Student Activity Opportunity

New Opportunities that look great on a college resume:

-Tolle Club
-Model Congress
-Drama Club

If you are interested in any of these clubs, or getting involved in other ways, please see Rabbi Schienfeld.

Sephardic Heritage Project

Dear Students,

Hope you had a wonderful vacation!

Here are the Sephardic Heritage Updates:

1) You will be receiving a separate Sephardic Heritage grade on your report card in June. That grade will include your outlines, individual papers, group papers, booth design, booth presentations, interviews, etc. Each student will receive a breakdown of his/her individual grades. Make sure that you hand in all assignments on time, as lateness will impact your grade.

2) All of you who handed in an outline, should have received feedback forms. If you need me to return your original outline, please see me tomorrow.

3) Starting tomorrow, your English teachers will be taking over the written part of the project. You will each be writing individual papers about your topic this week. By next week, you will be working with your group to turn your separate individual papers into one creative writing project.

4) The expo will be taking place in mid-march. Your booth must contain (at minimum)- a creative writing piece, 1-2 taped interviews, some sort of visual presentation and an interactive element. Many of you have still not submitted your booth design ideas. Please submit them ASAP- your design must be approved before you work on it and you should get to work immediately.

5) If you need more research information to write your essay, please see me, Mrs. Netkin, Mrs. Weinstein, or your MDY group advisor.

6) If you need a video camera to record your interviews, please see Miss Nasar.

Thank you!

Warriors' Week in Review

Dear Parents,

The hustle and bustle of the fast-paced classes have quieted down, and have been replaced by the quiet of the final exams.  As we end the fall semester, it is appropriate to look back - to reflect upon the amazing term we've had, and to look forward with excitement to the spring semester.  I've had the wonderful opportunity this week to speak to students before and after exams - to see the smiles on their faces and to hear the passion in their voices as they spoke about their experiences at MDYHS these past few months.  It is a pleasure for me to share some of their comments with you.

Twelfth grader Sammy Shamah shared his feelings about the senior year - how sad it is that high school is coming to an end soon, but how wonderful it is to be facing the exciting future of college.  Sammy spoke about how much he enjoyed Dr. Abe Tawil's MDYHS college credit course in Small Business Management - how much he learned by having to create a PowerPoint presentation and deliver it in front of the whole class.  Looking back, Sammy said that Shiriyah was just incredible.  He summed up the fall semester by saying how much he enjoys coming to school to learn, and to be among true family - Magen David.  Well said Sammy!

Eleventh grader Gloria Terzi spoke about how rigorously challenging the classes have been at MDYHS.  One of the highlights for Gloria was her class in Jewish Philosophy - taught by Rabbi Joseph Esses.  "This class has given us the confidence to feel secure as we go out in the world - we feel that we can represent Judaism so well," Gloria said.  She also shared that the Junior-Senior Seminar Shabbaton was awesome, and that the closeness of students throughout her grade is really something special.  When the learning - and the whole environment - are enjoyable and stimulating, students are bound to thrive and excel!

Tenth grader Jack Nasar shared with me how much he appreciates the high level of energy in the school.  Jack spoke about how wonderful it is to be in a dynamic environment.  "It has been particularly gratifying to learn a great deal from the Sephardic Heritage project at MDYHS - I get to learn who I am and where I came from," said Jack.  He also spoke about how electrifying Shiriyah was, and how he enjoys bonding with other students - with friendships that traverse the grade lines.

And ninth grader Etty Chaaya spoke about how interesting the classes are at MDYHS.  Etty admitted to being a little confused in the beginning of the year, having to learn where everything is, and how to adjust to a new environment - she met a whole group of new people.  Etty's leadership of the ninth grade's 'Am Yisrael team taught her about her own inner strength.  She spoke about how much she learned in terms of time management, and how much learning is packed into the hours of each school day.  Etty particularly has enjoyed Mrs. Grace Boiangiu's classes, where the teacher has taught the students to open their eyes to what's not written in the text...  What a great lesson to learn!

It is always gratifying to talk to the students about progress in their studies.  It is equally gratifying to speak to the faculty as they share their view of the students' growth and development.  Assistant Principal Rabbi Yirmiyahu Lebowitz spoke of his great excitement upon seeing students taking the lessons of our EdTech program to heart - the students, on their own, created googledocs of various class and textbook notes to use in collaborative study sessions on the internet in preparation for the finals.  Beautifully done!  AP history teacher Mr. Gordon Danning reported how inspired he was when sophomore Jack Sardar - who is not enrolled in Mr. Danning's class - approached him to ask if Mr. Danning could give Jack essay assignments which Jack would write during his free time and then get feedback from the teacher - so that Jack could prepare more extensively for college.  What great initiative!  And Dr. Chagit Hadar spoke about how proud she was of her students who wrote sophisticated research term papers on topics as diverse as eating disorders, music appreciation, and the relationships between twins.  Each research project had to have at least 5 documented sources, a statistical analysis, and an interview with someone relevant to the topic.  And it was all in Hebrew!

Even though we are in the midst of final exams, the march to victory in the area of sports continues.  This past week our Boys Varsity Basketball team, under the wonderful leadership of coach Ikey Dweck, defeated the team of Or HaTorah by a score of 75-38.  Morris Dweck was the high scorer with 17 points.  Our Boys Varsity Hockey team, under the great leadership of coach Eddie Elbaz, was victorious over the team of Westchester Hebrew High School by a score of 7-5.  Jeffrey Tawil scored an amazing 4 goals.  And our Girls Volleyball team, under the superb leadership of coaches Marge Mathews and Michele Cohen, had an impressive double-header shutout win over the team of SKA High School.  The mighty Warriors are unstoppable!

As we approach the winter break, we are planning and looking forward with eager anticipation to the spring semester.  Look for news about wonderful programs and events such as our Sephardic Heritage Expo, the Student Art Exhibit, our trips to Spain, Poland and Israel, Senior Internships, college and university campus visits, and a host of other academic and extracurricular programs.  I appreciate this opportunity to extend to the entire MDYHS family my heartfelt wishes for a pleasant, well-deserved winter break - enjoy the time with family and friends, rest and relax - the excitement continues in the spring term!  As always, please accept my warmest wishes for a Shabbat Shalom, for a Hodesh Tov, and for a great week ahead!

Sincerely yours,

Rabbi Saul Zucker