustrative piece of our curriculum is the senior-year program,” said Susan Kreisman, principal of Manhattan Hunter Science.

Students spend 12th grade on the Hunter campus, taking undergraduate classes and doing high school coursework based on a college model. Getting an early taste of college—less in-class time, more long-term projects—prepares students for what Kreisman calls “the great divide.”

Manhattan Hunter Science alumni report having a significant advantage over their dorm-mates.

“Our youngsters walk out with two transcripts,” she said. “One from high school and one from Hunter College. Those are credits they can take to the bank.”

But if the school has blazed new trails for college prep, the fundamentals also remain strong. Humanities are linked through a dynamic, interdisciplinary curriculum; Afghan history, for example, is taught in concert with the novel The Kite Runner. Attendance and graduation rates are near perfect. During the 2007–2008 school year, 37 percent of graduates earned “Advanced Designation” or “Honors” on their Regents diplomas. The school was even cited by U.S. News & World Report in a 2009 survey of the nation’s best high schools—this despite forgoing some traditional performance measures, like Advanced Placement classes, in favor of the early-college framework.

Soledad Hiciano, president of the parent association, calls Manhattan Hunter Science “a second home” for students.

“Every single teacher has something special they see in a student, and they work their behind off to accomplish that,” Hiciano said.

“The head here is perfect,” she said, referring to Kreisman. “That’s why the body works so well.”

Hiciano’s daughter, Rebecca, currently in 11th grade, wants to be a psychologist, but has lately fallen in love with history, thanks to an inspiring teacher.

Her oldest child, Amanda, graduated Manhattan Hunter Science in 2008 and is on track to finish the College of Staten Island in just three years.

“It’s this thing about pride,” Hiciano said. “The kids here know: ‘This is what I need to do, and this is what makes me proud.’”

The success of Manhattan Hunter Science is all the more impressive considering the school does not take in the city’s highest academic achievers. More than 80 percent of incoming students score at or below grade level on 8th-grade testing.

In just four years, they gain the critical thinking and time management skills to succeed in college.

According to Kreisman, this is a function of great teachers. “You could not make this school happen without staff,” she said.

She adds that students have “no frame of reference” for recent citywide budget cuts because teachers fill the gap by volunteering on evenings and weekends. Extracurricular activities have blossomed even in tough economic times.

This tireless commitment is in keeping with the school’s mission to “bring alive the power of curiosity and passion in each and every student and to help maximize their academic potential.”

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Manhattan Hunter Science High School
122 Amsterdam Ave., 5th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10023
212-501-1235
Susan Kreisman, Principal
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— Brian Levinson