Evolution of Humanities Honors Academy with Ms.Ramjan

Hillcrest High School, the home of over 2500 students, has countless honors students within the walls of our seven Small Learning Communities (SLC). Humanities Honors Academy is one of the smallest yet one of the highest achieving SLCs that represents part of the diaspora of our entire Hillcrest High School community, in many ways. 

Just how a country is incomplete without a leader, a school’s learning community is also incomplete without a director. And the director of Humanities Honors Academy, who has taught in this school for 20 years, showing how authentic and dedicated she is, is none other than Ms. Ramjan. When you walk by the 380 box and you see swarms of students crowding 380(A)…yeah, that’s where her office is, and with the collaboration of AP Ms. Belizaire and Guidance Counselor Ms. Olechowski, that’s where all the steps towards improving for the betterment of the students’ lives starts. 

The SLC hadn’t always been known as “Humanities Honors Academy” but the idea behind creating an honors SLC for students interested in pursuing college and higher learning was always the same. One of the many names of the SLC was, “Media Arts & Music” and later was changed to “Humanities Honors Academy” and from next year, the SLC will be known as “Pre-College and Honors Academy.” When asked about the reasoning behind this change, Ms Ramjan said, “The reason why we have changed the name to Pre-College is because the name is self-explanatory. The word Humanities has been difficult for many to define and it also creates limitations, but when we say, Pre-College, we are covering an expanse of studies in all areas. Not only that, we have created alliances with York College, St. John’s University and Columbia University to provide courses for our students. Next year, students will take College courses during the day as part of their program. We will be offering Government and Politics through York College and Computer Science through St. John’s University.  In addition to these courses, students can take 20 hours of Pre- College coursework in Neuroscience and Law from Columbia University, virtually during the weekend in the Spring and Fall. This program is for our high performing students who are already taking three or four Advanced Placement courses. Our students will be truly College ready at the end of all these plethora of College exposures.” Not only that but, Ms. Ramjan is planning on bringing AP African American Studies to the school next year, showing her dedication towards diversity, equity and inclusion for all. By the way, she and five other students are making a presentation on DEI at a Youth Summit at John Jay College in June. Ms. Ramjan is the person who applied for and received permission for our school to have the AP Capstone Diploma Program where students have to pass at least 6 Advanced Courses which is equivalent to 18 college credits, so it is only natural to rename the SLC a Pre-College program. When asked about the biggest success of her career, she gave a beautiful description about how scholastic achievements have always been her goal and it’s only natural to want it for her students. Humanities students getting the highest scholarship in the school and having over 50% of the students being in the honor roll has been her biggest success yet. It is believed that a great leader is a visible leader, and Ms. Ramjan is always in the plain sight of her students, directing and advising them to better themselves for their post-secondary education and future, and above all, offering us endless advice on how to be good citizens with a deep level of concern for the welfare of others. In Humanities, we have a strong leadership club, and a large collaborative group of about twenty students who make up the Student Voice Committee. There is a place for everyone to have their voices heard through their grade level representatives.

I, as a senior student, am about to embark on a new journey but as I leave, I take glorious memories of events that will be forever embedded in my mind. It is our duty as the subjects of the school to make sure we leave the school better than we found it. And if we succeed in doing that our school will have beautiful learning communities like Humanities Honors Academy forever.