SHSAT results come out!

by Cece Beauchamp, Lily Gibbons, Vaylyn Peterson

On 4/29/2021, students received emails from HSEnrollment concerning results of the SHSAT (Specialized High School Admissions Test.) This email stated whether or not you got into a specialized high school (other than LaGuardia,) and if so, which school. There was much stress when the email went out because some people, due to a glitch in the system, did not receive this email at first. This issue was later solved by resending the email to everyone so the students that didn’t get it at first would receive it.

During the month of April many students awaited the arrival of their results. It was a year of craziness and abnormalities, and because of this, the eighth graders sent in necessary writings, videos, and lists later than usual. In a normal year, 8th graders would send their portfolios by the end of October, early November. Tests and other things that had to be monitored in a classroom were mostly wiped from the high school process. Students this year wound up taking the SHSAT (which some didn’t think was actually going to happen) in January, and sending our other high school list and LaGuardia videos early March. Because we had to send our information late, getting our results was also pushed back. No one knew exactly when we would get our results. Some people said it would be pushed back to summer. However, finally Myschools updated their website, which read: “SHSAT results coming mid-April.” All throughout April students were driven insane from waiting. A few weeks had gone by, mid-April had begun, and the information on Myschools changed. It now read “SHSAT results coming at the end of April.” And so we had to wait even more. The anticipation was excruciating.

Many eighth graders were in hybrid learning the very Thursday the results were released. No one knew that they would be released that day. The only thing that was known was that we would get our results at the end of April. Then, during the final period, while class 405 was packing up to go to P.E., a student pulled out her phone. She started screaming at the top of her lungs and crying out of joy. The results were out. That was the first time anyone in the grade found out where they had gotten into. After that the news spread quickly. While in the school yard, after dismissal, everyone was texting or calling their parents to see if they had gotten in. All eighth graders who had taken the test were freaking out. One by one students started to find out what their results were. However, many students' parents did not receive an email. The students that didn’t were freaking out and became very stressed. The endless questions began to spin around the schoolyard. How did some people get the email and not others? If I didn’t get an email does it mean I didn’t get in? It had turned out that there was a glitch and some of the emails didn’t go through to some people. Later that very day at 5:40 the same email was sent out to everyone again, so the people who didn’t get it would finally receive it. This created a whole second wave of students finding out their specialized school results.

We are still waiting on the LaGuardia results and public high school results, but the emails that the SHSAT results were sent in said that the other school results would come by the end of spring. Let's hope they keep their promise and come by then. Good luck to everyone waiting on results!