Chemistry lab named in honor of Susan Brustein, former assistant principal of STEM

Ryan Chen, Shaw Williams, and Sydney Xu • January 17, 2026

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Your donation will support the student journalists of The Classic. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment, support our extracurricular events, celebrate our staff, print the paper periodically, and cover our annual website hosting costs.

About the Contributors

Ryan Chen, Editor-in-Chief

Ryan is a junior at Townsend Harris High School, and he plans to pursue a career in business/finance. He enjoys taking photos but wants to improve at “making” photos. His favorite Classic project he worked on is the 2025 FON Saturday night live stream. He will forever remember the moment the song “Dynamite” started playing during the intro segment. After technical difficulties on Friday night, hearing that intro song and knowing that things were working came as a huge relief. His favorite Classic piece created by others is the video “High School Teachers Define Gen Z Slang.” He genuinely didn’t know half of the terms going into the video, and it helped him understand conversations during high school.

Shaw Williams, Photography Editor

Shaw is a rising senior, and he hopes to get into the marketing and communications field while learning about his Jamaican and Japanese heritage. In his free time, he loves to bring his camera with him to his adventures. His favorite Classic piece he ever worked on was taking photos during FON, as there were so many positive and pure emotions in every shot. Seeing people bond over music, dance, and culture was a great experience to see and to be a part of. His favorite Classic piece made by others is the “ADMITTED” series, as it truly gives Harrisites a chance to learn from the experiences of their peers, while also giving them the chance to learn about each other.