Stuyvesant Hosts In-Person Open House

Stuyvesant recently opened its doors to the incoming class of 2026 as a part of its first in-person open house in two years. This open house was organized by student groups, such as ARISTA and the Big Sibs, in coordination with the administration.

As incoming students first entered the building on Thursday, May 12, they were welcomed by waves of enthusiastic cheers from upperclassmen volunteers. For many of these upperclassmen, participating in this tradition of greeting the incoming class was the most exciting part of their open-house experience. “Overall, I thought [the event] was really lively, especially when we started clapping and cheering for the new students when they were walking into the building, even though my hands hurt a lot,” junior Courtney Huang said.

Incoming freshmen were taken on a tour around the school and were shown different activities that Stuyvesant had to offer. While some families went on student-led tours around the school building, others enjoyed a self-guided tour using directions from pamphlets listed with demonstrations from clubs and departments. “We gave them the freedom to explore,” junior and Big Sib chair Sabiha Amin said. “As Big Sibs, it’s not only where we were in charge of hosting everything with the tour, but [also] making sure they were aware that they had other options as well.”

This year was also the first time that families from the Discovery program were able to attend the open house. “The Office of Enrollment extended their offers for the summer Discovery program early this year. We were happy that those families could join us and learn about Stuy[vesant] in person before having to commit to the program. It was great to have them join us,” Director of Family Engagement Dina Ingram said.

While about 95 percent of offered invitations attended the open house, there are many available resources for families who were unable to attend in person. These include virtual building tours and in-person Camp Stuy on June 9. Furthermore, the administration will also be hosting a Parent-to-Parent Panel Discussion on June 21 over Zoom. “Families can submit questions in advance, hear experiences of upperclassmen families, hear from Ms. [Assistant Principal Casey] Pedrick, the Big Sib Chairs, [and] Principal [Seung] Yu and I,” Ingram said.

Organizing the open house event involved significant cooperation between different student groups, including ARISTA and the Big Sibs, and the administration, all of whom had different goals for the event. “[We also had to make] sure Big Sibs, ARISTA, Student Union (SU), and school administration were all working together to know what’s happening. I feel like we all have our own agenda; like, SU and the Parents’ Association (PA) want to promote the PA’s cause and the merch. The Big Sibs [and ARISTA] were making sure everyone gets the tours, but the administration also needed to make sure that they cover everything in the theater. Finding a balance between everything was really difficult,,” Amin said. The student groups and administration also had to coordinate the length and content of sessions and tours.

ARISTA and Big Sib members were responsible for leading incoming students and their families around the building and answering their questions. While some families were on school tours, others attended information sessions with Principal Yu, Pedrick, and Ingram. “We do three information sessions each Open House in the theater, each rotating with families who are either then completing a tour or have been on tour and then enter the theater. It’s a rotation that continues through after 8pm,” Ingram said in an e-mail interview. “Open House is our three-ring circus, in a bit of a literal sense.”

Incoming freshmen were especially interested in the number of clubs that Stuyvesant has to offer. “Because of the pandemic and everything, most of the clubs I wanted to join had to shut down [at my middle school]. Now, I am in high school, with even more clubs, which makes me excited,” incoming freshman Abigail Cho said in an e-mail interview.

Clubs such as Stuy Legacy, StuyMUN, StuyFlow, the robotics team, SING!, math team, the Science Bowl, and The Spectator were represented at the open house. Many clubs present at the open house gave demonstrations or performances to incoming students. “I remember seeing a creation made by the robotics team that was fascinating and inspired me to [want to] join the team,” incoming freshman Rhea Malhotra said in an e-mail interview.

Many incoming students expressed that Stuy Legacy’s performance during the information session was particularly notable. “The dance was amazing, but what really surprised me was that even though I thought that Stuyvesant was viewed as a very technical school, which I still believe it is, there are also a bunch of opportunities for the students to learn a variety of artistic talents,” Cho said.

Overall, the class of 2026 walked away with favorable impressions of Stuyvesant after the open house. “[Stuyvesant] has a very kind and welcoming community [...] that [ensures that] people choosing to attend will have a memorable and wonderful four years there,” incoming freshman Andy Li said in an e-mail interview.

Malhotra echoed these sentiments. “The event was genuinely informative but also entertaining at the same time,” she said. “The students came across as kind and friendly and made me feel very comfortable and at home.”

Since Stuyvesant has not hosted an in-person open house in two years, organizers anticipated rough moments. One issue that arose was the first rotation of events had been delayed by 30 minutes. Many volunteers believed the event could have been more efficient. “We literally had to cheer for like thirty minutes. For an hour, half of us were just sitting there waiting for the next group to come in,” Huang said.

Other students in charge of facilitating the open house acknowledged that the event got disorganized. “The event was kind of disorganized […]; half the time we were just sitting around waiting for them to assign us to groups and overall I just thought it could’ve been way more efficient,” Lee said.

Crowding was also an issue at the open house. “Something I wasn’t very keen on was the enormous crowd and rush that was present throughout the halls; it was a bit chaotic and intimidating,” Malhotra said. “However, it is understandable considering all the families that were there. I wish they could offer an open house on two days instead of one to reduce the numbers.”

However, organizers strived to make the open house as efficient as possible by showcasing only a select few floors to incoming families. “We quickly glimpsed through the fourth floor because the fourth floor doesn’t have much, but if you’re on the fifth floor where we have the cafeteria [and] the gym, or even the sixth floor, we would spend a lot more time there,” Amin said. “We wanted to give a general overview as to why Stuy[vesant] is an amazing place without going into personal accounts. We save more of that for Camp Stuy.”

Additionally, organizers had to make adjustments to the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time, the administration organized advance registration. “I created a [G]oogle form for families who wished to attend. They had to register in advance and upload their proof of vaccination for all adults attending along with photo ID,” Ingram said. Additionally, all attendees, including staff and parent volunteers, were required to complete the DOE health screening prior to entry.

However, Amin believes that despite all the hardships, all of the volunteers made the most of the experience and were able to create an encouraging and helpful environment for the incoming students. “I think we did an amazing job with consolidating everything and showing what Stuy[vesant] actually is, especially after such a long time,” Amin said.

Regardless, many incoming students continue to hold degrees of apprehension in their induction into Stuyvesant’s unfamiliar setting. Though Cho has no doubts about attending Stuyvesant, the school’s competitive nature leads her to believe that the adjustment to Stuyvesant may be difficult. “I also heard from many, many, many current students how much homework teachers give you and the amount of tests in one day. […] I’m used to having [little] to no homework at all, so I am definitely not prepared for that,” Cho said. “There will be new people too. Almost no one I know or [am] close to is going to Stuyvesant, which means trying to make new friends.”

Current students who led the open house also noticed apprehension among the incoming freshmen. “They were very shy, as expected, since it’s their first time in the building,” Amin said.

At the same time, however, she noted how the incoming class was impressed with aspects of the building that current students typically tend to disregard. “I don’t think we necessarily think about it when we’re going through our day-to-day life at Stuy[vesant], but the school is massive,” Amin said. “When people see the escalators, they’re like ‘Wow, that’s crazy!’ while we just accept that as normal at this point.”

Yet, some students expressed that the open house has allowed them to feel prepared for their adjustment to Stuyvesant. “I think that I would adjust fairly well because I will be coming from a busy and fairly large public school,” Malhotra said. “I found the students were very relatable, therefore, so finding a supportive peer group will hopefully not be too hard.”

Li is optimistic that Stuyvesant’s community will help him feel more comfortable and adjust rather quickly in spite of his concerns. “I think that I'll be able to adjust to Stuy[vesant] pretty smoothly. The first few days may be a bit rocky but I'll eventually get used to high school especially with the help of Stu[vesant]'s community,” Li said.

As the school year comes to an end, the relative success of the open house indicates that Stuyvesant will soon be ready to accept a new batch of students who are both excited and anxious about their fresh start at a new school. “I'm really excited to attend Stuyvesant this fall and spend the next four years of my life at Stuy[vesant],” Li said.

Questions for prefreshies:

Could you briefly summarize how the open house event was like for you? What did you do? What did you see?

What was your general opinion about the open house event? What was your impression of Stuy?

What was the most memorable part? Favorite? Least favorite?

Is there any part of Stuy that you didn’t know about or weren’t interested in that the open house event introduced you to?

What’s something you’re looking forward to about Stuy? What do you hope to do/accomplish while you’re here?

How do you think your adjustment to Stuy would be like?

Anything else you want to add?

Anyone you think we should interview?

Andy Li (he/him) (email interview)

Could you briefly summarize how the open house event was like for you? What did you do? What did you see?

I entered Stuyvesant a few minutes later than the time it opened its doors and the first thing I saw was Stuy students standing and cheering, which really evoked a sense of unity. Stuy Legacy performed and several people talked about the different aspects of Stuy before we were then led around the building. Afterwards, we were allowed to tour the building by ourselves and I spent most of my time in the math team room talking to people I knew about their experiences at Stuy. I even got to meet some new people when I walked around the building that were also really nice.

What was your general opinion about the open house event? What was your impression of Stuy?

I found the open house event really enjoyable. My impression of Stuy based on the open house event is that it has a very kind and welcoming community and that people choosing to attend Stuy will have a memorable and wonderful 4 years there.

What was most memorable part? Favorite? Least favorite?

For me, the most memorable part of the open house event was Stuy Legacy's dance. My favorite part was getting to meet new people and my least favorite part was seeing the pool as I'm not really looking forward to the swimming test during Camp Stuy.

Is there any part of Stuy that you didn’t know about or weren’t interested in that the open house event introduced you to?

The open house event introduced me to Stuy Legacy and Stuy Model U.N. I found both really interesting and I'm excited to find out about the other cool activities Stuy has to offer.

What’s something you’re looking forward to about Stuy? What do you hope to do/accomplish while you’re here?

Something I'm looking forward to about Stuy is doing extracurriculars and meeting more people. I don't have too many goals in mind for Stuy but I do want to try to get into math team and I know some people advise against it but I want to try to take as many AP courses as possible.

How do you think your adjustment to Stuy would be like?

I think that I'll be able to adjust to Stuy pretty smoothly. The first few days may be a bit rocky but I'll eventually get used to high school especially with the help of Stuy's community.

Anything else you want to add?

I'm really excited to attend Stuyvesant this fall and spend the next 4 years of my life at Stuy.

Anyone you think we should interview?

I have a friend named Tony and he said that if he has the time, he would be willing to be interviewed.

Abigail Cho (prefreshie)

I thought the open house event was very interesting and it made all of my doubts about going to a non-specialized high school disappear… I was able to walk around the school with a group of other possible future students, and like, I was also able to see many clubs, activities, classrooms, and teachers, which was really cool.

My general opinion about the event was that it was crazy and wild, especially when the people clapped when we walked in… but yeah it was very enjoyable. My impression on Stuy was that it’s a really fun place to be and it opened a bunch of opportunities for a lot of students. I honestly thought the physical appearance wasn’t a disappointment at all… I was surprised to see that it's a really big school with a lot of classrooms, and there’s even more than one gym.

I thought that the most memorable part for me was seeing Legacy perform… the dance was amazing, but what really surprised me was that even though I thought that Stuyvesant was viewed as a very technical school… which I still believe it is, there are also a bunch of opportunities for the students to learn a variety of artistic talents. Honestly, there wasn’t a least favorite, since every part of the open house had its own special moments.

I didn’t know Stuyvesant had a huge library… I personally love libraries because I love to read books and because libraries have this comfortable silence. Yeah, the open house introduced me to the library, which I instantly began to look forward to.

Something I look forward to about Stuyvesant is its clubs. I always loved clubs, but because of the pandemic and everything, most of the clubs I wanted to join had to shut down [at my middle school.] Now I am in high school, with even more clubs, which makes me excited. I want to accomplish a lot of things, such as realizing what I want to do as my future job. I also want to become a stronger writer, since I’ve always loved writing.

I honestly think that my adjustment to Stuy will take a long time… though since the open house, I 100% want to go to Stuy, but already I kind of think that the competitive air would be a bit hard getting used to. And I also heard from many many many current students how much homework teachers give you and the amount of tests in one day… I’m used to having barely to no homework at all, so I am definitely not prepared for that. There will be new people too. Almost no one I know or close to is going to Stuyvesant, which means trying to make new friends.

Rhea Malhotra (she/her) (email interview)

Name and pronouns?

Hi, my name is Rhea Malhotra and my pronouns are she/her/hers.

Could you briefly summarize how the open house event was like for you? What did you do? What did you see? What was your general opinion about the open house event? What was your impression of Stuy?

The open house was very informative and provided a very good glimpse of life at Stuy. Current students cheered and clapped for the new high schoolers as we made our entry into the building and that experience in itself was so beautiful and welcoming, something I wasn’t expecting at all. The initial introduction to school leadership, PTA, and Student Body members was followed by a very captivating performance by the school dance team. I absolutely loved the performance and couldn’t stop replaying it in my head over the next few days. We then got a tour of the building and got to see a myriad of different aspects of the school; we stopped by the theater booth, the sports teams, and Stuy-Flow students. I remember seeing a creation made by the robotics team that was fascinating and inspired me to join the team. Overall, the event was genuinely informative but also entertaining at the same time. The students came across as kind and friendly and made me feel very comfortable and at home.

What was the most memorable part? Favorite? Least favorite?

The most memorable moment was exploring the different clubs and activities on the 10th floor; I remember feeling very awed and intrigued by all these options. My family and I were so engrossed looking at the creation of the Robotics Team that we ended up getting separated from our group and got lost on the huge premises. The student guide for the group kindly came back to look for us and we were able to rejoin and complete the tour.

Something I wasn’t very keen on was the enormous crowd and rush that was present throughout the halls; it was a bit chaotic and intimidating. However, it is understandable considering all the families that were there. I wish they could offer an open house on two days instead of one to reduce the numbers.

Is there any part of Stuy that you didn’t know about?

One activity that stood out and completely fascinated me was the SING show. I heard about all the effort students put into the show and how it was completely student-run. The idea itself is very novel to me and I remember feeling that I want to be a part of something like that.

What’s something you’re looking forward to about Stuy? What do you hope to do/accomplish while you’re here?

While at Stuy, I want to branch out and try new activities like Robotics and Science Bowl while also continuing current ones. One of the things I want to try is writing for the school newspaper; I love to write and I think it would be a great experience for me. I also want to continue my passion for art because it is something that is very therapeutic and fulfilling for me. However, I will have to learn to manage my time well to be able to get my school work done and be able to participate in extracurricular activities and clubs. I hope I am able to take advantage of all the things Stuy has to offer and make some lifelong friends along this incredible journey.

How do you think your adjustment to Stuy would be like?

I think that I would adjust fairly well because I will be coming from a busy and fairly large public school. I found the students were very relatable, therefore, so finding a supportive peer group will hopefully not be too hard.

Tony Chen (he/him) (email interview)

Name and pronouns?

Tony, he/him

Could you briefly summarize how the open house event was like for you? What did you do? What did you see? What was your general opinion about the open house event? What was your impression of Stuy?

The open house event was really fun. We had an introduction thing in the auditorium theater thing and then got a tour around the school from some students. Legacy's performance was also really cool !!

Stuy is really big. People generally seem really welcoming and the atmosphere is nice. When we first walked in there was a crowd of people clapping and I think I went deaf. It was honestly a bit traumatic but slay.

What was the most memorable part? Favorite? Least favorite?

I think the most memorable part was either Legacy or the clapping when we came in. Favorite was seeing people I knew and aggressively waving. Least favorite is probably walking into the claps not because it was bad but I had to stare at the person in front of me cuz it was kind of embarrassing !!

Is there any part of Stuy that you didn’t know about or weren’t interested in that the open house event introduced you to?

I knew about Legacy and the robotics team before but the open house gave more information about it and they seemed cool.

What’s something you’re looking forward to about Stuy? What do you hope to do/accomplish while you’re here?

I look forward to meeting new people and clubs at Stuy. I hope to find something I like at Stuy and will commit to.

How do you think your adjustment to Stuy would be like?

It will probably be a bit challenging to adjust to high school, especially Stuy because it's very competitive but I'll live.

Smoenoe else to interview: evie131420@gmail.com

Courtney Huang (ARISTA junior)

Could you briefly summarize how the open house event was like for you?

Overall, I thought it was really lively, especially when we started clapping and cheering for the new students when they were walking into the building even though my hands hurt a lot. It also reminded me of when I was an eighth grader who came to Stuy for the first time so that was nice as well.

What were your main responsibilities? Were you assigned specific tasks, or did you circulate responsibilities throughout the group?

We had to clap and cheer for the students when they came in, and then we had to walk them around the school and tell them what’s what. We also had to answer their questions. We were assigned to take a tour group and show them around the school.

What were some of the most memorable questions asked?

They asked me if they could take swim gym even if they knew how to swim. I thought the most memorable because I had the same question when I was coming to Stuy for the first time as well.

What were some of the difficulties you faced during the event? What do you think could be improved on for the next open house?

Clapping and cheering got really tiring and my hands were getting really red. We literally had to cheer for like thirty minutes and after a while it got really boring. I think that next year the event could be better managed because for an hour half of us were just sitting there waiting for the next group to come in.

What is your most memorable moment from this event? Would you volunteer again next year?

I would definitely volunteer again next year, it was pretty fun to see all the new students. My most memorable moment was when we were clapping as they were coming in.

Allison Lee (ARISTA junior)

Could you briefly summarize how the open house event was like for you?

It was a lot busier than I originally expected, but I thought it was pretty okay. My brother was one of the eighth graders coming in so I was excited for that too and we also had to clap for them as they walked in through the entrance and I thought that was a pretty nice gesture for the kids.

What were your main responsibilities? Were you assigned specific tasks, or did you circulate responsibilities throughout the group?

We basically just had to take a group around the building and show them all the rooms and also answer any questions they had. We weren’t really assigned specific tasks it was just us taking them around and showing them how to get through the building. A lot of them were excited about the escalators.

What were some of the most memorable questions asked?

One of the eighth graders asked me about orchestra, and I was excited that I could actually answer it because I’m in orchestra right now. Honestly I don’t really remember any other specific questions because it was a while ago.

What were some of the difficulties you faced during the event? What do you think could be improved on for the next open house?

The event was kind of disorganized… half the time we were just sitting around waiting for them to assign us to groups and overall I just thought it could’ve been way more efficient.

What is your most memorable moment from this event? Would you volunteer again next year?

It was required for all ARISTA people to go to the event so we’re probably going to have to volunteer again next year. My most memorable moment was probably when they were walking in and we were cheering.

Sabiha Amin (Big Sib Chair 22-23)

What was the organization like for the open house?

Basically it had to work with the administration to understand how long each session was going to be, what the tour was going to be like, because I feel like the tour really changes according to our audience. So in the case of open house, we wanted to give a general overview as to why Stuy is an amazing place without going into personal accounts. We save more of that for Camp Stuy, and we needed to find a balance in which they get all the information they need on the tours. We quickly glimpsed through the fourth floor because the fourth floor doesn’t have much, but if you’re on the fifth floor where we have the cafeteria, the gym, or the sixth floor, we would spend a lot more time there. So just thinking throughout the process as to this is what we need to do and emphasize and this is what we don’t. Also, in general, just making sure Big Sibs, ARISTA, SU, and school administration were all working together to know what’s happening. Because I feel like we all have our own agenda, like SU and PA want to promote the PA’s cause and also merch. The Big Sibs were making sure everyone gets the tours, same thing with ARISTA, but then administration also needs to make sure that they cover everything in the theater. So just finding a balance between everything was really difficult.

What were your interactions like with the pre-freshies?

They were very shy, as expected, since it’s their first time in the building. I don’t think we necessarily think about it when we’re going through our day-to-day life at Stuy, but the school is massive, there’s a lot to it. And when people see the escalators they’re like “wow, that’s crazy!” while we just accept that as normal at this point. A lot of the things that you overlook, these freshies are like “oh my god that’s crazy!” But I think it’s very refreshing, actually, to see how people interact or react to such a situation, because the last time there was an open house was in my grade, since you didn’t, unfortunately, get it. So it was very interesting to see them enter the building and actually get things prior to accepting their offer here. At a certain point, I think it’s less about, and it’s unfortunate that I have to say this, but more so parents because what happened is ultimately, a lot of the parents were more active than the pre-freshies, and I think that’s because they’re eighth graders, so the level of independence isn’t there as much. A lot of parents are making decisions for their child. So a lot of our interactions on the tours were mainly with parents: they were the ones asking questions outside of what was going on.

More specifically, how did the Big Sib Chairs contribute to the open house?

We were specifically in charge of tours, so there’s three parts that people can participate in. One was the theater where you get to meet the principal, get a general gist of some of the resources here at Stuy, and get an amazing performance from StuyLegacy. And that moves on to tours, in which we guide them to the general spots, but also after that they had their own self-tour in which they received pamphlets with different designated spots for all of the extracurriculars like Stuy Key Club, all of the Stuy Unity clubs, they were all in the library. We gave them the freedom to explore, so as Big Sibs, it’s not only where we were in charge of hosting everything with the tour, but making sure they were aware that they had other options as well. So making sure like “oh, here’s where you can go for a self-guided tour, here’s where you can go if you need further information.” So, I think if you look at a bigger picture, it’s more so the tours, because ARISTA and Big Sibs kind of collaborated for that, but also just maintaining communication. It’s a lot of responsibility [for the Big Sib Chairs] to make sure parents, the new freshies are getting information, the Big Sibs are getting information as to how they’re going to go about the tours, ARISTA is getting the information because they’re also working together, and Moran telling them to hurry up.

Overall, do you feel that the event was a success?

Yeah, especially because in the past two years, we didn’t have an in-person open house, so of course there were some rough moments. There were three rotations, so the first rotation was actually delayed by 30 minutes, which is crazy. I think it was still, the actual experience, I think all the freshies got an amazing experience from the tours. I think the Big Sib Chairs of 2022 did an amazing job of letting the Big Sibs know and also ARISTA know as to like “here are the tour routes,” and “here’s how you should go about touring,” because I feel like often, what happened at least during my year at open house, was that they start getting to the personal accounts and we just wouldn’t go to like six floors. But I think we did an amazing job with consolidating everything and showing what Stuy actually is, especially after such a long time.