In a school environment where reading is often guided by required texts, opportunities for students to explore literature freely can sometimes feel hard to come by. This past semester, Librarian Katherine Yan held events designed to bridge this gap by inviting students into the library to taste, or read short samples of, books across a wide variety of genres.  By tailoring each book tasting to classroom themes and course material, the events connected independent reading to academic study, reinforcing the idea that literature extends beyond the curriculum.

In the past week, THHS has received an internet upgrade with new wireless access points around the school that were installed by the NYC Public Schools Division of Instructional and Information Technology (DIIT). “ going to upgrade our network backbone and our Wi-Fi access points,” said Computer/Network Coordinator and physics teacher John Tsai.  Last week, Assistant Principal of Organization Ellen Fee sent an email to staff informing them of a network outage that would begin after school due to the upgrades.

Almost one hundred years ago, Ervin Drake, an alumnus of the original Townsend Harris, composed a piano manuscript that would become just as important in Founders’ Days and graduations as the Star-Spangled Banner itself: the THHS Alma Mater. In the years between Drake's 1935 graduation and the 1984 reopening of THHS, Drake became a notable American songwriter, whose songs were famously covered by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Barbara Streisand.

Transgender rights have come under recent attack over the past year as a result of federal actions. An executive order issued by President Donald Trump last January 20 declares that “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” Two weeks later, Mr.

As students and teachers returned to Townsend Harris High School after the holiday break, they came in armed with an optimism that stems from their various resolutions for the new year. A number of them shared both their life resolutions and their THHS-specific resolutions with The Classic. Many students have aspirations related to college and adulthood. Senior Julia Lindner said, “My New Year’s and Townsend Harris resolution is to finish all my college applications.” Likewise, senior Rory Xiao said, “I want to get better grades and get into a T25 college.” Sophomore Tiffany Ling also expressed a desire to work on “ art portfolio and study for the SAT.”

The boys varsity basketball team is undefeated in division 2A so far this winter, having finished the calendar year off with victories in each of its nine in-league games. After losing two key scorers who graduated last year, the team was forced to “make up for the loss … and adjust,” said senior captain Mohammad Nasrallah. Coach Abid Choudhury said that the team “had to make a lot of confessions and changes” at the beginning of the season, but that he feels it “did a really good job” with making alterations based on those losses.

Last summer, Townsend Harris announced a “pause” in its Queens College bridge program for seniors and the start of a new partnership with St. John’s University (SJU). Through the new partnership with SJU, seniors continue to take college level courses for three credits each. Additionally, the SJU partnership has allowed for an increased number of sophomores and juniors to be able to earn college credit as well. 

This year, S!NG participants received a contract that everyone wanting to join either of the student production teams had to sign. The contract focused on two main things as prerequisites for participation: behavior and attendance.  In particular, the contract requires students to treat one another respectfully or potentially be subject to “disciplinary action” for bullying or harassment. It also requires directors to receive prior approval before publishing social media or other written announcements to their teams.

The fall season ended with a record of 10-0 for the girls varsity swim team. Senior captain Tenzin Lobsang played a large role in the team’s success, according to multiple athletes on the team and the team's coach. “She has been a leader who helps her teammates develop their skills and is a role model of sportsmanship at its best,” said swim coach Sally O’Keefe stated.

Last month, Townsend Harris held its annual Founder's Day ceremony at Colden Auditorium on the Queens College campus. As with previous years, this year's ceremony featured the senior skit, numerous musical performances, and speeches about the mission of the school. In particular, this year featured a keynote speech by class of 2003 alumnus and FDNY captain Tim Murphy, and some new additions to the ceremony's lineup of performances.

During all lunch bands on Monday, students witnessed live rock performances in the cafeteria from students currently enrolled in Advanced Modern Band. Additionally, the band program sold “holiday grams” to members of the community, which allowed them to send live performances to friends in their classrooms throughout the day. Members of Symphonic Band, Wind, and Jazz Ensemble performed these holiday grams.

Earlier today, students took part in the fourth annual “Season’s Readings,” an event focused on Townsend Harris's literacy focus, cross-cultural unity, and the holiday spirit. While previous celebrations took place on a half-day, this year’s Season’s Readings took place during a full school day and added a new component run by over thirty different clubs.  Organized by the THHS Reading Initiative, Season’s Readings asks teachers to incorporate reading into their lessons, no matter the department.

This fall, seven students launched a Townsend Harris chapter of HOSA, or Health Occupations Students of America, an organization with thousands of chapters across international middle schools, high schools, and universities that seeks to empower students to “become leaders in the global health community through education, collaboration, and experience.” Since its kickoff this September, the team has averaged approximately 70 members in attendance per meeting and has about 150 participants in its Google Classroom, student leaders told The Classic. One of those leaders, junior Ethmi Uyanwatte, said that HOSA was able to attract its members “through a combination of promotional flyers, bakesales, and a social media presence,” and that the founders are “extremely proud of this turnout and hope to maintain this excitement for years to come.”

On December 2, the Townsend Harris Moot Court team competed against the American Studies High School at Thurgood Marshall Courthouse and won the MENTOR Moot Court championship. This is the THHS's team's first citywide win in this competition in over twenty years. Team members said their win came with shock and excitement. Marchella Ramos, a sophomore orator, said, “I never expected to win, to be honest.

“Whenever I lose something, I usually just give up looking for it,” said Siddhini Singh, Freshman-Sophomore Class President. “Sometimes I'm lucky and see it outside the cafeteria, but that rarely happens.” With over 1,300 students entering and exiting the school building each day, someone is bound to lose something. For that reason, schools have long had a “lost and found” system that helps students recover what they misplace.

With the potential for students to use Artificial Intelligence as an undisclosed schoolwork shortcut, some English teachers at Townsend Harris have started using Chromebook extensions and other online tools that help document each student’s writing process. Revision History is one of those tools. The app shows teachers information about a student’s writing process in a Google document, including typing speed and patterns, copy and paste behavior, and active writing time.

On November 23rd, the girls' varsity volleyball team won the 2A City Championship final, defeating Hunter College High School. The girls had a long, exciting season full of hard work and dedication. While the team celebrated their victory with a dedicated group from the school community who came to the match to support the team, some couldn’t help but wonder if there should have been more students in attendance at a championship final featuring their school. 

Last year’s annual Founder’s Day food drive left some members of the school community disappointed in one another. “It was almost like people didn’t care anymore,” said then junior Brandon Pinto, observing empty boxes being returned from official classes that were charged with collecting food donations. Last year, Jaime Baranoff, Coordinator of Student Activities, also told The Classic that “several teachers” sent empty boxes to the lobby. 

Amid all the stress, exhaustion, and difficulties of this year’s hallway decorating, there was excitement as students rushed to finish in time with the best executions of their themes. This year, however, there was added excitement because thousands of prospective students and their families from across the city arrived to tour the building for the annual Open House right after each grade completed their hall.

Last month, the boys varsity bowling team completed its fall season, competing in ten games over six weeks, and coming away with a 4-6 record. The team faced a challenge in being made up of many underclassmen and fairly new players. Despite this, Coach Kevin Lau said that the players on the team showed improvement over the course of the season and encouraged them to work harder and longer outside of the season in order to improve further.

The Classic will be live-streaming tonight's performance of S!NG 2026 this weekend. Above is the livestream link. Thank you to The Classic's livestream team for producing these videos: Ryan Chen, Aidan Ng, Tiffany Chen, Meagan Yang, Maimuna Kader, Emmie Krikheli, Max Rosenthal, Emily Zheng, and Yasmeen Ismail. If the above stream goes down for any reason, you should be able to find a new stream here through our YouTube channel.

Last month, Townsend Harris held its fourth annual banned book read-in to honor national Banned Books Week.  Banned Books Week was started by the American Library Association in 1982 in order to raise awareness about growing media censorship and to combat the removal of books in libraries and schools across America. Now, it’s become a THHS tradition for students to express appreciation for the freedom to read any book through a special schedule that provides students with one dedicated period for independent reading. 

Townsend Harris High School has appointed Katherine Yan to take on the role of librarian after Arlene Laverde, the previous librarian, recently retired.  As an alumna of THHS, Ms. Yan has been a part of the Townsend Harris community for years. She has been a student, an English teacher, a fencing coach, and an assistant programmer. Now, she can add librarian to the list.