Dear Parents,
What a fantastic week it has been at MDYHS! It is a pleasure for me to share a glimpse of some of the programs and events of the past few days with you.
On Monday night, the creative talents of our incomparable student artists shone forth at the Annual MDYHS Art Exhibit, designed and supervised by our own Mrs. Barbara Dweck. The entire Atrium was converted into an art gallery, where more than 150 exhibits of paintings and drawings all created by our students were displayed. The styles represented included realism, surrealism, pointilism, and abstract art. Parents, relatives, faculty, and friends all joined the artists to view and appreciate the amazing talents of our students. There were more than a few requests from visitors to purchase some of the paintings! (Please see the attached photos of this beautiful event). Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA - look out - your next exhibits are coming from the budding MDYHS artists!
Creative genius at MDYHS is not limited to the students alone. The current edition of WNYC's School Book (http://www.schoolbook.org/2013/03/07/anxiety-attack-conquering-the-fear-of-math/) highlights a study authored by our very own English Department Chairperson, Mrs. Rachel Harari. Writing together with Dr. Rose Vukovic, Mrs. Harari explores Anxiety Attack: Conquering the Fear of Math. The study has already received high acclaim, and - being written by an English teacher about Math - it demonstrates the great spirit of interdisciplinary studies so prevalent at MDYHS. In that same spirit, our amazing EdTech Director, Rabbi Michael Bitton - who works closely with our faculty across all disciplines, training them in the use of the flipped classroom format and in the use of podcasts and webinars in everyday classes - was just awarded a generous grant by the AviChai Foundation. Rabbi Bitton will be using the grant to participate in the International Society of Technology in Education's 2013 Conference, to be held in June in San Antonio, Texas. This means even more cutting edge EdTech for our MDYHS students in the coming year!
And while on the subject of outstanding achievements by members of the MDYHS family, I am pleased to report that 11th grader Yoni Hadar was informed this week that his science project has advanced to the Final Round of the 2013 New York City Science and Engineering Fair. This year's competition will be held on Tuesday at the American Museum of Natural History. Working under the tutelage of our Intel Science Director Mr. Steven Kaye, Yoni devised a Balloon Tunnel Flood Protection Plan, to save New York City's subways and tunnels in the event of a catastrophe such as Hurricane Sandy. We wish Yoni great success in Tuesday's competition, and we wish New York City great success when they adapt Yoni's ingenious plan!
All of these great accomplishments on the part of the students and faculty bode wonderfully for our students' success in their future. To help guide them on this path, our Department of College Guidance & Career Counseling Services, led by Mrs. Debbie Solomon and ably assisted by Mr. Steven Harris, Mr. Daniel Zide, Mrs. Natalie Greenberg, and Ms. Tova Werner, designed and hosted the annual College Kickoff Fair for juniors, this past Wednesday. At the fair, students visited booths representing 16 colleges to which our students in the past have applied, including NYU, Macaulay Honors College, Baruch College, FIT, Hofstra University, Pace University, and more. Each booth had fact sheets about the college - including admissions criteria, popular majors, deadlines, and important contact information. And in a related note, 30 students in our 11th grade class are participating in the MDYHS-Princeton Review ACT Diagnostic Program. In this program, students will be advised - based upon their learning and testing styles - on which test they can expect to score higher, the SAT or the ACT college admissions exam. The path to a great college experience begins in the MDYHS classrooms and Atrium!
And that path continues in the college admissions that our seniors have earned. I am proud to extend warm wishes of Mabrouk to the following seniors on their college admissions and merit-based awards notifications this week:
Frieda Arzt - Brooklyn College
Albert Ayal - New York City College of Technology
Eliot Cohen - Dean's Scholar at Baruch College
Esther Cohen - Baruch College, Hunter College, Queens College, City College of New York, Lehman College
Linda Dayan - Dean's Scholar at Baruch College
Judah Djmal - Dean's Scholar at Baruch College
Esther Hanon - Dean's Scholar at Baruch College
Joseph Kassin - University Scholar at Baruch College
Molly Maleh - Hunter College
Michael Mamiye - Macaulay Honors College at Baruch, Babson College
Albert Manopla - Dean's Scholar at Baruch College
Mosie Schrem - Macaulay Honors College at Baruch, Babson College
Sammy Shamah - Dean's Scholar at Baruch College
Rebecca Tawil - Hunter College
Albert Zalta - Dean's Scholar at Baruch College
The Macaulay Honors College is a highly selective and extremely prestigious program within the City University of New York; only a handful of students are selected for this honor. The University Scholar award - of which only 20 are granted in total - and the Dean's Scholar award - of which only 100 are granted in total - include a special Honors program, free tuition for all four years of college, a laptop for the student, and a $1,300 stipend to study abroad. All of these accomplishments by our students are truly outstanding!
Successful college admissions depend upon the student's grade point average, SAT or ACT scores, clubs and activities, and college essay. In order to mentor the students toward excellence in the essay, our Writing Center Director, Ms. Katie Chabbott, will be meeting with each 11th grade English class to discuss the college essay format, topics that are assigned on the common application to college, and structures of a great reflective work. She will then meet with each student in the 11th grade individually to review his or her initial idea for the essay, and together they will brainstorm on how to turn that idea into a full fledged written piece. After 2 weeks, each student will send an initial draft of his or her essay to Ms. Chabbott, and they will then meet again individually for comments and suggestions. The final draft of each essay will be reviewed by Ms. Chabbott together with Mrs. Solomon. We expect that the entire 11th grade will complete this process from beginning to end by the first week in June. This careful and thorough guidance and mentoring is an absolutely wonderful recipe for excellence and success!
As we face the upcoming holiday of Pesah, our classes have been energized by the unique Holiday Curriculum Program designed and supervised by our own Rabbi Joey Haber. In this program - which makes the holiday truly come alive to the students - each class reviews and discusses a specially prepared source booklet on the halakhot of the holiday, along with discussions on insights into the Haggadah. The Hebrew Language classes as well explore the meaning and style of the Haggadah text, and the boys hear a special gemara shiur from our Rosh Yeshivah, Rabbi Harold Sutton. I know that each of you will enjoy listening to your child as he or she joins in the discussion and the songs at the Seder table, enhancing the spirit of the holiday and continuing the beautiful chain of mesorah of thousands of years.
This past Wednesday, our older boys' classes had the rare privilege of hearing from Rabbi Max Sutton, in a program arranged by Rabbi Joey Haber and assisted by Rabbi David Elnadav. Rabbi Sutton, who was born and raised in our own community in Brooklyn, is currently the Av Bet Din of Hakham Ovadia Yosef's Hoshen Mishpat Bet Din in Jerusalem. Rabbi Sutton presented actual business and finance cases to the students, and reviewed the judgements for each case. What a wonderful way for the students to see the beauty and relevance of halakhah in areas that they study daily at MDYHS. (Please see the attached photo from this inspiring presentation).
And speaking of the beauty and relevance of Torah, our students and faculty are getting together tonight at the MDY elementary school for Friday Night Lights, a special Oneg Shabbat program, run by the executive council of the SGO, Yoni Hadar, Rosie Mosseri, Zachary Mosseri, and Renee Cohen, under the direction of Mrs. Ariella Falack. The students and faculty will be praying together, enjoying a delicious Shabbat meal, singing, hearing divrei Torah, and participating in games and entertainment presented by Rabbi Ikey Tawil, Rabbi Richard Tobias and Ms Rachel Harari. What a beautiful way for the students and their teachers to bond, and to get into the Pesah spirit together!
As the school year proceeds, our student teams continue to achieve wonderfully in their various competitions. On Wednesday, a delegation of students led by our Director of Student Activities, Rabbi Benzion Scheinfeld, participated in this year's Model Congress in Lawrence, NY. Eli Azrak, Renee Cohen, Yoni Hadar, and Linoy Vaknin had prepared their own legislative bills for presentation at the Congress, including a bill legislating American support for Israel should it attack the Iranian nuclear program, and a bill legislating school loan reductions in exchange for student volunteer work to aid victims of Hurricane Sandy. All of our students' bills were passed by votes of the Congress! Our delegation gained a real sense of civic responsibility and awareness of the legislative process as they heard the opening remarks of NY State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, and as they discussed, debated, and voted on student-initiated legislation. (Please see the attached photo from this wonderful program). Washington DC - get ready - the MDYHS politicians are coming! And - the MDYHS College Bowl Teams, supervised by Mrs. Shuli Sharvit, and led by Captain Nissim Hazkour, defeated the teams of Yeshiva of Flatbush and SAR, as our students expertly answered questions on math, science, current events, geography, fine arts, and theater. At the same time, our Torah Bowl Team, supervised by Rabbi Jack Savdie, defeated the team of RAMAZ in the playoffs by a score of 18-6. The high scorers were Joseph Kassin, Jack Nasar, and David Savdie. Finally, our Boys Varsity Basketball Team, under the leadership of coach Ikey Dweck, completed their great season in the Sarachek Basketball Tournament, with victories over the team of the Beren Academy of Houston, Texas by a score of 55-53, and over the team of DRS High School by a score of 54-40. We are so proud of all of our students' accomplishments!As always, please accept my warmest wishes for a Shabbat Shalom and for a great week ahead!
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Saul Zucker
