Warriors Week in Review

Dear Parents,

What a fantastic week it has been at MDYHS!  It is an honor and a privilege for me to share a glimpse of some of our programs and events with you.

On Monday evening, our Department of College Guidance & Career Counseling Services, under the direction of Mrs. Debbie Solomon, hosted the 11th grade students and their parents at a College Admissions Orientation Session.  Speaking before a packed audience, the College Guidance staff returned the students' PSAT score reports while carefully explaining how to interpret them.  We then spoke about 6 specific, proven strategies designed to help students dramatically increase SAT scores.  And we rounded out the evening by planning for a "portfolio writing approach" in developing the college essay for each student, as well as an approach to securing the best possible letters of recommendation from faculty members.  As the program concluded, many students and parents came over to say how much they enjoyed the presentation, and how they now feel armed to face the future.  And speaking of college admissions, Mabrouk to Renee Sutton upon her early acceptance to NYU, and to Danielle Chera upon her early acceptance to Marymount College.  We are so proud of you!

The road to success at college and beyond begins with a visionary approach while at high school.  In that regard, our Director of Educational Technology, Rabbi Michael Bitton, recently attended a university conference on EdTech.  Tapping into the latest developments and expectations of the colleges and universities, Rabbi Bitton will be training our faculty on helping students to develop their own e-portfolios.  (For a detailed description of the amazing value of e-portfolios, please visit http://www.pgce.soton.ac.uk/IT/Research/Eportfolios/ELI3001.pdf).  In three years, many - if not most - college applicants will need to submit an e-portfolio as part of their applications, and MDYHS students will be getting a head start by working on them this coming spring!

And this visionary approach is not limited to technology - it permeates the basic foundation of our educational program.  Starting in January, the school's progress reports for all core subjects will contain a new section on Skills Sets Assessments.  Each department at MDYHS has identified the essential skills sets for its own discipline, and has charted how these skills sets fit into Bloom's Taxonomy.  (For a depiction of Bloom's Taxonomy - the skills maps that many colleges use as a template for learning - please visit http://ww2.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm).  Parents and students will be able to see at a glance how the student is progressing in the skills necessary to excel in high school, college, and beyond.  This informative, innovative step has been lauded by every college that we spoke to about our plans!

As part of the development of the students' skills sets, our own Mr. Joe Naftaly, along with Dr. Abe Tawil, took his 9th grade class to the University of Pennsylvania yesterday.  The students visited the archeology laboratories at U of P in connection with their Global Studies work.  They had the special privilege of touring the university campus, and of seeing an exhibit about the Mayans in the university museum.  Students told me how excited they were as freshmen to visit a world class college campus and to see the fascinating work of archaeologists up close.  Indiana Jones, look out - MDYHS young scholars are coming!  This trip to U of P followed Mr. Naftaly's 10th grade trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Our students conducted a study at the museum wherein they compared works from the Middle Ages with works from the Renaissance, and they saw the Arms and Armor exhibit to understand the evolution of armor throughout history.  (Please see the attached photos from our young scholars' trip).

Our future entrepreneurs and business leaders took another step closer to their successful futures in their Small Business Management Panel presentations.  Students in Dr. Abe Tawil's CUNY credit class at MDYHS were tasked with arranging seminars by prominent business managers and leaders.  Our young captains of industry designed and arranged four panel presentations over the course of the week: "Climbing Corporate America" included a seminar by a product developer at AOL and at the Huffington Post, along with a compensation analyst for Foot Locker Inc.  "Politics in Business" included a seminar by City Councilman David Greenfield.  "Management of Profit and Non-Profit Organizations" included a seminar by a leading administrator at SBH and the CEOs of Rock and Wrap It Up, Gourmet Baskets, and Esquire Management.  And "Business Startups by Entrepreneurs Under 30" included a seminar by some of our own community's rising, shining stars. The MDYHS students learned about how important it is to push themselves toward success, how to communicate and to network, and how private and public industries are connected.  The students were bubbling over with enthusiasm as they spoke about how exciting it was to bring the real world into the halls of MDYHS.  (Please see the attached photos from our students' great seminars).

While using their wonderful minds to study assiduously, our students also use their warm hearts to help others compassionately.  With the guidance of our Director of Hessed Programs, Ms. Elyse Nadjar, our students organized the MDYHS Blood Drive yesterday, under the auspices of the NY Blood Center.  Led by seniors Gabrielle Sabbagh and David Zami, our students participated in the donation of 70 units of blood - enough to help 210 people in need.  In addition, through the participation of the Stella Liniado Rainbow Foundation, our students also joined the National Bone Marrow Registry.  We were so pleased to welcome back alumni Max Cohen, Stanley Cohen, Ezra Dayan, Sol Dayan, and Nathan Tawil, who also helped in the organization of yesterday's program.  Students - your caring and devotion are a model for all to emulate!  (Please see the attached photo from today's Blood Drive).

On a lighter side of this week's events, our Director of Student Activities, Rabbi Ben Zion Scheinfeld, arranged for a delegation of our students to be greeted personally by an administrator of the NY Nets, and for them to stand on the court of the Barclays Center, right next to the NY Nets team, during the singing of the national anthem before the game on Tuesday night against the Utah Jazz.  (Please see the attached photo of the MDYHS students showing the Nets how it's done!).  While the Nets ultimately lost to the Jazz, our students loved their role in the spotlight that evening.  And while some were seeing stars on the basketball court, others were fashioning stars out of paper - as part of their Mandarin class, led by Ms. Yen, our students were taught the art of Chinese paper cutting - (please see the attached photo of our "Asian Artisans") - and still others were reaching beyond the stars in their beautiful harmonies as part of the Boys Choir - (please see the attached photo of Rabbi Nir Shalom conducting our budding young hazzanim).

Finally, in the area of inter-school competitions, our Boys Torah Bowl Team, led by Rabbi Jack Savdie, were victorious over the team of Ramaz by a score of 18-8, and they defeated the team of SAR by a score of 15-10.  The high scorers were Joseph Kassin, Jack Nasar, and David Savdie.  Our Boys Varsity Basketball Team, under the leadership of coach Ikey Dweck, defeated the team of Yeshiva of Flatbush by a score of 61-52, with Marc Sayegh scoring 19 points and Morris Dweck scoring 16 points.  Our Boys Junior Varsity Hockey Team, under the leadership of coach Eddie Elbaz, defeated the team of Solomon Schechter High School by a score of 3-2, with Eddie Mamiye getting the hat-trick.  And our Girls Volleyball Team, under the leadership of coaches Margie Mathews and Michele Cohen, won a double-header this week against the team of Bruriah High School by a score of 4-0, and two single matches against the team of Shulamith High School by a score of 4-0.  The Warriors are unstoppable!

As always, please accept my warmest wishes for a Shabbat Shalom, for a meaningful 'Asarah BeTevet, and for a great week ahead!

Sincerely yours,

Rabbi Saul Zucker