Fans of the technophile cult classic Hackers (with Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller) will recognize Stuyvesant as the high school Dade Murphy transfers to after moving to New York. The movie was filmed there two years after the opening of the new and impressive downtown building. The extras used in the school shots (and even other places around the city) were mostly Stuyvesant students.
The choice of filming location was quite appropriate to the subject matter of the film. Stuyvesant, being a specialized math and science high school, has always had an advanced computer science program. Unofficially, it has also been known to breed 31337 h4x0rs as well as script kiddies, as exemplified by Joey's character in the movie. However, none of them have been nearly as gorgeous and cool as the main characters of the film.
In 1995, a couple of students were involved in breaking into the computer systems of several top universities, including Columbia, Princeton, and Bucknell. One news article dubbed Stuyvesant "Hacker High."
Stuyvesant hacker activity was previously associated with IRC channel #stuy95.