Dear Parents,
It has been a wonderful week at MDYHS, and I am honored to share a glimpse of some of our programs and events with you.
Our Senior Internship highlight this week is a very moving story. Janice Mizrahi is doing her internship at Emunah of America...but our story starts a few months earlier, when Janice participated in the MDYHS Heritage Tour to Poland and Israel. Our delegation of students visited the Bet Elazraki's Children's Home, an orphanage in Netanya, sponsored by Emunah. While there, a little nine year old girl came up to Janice and asked to sit with her. They wound up singing and dancing together, and when it came time for our delegation to leave, Janice and her new young friend were crying, not wanting to say goodbye. Some weeks passed - Janice was back at MDYHS - and she made a collage to send over in a special package to the little girl in Israel. Still more weeks went by, and Janice was now in her internship at Emunah. While at work, Janice received a message from her mother that a letter had come from Netanya. In the letter, Janice's young friend told her how special the package was to her, and how she feels like Janice is her big sister. (Please see the attached photo of this beautiful, moving letter). The very next day, Yehuda Kohn - the head of the Bet Elazraki Children's Home - was visiting the Emunah headquarters in New York. When someone in the office happened to mention Janice Mizrahi's name, Yehuda shouted, "Oh my G-d - you're Janice Mizrahi?! You are a legend in Israel! We all talk about the special package you sent - that little girl never gets anything from anyone! Please, please, please - can I take a picture with you?" Needless to say, the entire staff at Emunah were awestruck at Janice's amazing hessed. Janice - we are so inspired by your heartfelt dedication, and we are so proud of you!This week, we began administration of Advanced Placement exams for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students. We are offering exams in 10 different courses, with a total of 161 exams being administered. And on a related note, yesterday we presented our Course Offerings Program for the 2012-2013 school year to our current 10th and 11th grade students. Our course selection for next year is unparalleled in its breadth and depth - we will be offering 12 Brooklyn College credit courses and 10 AP courses to our students - in addition to a host of challenging and stimulating elective classes. These classes include Astronomy, college-styled English courses such as Literature Across Cultures and Monsters and Heroes, Forensics, Journalism, Mandarin Chinese, Music Appreciation, Pathology, Principles of Investment, Statistics, and Trial Law. These are in addition to the legendary Intel Program in Science Research and Intel Research Program in Social Science. Our young scholars are being prepared for success in so many fields in higher education and in their career path choices!
And speaking of higher education, I am pleased to announce some additions to the stellar college admissions achievements of our senior class. Mabrouk to the following students: Mark Abramowitz upon his acceptance to Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn; Renee Franco upon her acceptance to the Brooklyn Scholars Program; and Miriam Safdieh upon her Presidential Scholars Award at Brooklyn College. You are all shining examples of hard work leading to great success!
Some of our students are not waiting for graduation to get to the college campus... Today, five MDYHS students, under the direction of Mr. Steven Kaye, one of our Intel faculty advisors, are participating in Brooklyn College's Science Research Day. Jack Avidan, Carolyn Aboudi, Yoni Hadar, Margo Harary, and Bella Kabariti are presenting their scientific research - on diverse topics including EKG measurements of stress, phragmites, and magnetic mass driver exploration - at this campus event. The program is designed for undergraduate, master's and doctoral students - only a handful of high school students are invited. What an honor for our budding young scientists!
Creativity at MDYHS is not limited to research and academics. On Wednesday evening, our students presented an Art Exhibit in the school's Atrium. Over 100 works of art, created by our students - supervised by our own talented Mrs. Barbara Dweck - were on display in art gallery style. Please see the attached photos from this beautiful program. The future Rembrandts and Van Goghs of the world are getting their early start in the halls and art studios of MDYHS!
Academics, creativity, and hessed all go hand-in-hand with the guiding values of Torah at MDYHS. In that light, our ninth grade girls classes, under the direction of Ms. Sally Mishanieh and Ms. Audrey Nasar, visited the Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn yesterday. The students got a special tour from noted historian Rabbi Shaul Deutsch, focusing on what they are currently learning in Torah and Jewish history classes. This museum is unique in that visitors are permitted to handle the artifacts and exhibits. Our girls tried on jewelry of ancient Egyptian queens, learned how to read ancient Hebrew script and hieroglyphs, and held ancient coins - among them was the sacred half-shekel. What a great way to touch history and to feel it come alive!
Finally, in the area of sports, last Friday our Boys Varsity Softball Team, under the fantastic coaching of David Shamah, defeated the team of Yeshiva of Flatbush is a double-header, first by a score of 10-2, then by a score of 9-7. David Maleh and Eddie Nissim were the winning pitchers. On that same day the Boys Junior Varsity Softball Team, under the great coaching of Nathan Zalta, were victorious over the team of Derech HaTorah in a double-header, first by a score of 9-5, then by a score of 13-5. Star players included Andrew Cohen, who dazzled on the field and at bat, and Eddie Levy, who was the winning pitcher of the second game. And on Wednesday, our Boys Junior Varsity Softball Team defeated the team of Yeshiva of Flatbush by a score of 18-2. Eddie and Joey Levy ruled the game with fantastic pitching and hitting. Go mighty Warriors!
As always, please accept my warmest wishes for a Shabbat Shalom and for a great week ahead!
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Saul Zucker
