(June 11, 1999) — By the end of the first semester, many tenth grade students were disappointed with the apparent lack of science and abundance of Humanities. The end of the second semester proved to be so filled with in-depth Humanities projects that tenth grade math and chemistry teachers were forced to abandon or reschedule any projects they had planned. Should Humanities take precedence over math and science at a science magnet school? Since the beginning of the first semester, the massive Humanities classes have been divided up, allowing the separate English and history teachers to assign smaller, faster projects with more in-class instruction. This also allows the science and math classes to gain more student attention. But one aspect of our science and technology magnet that has not been addressed at all this year is the strands we were required to choose upon application. The Technology Applications Strand was originally designed to give background in technology use. Very basic education in this strand has been accomplished through the Computer Applications and Technology Literacy classes. This strand was also supposed to include animation. There was one animation workshop this year, and there will be a computer-assisted animation class next year. Some progress has been made towards establishing this strand, but many have been greatly disappointed. A second strand was the Technology Systems strand. This was originally designed to teach students about programming, networking, computer sciences and related fields. This year, nothing from these subjects has been taught. Next year, however, networking, computer maintenance and programming are all class possibilities. This strand seems to be coming into existence quite nicely. The most neglected strand is the Math/Science and Engineering. It was supposed to provide in-depth engineering, physics and other non-biological sciences. Ironically, the only AP science offered next year is AP Biology! If this school wants to continue to attract math and science oriented students, it has to develop a strong higher math and science program by next year. Without offering AP physical sciences, many students who were originally attracted to Clark because of the advertised science emphasis will be discouraged and fall back to their old high schools. As of next year, Clark will have two of the three strands nearing fulfillment, and hopefully by the year after, the math and science strand will also be satisfactory to participating students.