Intermediate School 318 (IS 318; also known as the Eugenio Maria de Hostos School) is a public

junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

at 101 Walton Street in Williamsburg,

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

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.Anne Barnard and Dylan Loeb McClain (April 17, 2012)
"At a Brooklyn School, the Cool Crowd Pushes the King Around"
''The New York Times'' Most of the school's 1,623 students, who are sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders, are from Williamsburg. The school has 134 teachers. Over 70% of the students come from families whose income is below the poverty line. Over 90% of the students are of Latino, Black, or Asian/Pacific descent. The school's chess program has been called the best middle-school program in the United States, and in 2012 the school's team became the first middle school team to win the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, The World Chess Federation (FIDE). USCF administers the official national Chess ...

national high school championship. The school's team was followed and featured in a 2012

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

entitled '' Brooklyn Castle''.

Student demographics

The student poverty rate is over 70%. The school is in the Federal Title I Program, which gives money to schools who have many students from low-income families. Two thirds of the students are Hispanic. Over 90% of the students are of Latino, Black, or Asian/Pacific descent.

Chess program

Author Paul Tough wrote in ''How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character'' (2012):

the chess program in the Intermediate School 318 is the best middle-school program in the United States, bar none. In fact, it is almost certainly the best scholastic chess program in the country at any grade level.

About half the school's students take chess classes. Elizabeth Spiegel was hired a part-time chess tutor in 1999 and as the team's full-time chess teacher in 2007, and oversees its 80-member chess team as chess coach.Nicholas D. Kristof (January 30, 2013)
"Meet the Champs"
''The New York Times'' She was one of the top 30 female chess players in the United States in 2013. In 2009, the team won the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade titles at the United States Chess Federation's National Scholastic K-12 Championship. In 2011, as the school's team faced budget cuts, the

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Cogeneration Plant donated $25,000 to the school's chess program. By 2012, it had won at least two dozen national championships since 2000, according to one of its coaches, and two of its members, both 13 years of age, were rated as

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

s. Team member Rochelle Ballantyne, who was raised by a single mom from

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and is aiming to become the first African-American woman to become a

, said: "We were meant to break stereotypes. Chess isn’t something people are good at because of the color of their skin. We just really work very hard at it." Team member Justus Williams became the youngest-ever African-American "National Master", at the age of 12. Team member Isaac Barayev, 2012 New York City junior high school chess champion, is the grandson of émigrés from the former Soviet Union. In 2012, its team became the first

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

team to win the

national high school championship since the competition started in 1969, beating students four years older. A total of 318 teams competed in the championship. Along the way, it defeated several chess teams including New York's

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School ( ) is a co-ed, State school, public, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in Manhattan, New York City. The school, commonly called "Stuy" ( ) by its students, faculty, a ...

and Edward R. Murrow High School. 87% of the team members came from homes with incomes below the federal poverty line. In 2013, the team was struggling to raise sufficient money to continue to pay for the after-school classes and travel that allow it to continue to compete. The school's chess team was followed and featured in a 2012

entitled '' Brooklyn Castle''. The film won the audience award at the 2012

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film festival in

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. In 2014, the school's chess team has won 2 championship titles for 8th and 7th grade in the USCF Grade National in Florida. In 2015, the school's chess team won the New York City Junior High School Championship, New York State Junior High School Championship, Mayor's Cup, All-Girls National Championship, Junior High School K9 National Championship as well as Elementary K6 National Championship. Four young women in the school, Nancy Wang (8th grade), Mengnan Chen (8th grade), Vicki Yang (7th grade), and Katrina Wong (6th grade), qualified for the 2015 World Youth Championship in Halkidiki, Greece. In 2018, the school's chess team won 2 championships for 6th and 8th grade in the USCF Grade National in Orlando, Florida.

References

External links

*
School homepage on nyc.govIS 318 Chess Team homepage"Principal as Programmer: Six Years of Differentiated Instruction Fostered by a Home Grown Data System"
I.S. 318 Eugenio Maria de Hostos (14K318) {{Authority control Public middle schools in Brooklyn Williamsburg, Brooklyn Chess in the United States 2012 in chess