Warriors' Week in Review
Dear Parents,
Even though it has been a short week at MDYHS - due to Presidents' Day and Ta'anit Esther - we have had so many exciting programs and events! It is a pleasure to share a glimpse of some of them with you.
As we approach Purim, our students in all four grades carried the true spirit of the holiday by giving fully of themselves to others. Under the direction of Ms. Elyse Nadjar, our Director of Hessed Activities, the entire school participated in our wonderful HessedDay Missions. After hearing divrei Torah from our esteemed Rosh Yeshivah, Rabbi Harold Sutton, the students traveled to different community locations to help others: AtOhel, students baked hamantaschen with the residents, and decorated a Huppah for one of the residents who is getting married soon; at the Haym Solomon Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, students visited with seniors - who took such joy at sharing their life experiences with our boys and girls; at Masbia, students prepared food packages; and at SBH, students worked in the food pantry. Some parents joined in these missions, and they clearly took pride in the great work of the warm MDYHS family - doing hessed with a full heart. Please see the attached photos from this beautiful program.
And continuing in the theme of hessed, MDYHS is proud to send a delegation of 23 students to join Team SBH in the Disney Half Marathon this weekend in Orlando, FL. The students have been training for months, and have been soliciting sponsorships to help the needy. Mr. Charles Anteby, Director of Development at SBH, has been coordinating the activities for our students at the Marathon, and we are confident that the experience will be a very special one for our delegation. Good luck in the run - we knowyou are all winners!
On Tuesday evening, 60 of our students participated in the opening sessions of the MDYHS SAT Workshops. Led by expert SAT coach Mrs. Sarah Haleva, the sessions focused on Critical Reading - Vocabulary, and on Writing - Subject-Verb Agreement and Prepositions. The students listened carefully, participated actively, and thoroughly absorbed the tips and strategies that were presented. (Please see the attached photos from these informative sessions). Mrs. Haleva has developed an online "dropbox"where she continues to add extremely valuable resources and materials to help the students succeed beyond their expectations on the SAT. One of the students who went last week told me that he learned more from Mrs. Haleva in 30 minutes than he did from private SAT tutors over the past few months. The next sessions are schedule for this coming Tuesday evening, when students will work on Math - Basic Strategies and Averages, and on Critical Reading - Reading Comprehension of Short Passages.
This week, students in Mrs. Rachel Harari's 11th grade English classes created e-portfolios for their study of Macbeth. Each of the students created his or her own blog - as if he or she was one of the the actual characters in Macbeth. They decorated the blog page as the character would decorate it, and they delved into the character's thoughts - all based upon the elements that they had learned in class - characterization, descriptive language, and plot development. Please go to the following links to see examples of the students' great work: <http://contentcatton.weebly.com>, <http://nicolesitt.weebly.com/macbeth.html>, <http://adelesutton.weebly.com/lady-macbeth.html> - you must check out the blogs that Michelle Catton, Nicole Sitt, andAdele Sutton designed - they are absolutely fantastic!
On Wednesday, our talented Math Team, under the leadership of Math Department Chairperson Mr. Alan Rader, competed in the American Mathematics Competition, a national contest. Twenty-five students from across the grades participated in the exam - we are confident that they will bring home the glory to MDYHS! This, in addition to the club's participation in the six-session contest sponsored by the NY Mathematics League which runs from October through March. Our scholars and mathematicians our growing wonderfully at MDYHS!
...And speaking of the growth of our scholars, the list of college admissions and merit-based scholarships for MDYHS seniors keeps expanding daily. I am proud to announce the following additions to that list:
Nancy Anteby - School of Visual Arts
Eli Azrak - Baruch College, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, Long Island University, College of Staten Island
Matthew Cohen - Baruch College, Brooklyn College, Hunter College
Albert Dweck - Baruch College, Queens College, College of Staten Island
Elliot Elo - Pace University, with the Incentive Scholarship of $11,000 per year for four years, for a total of $44,000
Helen Esses - LIM College
Jennifer Jamal - School of Visual Arts
And Sarah Kabariti was one of only 90 students from among thousands to be invited to be interviewed for a place in the prestigious BA-MD program at Brooklyn College. This program takes an elite cohort of students through college directly into medical school. We wish Sarah the best of success as she begins her pathway to becoming a physician!
Honor and recognition need not wait for college. This week we announced the MDYHS Honors for the fall semester - 37 students earned the distinction of being named to thePrincipal's List (having greater than a 94.5 overall average, with exemplary middot and attendance); 58 students earned the distinction of being named to the Honor Roll(having earned an overall average between 89.5 and 94.4, with exemplary middot and attendance); and 13 students earned the distinction of being named to the Certificate of Meritorious Improvement (at least a 5 point improvement in this semester's average over that of the previous semester, with exemplary middot and attendance). The lists of all awardees will be posted in the Atrium on Monday. Mabrouk on your wonderful achievement!
On Wednesday as well, the students of Dr. Chagit Hadar's Hebrew classes presented their creative and artistic projects on famous Jews in history. Each student conducted research on two famous Jewish figures - their biographies, achievements, and their Jewish pride. In addition, every student researched the statistics and contributions of Jewish people in various career pathways. The results of this research were presented in beautiful displays in the Atrium, and were judged in a competition - the winners wereCelia Cohen, Aliza Elias, and Lorry Louzeh (first place), and Mary Chalouh, Sarah Louzia, and Rochelle Shriqui (second place). Congratulations to all! (Please see the attached photos from this creative presentation).
Finally, as Purim is upon us, we celebrated joyously today at MDYHS. Students and faculty dressed in colorful costumes (I even untucked my shirt for the dancing!) - followed by spirited rikkudim, and a kumsitz led by Rabbi Benzion Scheinfeld (for the boys) and by Mrs. Esther Tokayer (for the girls). The boys and girls then participated in Purim Torah Contests led by Rabbi Joey Haber, and in Costume Contests led by Rabbi Avraham Kaminetsky (for the boys) and by Ms. Audrey Nasarand Ms. Sally Mishanieh (for the girls). The contests were followed by special video presentations prepared by the talented actors, directors, and producers among the student body. And the spirit of the day was topped off by the sweet and beautiful harmonies of our Boys Choir, led by Rabbi Nir Shalom (for the boys), and our Girls Choir, led by Ms. Shaindel Antelis (for the girls). (Ms. Antelis, who works with our girls on a weekly basis, is a rising Jewish music star - check out her latest music video - for women only please - at <http://vimeo.com/23889043>). The warmth, Torah, joy, and spirit of Purim filled the entire building as the students smiled, danced, ate, and rejoiced! (Please see the attached photos from today's wonderful activities). And for all the news at MDYHS, please see the latest issue of our student newspaper The Flame, which was distributed today.
As always, please accept my warmest wishes for a Shabbat Shalom, Purim Same'ah, and for a great week ahead!
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Saul Zucker
