charles e. smith jewish day school • 11710 hunters lane, rockville, maryland • vol. 29 issue 7 • wednesday, june 6, 2012

see NEW SCHEDULE, page 3

see SUMMER PLANS, page 16

summer starts now.

see COLOR WAR, page 2

see BYOD, page 2

photo illustrations by David Kulp and Penina Graubart

Starting next school year, all students will be required to bring their own laptops to school instead of using school-owned computers under a new policy called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD).

The new policy has been controversial among students. Freshman Harry Wandersman is concerned about the absence of insurance on the student computers.

“I don’t think it’s fair to force people to have a computer [during school],” Wandersman said. “Plus, if [the computer] breaks down, it’s on [the student] and not on the school.”

Eighth-grader Olivia Lerner agrees with Wandersman, noting that kids might use their computers for things other than work.

“Everyone is going to take advantage of having their own computer with them because they’re not school laptops,” she said. “[Students] can treat their own computer however they want. They can do whatever they want on it.”

However, Director of Instructional Technology Ginger Thornton explained that the administration is working with a group of teachers to help students manage the distractions that come with having a computer at all times.

“We are working with a team of teachers and a focus group of students to work on both teacher and student training in these areas, both in managing distractions from a classroom management perspective and in managing distractions from a student user’s perspective,” Thornton said. “We live in a very distractive environment, and we think it’s important to do a better job of helping students learn to manage the distractions that are a part of modern life.”

It is not only the students who have mixed feelings about BYOD. Jewish Text, Thought and Practice teacher Paul Blank sees a lot of flaws in the program, including the added amount of money being spent by students and their families and the efficiency of classroom technology in general.

“I think it’s unfair that parents who already make many sacrifices … to send their children to this school in terms of tuition, should now have to purchase something else In addition to that. … I have my doubts about technology in general and whether it’s the preferred method of education,” Blank said.

History teacher Carleton Cunningham also has his doubts about the new policy, and how teachers are going to handle its obstacles.

“With everybody having a device … it’s going to present challenges to the teachers and we’re just going to have to figure out ways to deal with computer usage in class,” Cunningham said.

Blank feels that some teachers’ opinions were not taken into account when the final decision was made about the new policy.

“[The teachers] had focus groups and, at least in the focus group that I was on, it seemed like there were many teachers who had hesitations. … I’m not sure that … the decision was made [based on] what the teachers thought,”

he said. Science teacher Kimberly Agzigian disagrees

with the notion that students will act irresponsibly with the technology. She hopes that the students

will not play on their computers and will instead take advantage of the opportunity at hand.

“It will be incumbent upon the students to use their devices in a mature and responsible manner. Hopefully, the students will be mindful about how much their parents

have invested in their education at [CES]JDS,” Agzigian said.

Several other private high schools in the area have incorporated technology into their classrooms, including the co-ed Sidwell Friends School and the all-girls Holton Arms School.

At Sidwell Friends, there is a SmartBoard in every classroom on which teachers and students can present and take notes. There are computer labs and wireless internet throughout the campus.

Holton Arms, however, has computer labs reserved for specific classes, such as photography, music and engineering.

Technologically, JDS has a lot in common with the schools above, such as computer labs, wireless internet, and SmartBoards. However, none of these schools has a program quite like the one that JDS is trying to initiate. Sidwell Friends and Holton Arms do not require students to provide their own laptops for everyday use at school.

The BYOD program is a new idea that schools around the country are beginning to implement. JDS is attempting to be part of the technology wave that is about to hit the country, and also hoping that this new program will be a beneficial change for its students and staff.

Thornton summarizes the advantages of the BYOD policy, noting the ability for JDS to become a more student-friendly environment.

“Becoming a one-to-one school will help us to create even more technology-rich classrooms, where technology is used even more effectively and efficiently to enhance learning,” she said. “One-to-one [BYOD] will help us continue to make our classrooms more differentiated, where learning can be tailored to individual student needs, as well as more interesting, interactive and independent.”

news june 6, 20122

‘Bring Your Own Device’ introduced for 2012-13

Students chanted songs and participated in ac-tivities while supporting the Gold or Blue teams during Color War on May 25. According to students, Color War was successful, thanks to the preparations made by the Student Council, also known as the Green Team.

According to Student Council co-President Michael Gould, to prepare for the day, the Green Team had to take out certain activities that they thought not as many students enjoyed in past years.

“We’re really taking into account all the surveys that we’ve gotten and trying to make activities that every-body will enjoy,” Gould said. “Everybody seems to love eggs, so we have a cool activity with eggs.”

In addition to a new schedule, the Green Team changed the way juniors were informed of their Color War teams.

“[For the juniors,] we are just going to announce the teams in the gym and everybody is going to get all pumped up and it’s gonna be really exciting,” Gould said. He added that all the other grades would find out about their team selection in the same way as previous years,

with posters near their grade hallways.Juniors Danielle Masica and Ethan Walfish led the

Gold Team, while juniors Ben Steren and Talia Weiss led the Blue Team.

In spite of all the preparations for Color War, sopho-more Samuel Felsen thought that some things should still be changed for next year.

“I think that it would actually make everything run smoother if [there were] more teams,” Felsen said. “It would let [more] people participate.”

Even though there was negative feedback about Color War, many students remained excited for the day.

“I really am [looking forward to [next] year’s Color War],” seventh-grader Joseph Gelula said. “I like every-thing about Color War.”

Color War eventually arrived and the day lived up to its hype, according to many students, ending with a Gold Team victory.

Walfish wrote in an email that the Gold Team’s spirit gave it the edge it needed.

“We just tried to be as loud and happy as possible,” Walfish wrote. “We wanted to make sure everyone was having fun, but also being loud and spirited. We cheered everyone on, hoping everyone would do their best.”

Green Team junior Olivia Farber agreed with Walfish on how the Gold Team’s ruach was the determining fac-tor in its win.

“One of the main reasons why the Gold Team won this year is because they had the most spirit points by far,” Farber wrote in an email. “Although it’s only a few points for each person being spirited, as a whole they really do add up.”

Nevertheless, students had mixed feelings about the activities offered to them.

“[Ultimate] frisbee in the beginning of the day [was my favorite part about Color War],” eighth-grader Adam Newburger said. “Everyone got a chance to play, it was really active and it was just a really close game.”

Freshman Hannah Jacobs thought that some Color War activities could be different.

“The activities should be chosen better and [there should be] more outdoor activities,” she said.

Many students still thought that Color War was suc-cessful, despite some of its flaws.

“[Color War] is just all-around fun,” freshman Ethan Meltzer said. “Everyone is playing with each other [and] no one is being excluded.”

ninasimpkins and mattlitmanreporters

evankravitzreporter

photo illustration by Jonathan Reem

newsjune 6, 2012 3

Kwame Krazy“K-WALL-E.” “Keep Calm and Vote For Kwame.” These

are examples of propaganda posters that lined most of the hallways in the CESJDS Upper School, encouraging sopho-mores to vote for Kwame Nkrumah in the next round of the grade-wide world history tournament.

The History Department hosted the inau-gural tournament over the course of the final quarter of the school year. All sophomores selected a historical figure and argued that their figure’s influence is greater than that of their opponents’. The grade then voted on who is more influential until only one figure remained.

With each round that a figure advanced, the stu-dent had to write a paragraph about why his figure is more influ-ential than a new opponent.

“I tried to pick somebody that wasn’t very well known so I could get out [in] the first round so I wouldn’t have to write a para-graph week after week,” sophomore Aaron Segal, who was assigned to Kwame Nkrumah, said.

Nkrumah was a little known figure from the Gold Coast (now Ghana). He liberated Ghana from British rule and inspired many other revolutions throughout Af-rica with his pan-African ideology.

Some students in Segal’s class thought that it would be funny if he had to keep on writing justifications of Kwame’s influence.

“It started off really small and we just kept it going and took it [the Kwame campaign] way out of proportion,” sophomore Jonathan Orbach said.

Orbach created eye-catching signs and pun-filled slogans, including “Kwame a river,” “He’s Kwaming in your windows, snatching yo’ people up” (in reference to the vi-

ral video of Antoine Dodson) and “We are the 100%. Vote Kwame.”

At first, Segal did not take the signs seriously. But as the

movement grew, he realized how big the campaign had become.

“In the beginning I really didn’t think that it was going to last because it was just my class. Then they eventually got the entire grade to start making posters and eventu-ally on every single locker there was a Kwame poster. I was shooting myself in the foot, I was so mad at everything

that was going on,” Segal said.Teachers also had input on

the Kwame propaganda. His-tory teacher Michael Connell teaches the World History II Honors class that started the Kwame campaign.

“I think it showed a lot of enthusiasm among a group of students who wanted to de-velop a propaganda campaign to develop

votes for Kwame and I thought their

campaign was quite ingenious

and humorous al-though it didn’t fit in with

the purpose of the competition,” Connell said.

Kwame advanced through three rounds, defeating Shaka Zulu, Cyrus

the Great and Joseph Stalin before fall-ing to Mohandas Gandhi in the quarter-

finals.Connell believes that the students

were successful even though Kwame lost to Gandhi.

“Kwame Nkrumah defeated Stalin, which wasn’t that clear of a victory. But obviously propaganda helps,” Con-nell said.

alecschragerreporter

Every club period, 100 stu-dents are marked as having an unexcused absence from their clubs, a growing problem that was a reason for cutting a day of clubs from this past school year.

The draft of a new proposal published on April 27 calls for clubs to be replaced with two 65 minute lunch periods per week. Students would use this time to meet with clubs and to eat lunch.

While the administration has announced that clubs will not be changed next year, it did say that it will consider imple-menting this proposal in the future. This an important step in revamping the club program.

Implemented five years ago, the club program is rela-tively new for CESJDS and the administration took a second look at how it is organized.

“When you have a new pro-gram, as we did five years ago, you should evaluate how suc-cessful it’s been,” Dean of Stu-dents Roslyn Landy said. “We

know that there are issues. We know that everyone is not tak-ing on the role that they should. We know that there are some clubs that are not nearly as ef-fective as we want them to be.”

Even the most vibrant clubs have suffered due to a lack of student participation.

“Some clubs are not as suc-cessful as they were when they were held after school,” Landy said.

Some upperclassmen cur-rently choose to leave school early instead of attending a club. While many would-be up-perclassmen will miss the privi-lege, sophomore Andrew Siegal would “rather be able to leave early” than leave during an ex-tended lunch — as he would under the new plan.

Math teacher Reuben Sil-berman agreed with the admin-istration’s decision that the lack of upperclassmen participating in clubs damages clubs’ leader-ship.

“I recognize that some stu-dents find it very valuable to get to leave early, but it also means there is less participation in clubs than there would be if

they had to be in the building. They can still leave and go to lunch if they want, but if they’re going to be around anyway, maybe they’ll get more involved in magazines or debate, which would be cool,” Silberman said. If students are around school dur-ing this longer period instead of just leaving, the upperclassmen may become more involved in groups which currently suffer.

Students and faculty are also looking forward to the longer lunch period, hoping to have more intense standardized test study sessions and time to run clubs and hang out.

Silberman, the Reflections literary magazine adviser, hopes to have more time to work with his editors.

“The editors could go get their lunch quickly and have a whole hour to work,” Silber-man said. “I also like that stu-dents who aren’t involved in a serious club can have a longer lunch and more time to decom-press.”

jonathanreemdesign editor

A select group of ju-niors visited the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Thursday, May 24 as part of their Arab-Israeli Conflict class.

The goal of the course is to familiarize students with the complexities of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is consid-ered one of the leading in-stitutions on policy includ-ing the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

This field trip gave the students a perspective on the Arab-Israeli Conflict out-side of the classroom.

The students met with Executive Director Robert Satloff; Director of Research Patrick Clawson; Ziegler Distinguished Fellow Da-vid Makovsky; Ambassador Dennis Ross, husband of ESOL teacher Deborah Ross; and Senior Fellow Matthew Levitt, husband of Math De-partment chair, Dina Levitt.

Jewish History Depart-ment chair Aileen Goldstein was excited about the op-portunity the trip gave her students. She felt the stu-dents received exposure to “leading thinkers” who are “shaping world policy and the hope for peace between the Arabs and the Israelis.”

Junior Ari Fontheim

said that she learned a lot and gained a new perspec-tive on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Fontheim was

most interested in David Makovsky, who specifically spoke about the Israeli-Pal-estinian Conflict.

“This has been some-thing that I have been studying all year,” Fontheim said. “To hear someone like him speak about it was re-ally interesting.”

Junior Debi Smith was also interested to learn more about the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but was pri-marily fascinated in hearing about more “world issues and other things going on in the Middle East.” Smith saw how the issues “inter-twined and connected,” and how “each situation is af-fecting the other.”

Junior Ben Steren felt that the students received knowledge on “very spe-cific real world issues” that reviewed the concepts dis-cussed in class. But Steren felt the speakers “elaborated on concepts” the students already knew and talked about.

Smith agreed that al-though each speaker talked about separate issues some of what the speakers were saying was “redundant” but overall “very interesting.”

Arab-Israeli Conflict course visits Washington Institute for Near East Policy

maddiedworkinreporter

Sophomores hung these posters and several others around

the school. The posters ranged from famous historical refer-

ences like Leonardo da Vinci and the WWII era to pop

culture references like the Occupy movement and music.

photo illustration by Jonathan Reem

New Schedule Proposed

news june 6, 20124Shamny briefs on Middle East, Arab Spring

May 29 — The United States joins Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain, Canada and Australia in expelling Syr-ian diplomats after the Hou-la massacre of 108 civilians, many of whom were children.

May 29 — Egyptian pro-testers torch campaign HQ of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq. Shafiq, former President Hosni Mubarak’s last Prime Minister, is in a runoff elec-tion with Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi.

May 29 — Burmese op-position leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaves Burma for the first time since 1988. She has been under house arrest for those 24 years. She will head to Europe in mid-June.

May 31 — Federal ap-peals court in Boston rules that the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as be-tween a man and a woman, is unconstitutional. DOMA was passed in 1996 by President Bill Clinton. Since then, eight states and Washington, D.C., have legalized gay marriage.

May 31 — Researchers from Kaspersky Labs have be-gun examining the source of the Flame computer virus that is designed to covertly collect data. Flame has hit Iran and sev-eral other countries in the Mid-dle East. The researchers have found traces of Israeli involve-ment in the manufacturing, rais-ing the question as to whether this is a follow-up to the Stux-net virus that affected Iranian nuclear centrifuges in 2010.

On Friday, May 18, Major General Gadi Shamny spoke to the soph-omore and junior classes in honor of the upcoming holiday of Yom Yerushalayim.

Shamny, father of freshman Aviv, is the Israel Defense and Armed Forces Attaché to the United States and Canada, making him the top Israeli military diplomat in those countries.

Shamny spoke to students about the current situation in the Middle East. He spoke about each of the countries bordering Israel, and also about Gaza and the West Bank. Shamny took ques-tions from students after the lecture

“The Arab Spring,” he said, “started out as a positive thing.” It was born out of, as he put it,“the frustration of peoples who had to live for many years under dictatorship.”

“I’m not sure the outcome of this Spring will be a beautiful blossom,” Shamny said.

Shamny highlighted an unstable Egypt as a new worry for Israel.

“The prospect that the problems in Egypt will be solved is not high,” Shamny said. “There are problems that are almost impossible to solve.”

Shamny is also worried about radi-cals hijacking the movement. “Radi-cals, paradoxically, are the most stable,” Shamny said.

In spite of new threats, Shamny thinks that the peace agreement be-tween Israel and Egypt is stable.

He is also unsure about any quick resolution to the year-old uprising in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad. “I don’t see Assad leaving soon,” Shamny said.

One country noticeably absent from Shamny’s lecture was Iran.

“I was surprised by his exclusion of Iran, especially in light of the current Ira-nian nuclear situation,” sophomore Jona-than Orbach said.

Sophomore Barak Bader also noticed the absence of Iran from the lecture. “I found his exclusion of Iran, though irritating, was justified be-cause of the imminent threat against Israel,” he said.

Shamny talked about the danger that Hamas-controlled Gaza cur-rently poses to Israel. “Gaza is a radical terrorist country,” Shamny said. “We think it’s only a matter of time until a conflict between Israel and Hamas.”

Shamny also spoke about Jerusalem and its history and its current

situation. “[Jerusalem] is a complex city,” Shamny said. “There are a lot of tensions in Jerusalem.”

Shamny’s lecture was not wholly pessimistic. He gave measured praise for the situation in the West Bank, saying, “The security situation in the West Bank is good,” considering that it “took [Israel] years to stabilize.”

Shamny offered a more enthusiastic praise for Jordan, calling it, “our best neighbor,” and pointing out that Jordan is helping Israel combat ter-rorism.

Bader and sophomore Jeremy Liss found the Israeli perspective pre-sented by Shamny to be informative.

“I liked how it was an Israeli telling us the truth about what is happening in the Middle East,” Bader said.

“It was beneficial to hear the Israeli perspective of the situation in the Mid-dle East,” Liss said.

Responding to a question about the U.S. response toward UNESCO’s admis-sion of Palestine, Shamny offered praise for both UNESCO and the United States.

“The American reaction to UNESCO is right. UNESCO is a good thing.” The U.S. cut its funding to UNESCO to protest the admission of a Palestinian state to its program.

Shamny further emphasized the im-portance of the close relationship that the United States and Israel have.

“There is very good cooperation on the defense side [of governments],” he said, referring specifically to the U.S. funded Iron Dome defense system. The Iron Dome system intercepts rockets launched from terrorist-controlled Gaza towards innocent Israeli civilians.

Shamny stressed that the relation-ship is not one-sided. “Israel is not just the side that is receiving something,” Shamny said.

Orbach also feels strongly about the U.S.-Israel relationship.

“American support for Israel is very important to me; I feel that AIPAC really helps with the relationship,” Orbach said.

Shamny spoke at AIPAC’s 2012 Pol-icy Conference, on March 5 in Washing-ton, D.C.

Shamny made a noticeable attempt to steer clear of politics during his visit, deflecting questions of whether settlements in the West Bank were “prudent” and which presidential candidate would be better for Israel.

While the tone of the event was mostly serious, there were some lighter moments, such as when Shamny told students that Israelis some-times refer to Gaza and Lebanon as “Hamas-stan” and “Hezbollah-stan,” respectively.

Record number inducted into Romance Language Honor SocietiesThree students sat on the stage to wel-

come the newest inductee, sophomore Leah Schwartz, into the French Honor So-ciety. Schwartz has been taking French since seventh grade and was recognized for her outstanding accomplishments in the course.

“I was pleased when I heard that I was getting the award because I thought I had done very poorly. So I was pleasantly sur-prised,” Schwartz said. The award is given to students who have earned an A- or above for three quarters in a row in Spanish class and done the same in five quarters in a row for French.

The stage was filled to capacity as Ro-mance Languages Department chair Em-ily Horwitz inducted 39 students into the Spanish Honor Society. It is the largest sin-gle class of inductees in the history of the Don Isaac Abravanel CESJDS chapter. Four juniors described the history of the Span-ish Honor Society, and the National Spanish Exam gold medalists received their med-als. Only students who scored in the 95th percentile and above receive gold medal status.

The remaining inductees were in-vited onto the stage to receive their T-shirts and awards, as well as to recite the pledge of induction while passing the ceremonial candle called the mother candle.

“The mother candle represents in-spiration,” Horwitz said.

One of the many students on stage who was being inducted into the Span-ish Honor Society was freshman Lila Bil-sky.

“I chose to take Spanish because my parents made me, but I really enjoy it and I am very excited to be getting this award,” Bilsky, a new member of the Spanish Honor Society, said.

Sophomore Sara Bender-Bier was one of the gold medal recipients from the National Spanish Exam. “I have been taking Spanish for two years. This award is really meaningful because they are honoring us for doing well in Spanish,” she said.

General Gadi Shamny addresses the sophomore and junior classes in honor of Yom Yerushalayim. Shamny spoke about issues in the Middle East including the Arab Spring and the Palestinian effort for statehood.

photo by Penina Graubart

One of the the most important parts of the

induction is the Book Signing. Sophomore

Adir Hakakian watches as freshman Saffron

Gelbart signs her name into the Book of

Spanish Honor Society Inductees. photo by Miriam Israel

What in the world is going on?

alliewienerreporter

gefenkabiksenior reporter

dorefeithnews editor

eachersNon J wish-june 6, 2012 5chadashot

“Shabbat Shalom” has a whole new meaning at CESJDS.

In the past, Friday afternoons have been an opportunity for the occasional song in some classrooms and a standard “goodbye” from students on their way out of the school building. But a new program, called Kabbalat Shabbat, brings the student body together before leaving for the weekend.

Assemblies are held at the end of every Friday, featuring a variety of events, from student presentations about teachers to a student giving a D’var Torah, a speech giving a lesson from weekly Torah readings. Normally, the ceremony ends with a song before students are dismissed for the weekend.

Director of Jewish Life Miriam Stein said that there were two driving factors in creating the new program: increasing the sense of community and making Fridays more manageable for students.

“I’m always looking for new ways to enhance Jewish life at JDS, [and the program was also nice because] we have some extra time

on Fridays,” Stein said.Along with the end of daylight savings time go

“short Fridays,” leaving the Friday schedule a combination of short minyans and no clubs, making the days exceptionally long. The Kabbalat Shabbat program makes class periods slightly shorter and brings the student body together in the process.

“The goal is to get everyone together as a community,” Stein said. “I love having the whole school together.”

Seventh-grader

Jared Cooper also said that he liked having all students sharing the same experience.

“I think it’s nice how the whole school gets together,”

Cooper said.Cooper did not think that the program was perfect,

though.“I like the idea, but there’s a lot of room for tuning,” he

said.One issue for students has been hearing the speakers.

The programs normally only utilize two speakers, leaving many students outside of the sound’s reach.

“I think that it is a really good idea in theory, but I always have a lot of trouble hearing and sometimes just understanding what was going on,” sophomore Hilary Druckman said.

Sophomore Gabriel Hardgrave believes that the time would be better used in classrooms.

“I like the idea, however the fact that it cuts into class time, without offering anything substantive, leaves me feeling bitter and sour,” he said.

Seventh-grader Joseph Gelula thinks that while there is room for

improvement, the idea of a Kabbalat Shabbat program should not be abandoned.

“I think it’s a good idea, but it could be better,” he said.

Among Gelula’s ideas was to “make it more interactive.”

Jewish Text, Thought and Practice teacher Paul Blank said that he likes the idea of the program.

“It should be a way to wind down the week,” he said.

School bonds to welcome Shabbat

Judaism is a major influence on student life at CES-JDS. One half of students’ classes are devoted to Judaic studies and Shabbat is celebrated weekly with musical bells and a school-wide assembly. Many teachers, howev-er, are not Jewish. But despite their religious differences, they have chosen to teach at JDS.

Non-Jewish teachers enjoy teaching at Jewish schools because of the way Judaism impacts the school atmosphere.

“I like that [Judaism] makes the school more commu-nity-oriented,” math teacher Victoria Ball said. “I like that it meant we had sort of seasonal events to celebrate. I really had liked the Jewish community spirit. I liked that there were things going on that united everybody.”

Although teachers now find teaching at JDS plea-surable, some non-Jewish teachers found that their first year at a Jewish school was difficult because of the new environment.

Ball, who first taught at the Jewish Primary Day School, found her first year very confusing.

“[My first year was like] a foreign exchange program,” Ball said. “It was like I went and taught [at] a school in an-other country, insofar as there was another language that everyone knew that I could pick up pieces of, and there were all these holidays that I hadn’t heard.”

Other teachers found it necessary to prepare for the new cultural experience.

“I wasn’t sure how intense it was going to be … but I wanted to be sure that I could appreciate what was going

on, so I bought a book [about Judaism],” English teacher Michael Abell said. “It taught me all about the holidays, it taught me about what Jews believe about things, it taught me how they look at the Torah…it made it really, really easy for me to understand some of the things that went on in the school. So in that regard, I think it allowed me to become immersed and involved in the daily life of the school.”

Despite initial difficulties, many teachers appreciate the knowledge about Judaism they have gained from teaching at a Jewish school.

“It’s been very much of a learning experience for me to learn more and more about Judaism,” History teacher Carleton Cunningham said. “I certainly never would have learned as much about Judaism had I not been teaching here.”

Most non-Jewish teachers believe the administration works hard to make JDS an environment where they can feel comfortable having a different religious affiliation.

“Something our school does a very good job with is that you know there’s lots of Hebrew and Yiddish words that get thrown around, there are a lot of traditions that get talked about, and you know Dr. [Michael] Kay and other members of the faculty like Mrs. [Miriam] Stein make a big point that we want everyone to be informed on this,” Ball said.

In addition to learning about Judaism, some non-Jewish teachers have been able to teach students about other faiths.

“Kids are curious. They want to ask me about my faith and they want to know about my beliefs and I’m very happy to share them of course, when we talk about

‘Night,’ when we talk about ‘Of Mice and Men,’ I bring out my perspective on Biblical belief,” Abell said.

Cunningham also appreciates the opportunity to teach students about Christianity.

“I enjoy teaching Christianity at a Jewish school in particular because I think Jews are somewhat interested in how Christianity grew out of Judaism. I think it’s a way I can really grab their attention,” Cunningham said. “They can see how the two religions start out as one or as divi-sions within the Jewish community and how over time they begin to diverge and why, and in what ways.”

However, teachers who do not feel as passionately about religion find that it barely affects what they teach their students. According to Science teacher Kimberly Agzigian, there is little mention of religion during class, leaving hardly any opportunity to discuss it.

“I teach science. I don’t do comparative religions. [But] if they ask me a question and I happen to know the answer out of personal knowledge then I’ll answer it,” Agzigian said.

Most teachers feel that being non-Jewish does not make them feel less excluded at JDS. Ball has found that she has been able to participate in Jewish life at school as much as any other teacher.

“I think that [Judaism is] a fun part of life at school, getting involved with the life of it and I think that the school has responded enthusiastically to my enthusiasm about participating in things that might not be my own cultural traditions,” Ball said. “In spite of the fact that I did not grow up learning Torah, I consider myself a compe-tent person and on a shabbaton or something I’ll have a discussion about the parsha with a group of kids.”

dinarabinovitzreporter

jacobdorn and gefenkabikweb editor and senior reporter

Reflecting on experiences in the Jewish community

Kabbalat Shabbat assemblies unite school with song, speeches, student solidarity

A wide variety of events are

customary at Kabbalat Shabbat

ceremonies, ranging from dancing, to

singing, to speeches by students and

teachers.

photos by Hannah Becker , Penina Graubart, Yael Green and Rachel Skulnik

chadashot june 6, 20126

Every year, new students transfer to CESJDS, with a significant number coming from Israel. These students learn to adapt to the differences in American schools.

Eighth-grader Ofir Wurmbrand moved to Maryland in 2008. Before transferring to JDS, he attended a public elementary school in Jerusalem.

The difference between American and Israeli schools “is basically like night and day,” Wurmbrand said.

Freshman Adi Cohen moved from Israel to the United States last July. Before emigrating to America, she attended a public school in Modi’in, Israel. One of the main differences that she found between the two schools is the way that Jewish values are taught. Cohen believes that some of her classes in Israel discussed Jewish values, but were much more secular than at JDS.

“We don’t have Life Cycles or Ethical Dilemmas [in Israel], it’s just part of normal studies,” she said.

In America, Cohen also had to bridge the language gap.

“It was hard in the beginning because I didn’t know [English] that well,” she said.

Hebrew department chair Yaffa Dagony, who has taught at a public high school in Ramat Gan, Israel, explained that one of the biggest differences between Israeli schools and JDS was the structure of the day.

Dagony said that while in Israel, students stay in the same room, and teachers move from class to class to teach specific subjects.

Hebrew teacher Dr. Merav Luger-Hamer had similar experiences when she taught in Israel.

“I think it’s different [here] because there is a home class, but here every class is something else,” Luger-Hamer said

Both Dagony and Cohen highlighted the lack of technology in Israeli schools. Few schools in Israel have technology like that of JDS. JDS’s strong

emphasis on the integration of technology was a significant—but positive—change for Cohen.

“I think [technology] helps to learn better and to do your work and to be organized at home, like with the school website,”

Cohen said. Although it may seem like there are many differences

between Israeli schools and JDS, schools in Israel place as much, if not more, emphasis on security than JDS and other

American schools do. Hebrew teacher Chen Aharon explained that security in Israel is a community effort, and there may be more

security directly around the schools.Cohen said that in her school, there were very strict policies for security. “We have a guard in the front of the school and you need to wear a shirt with the

school logo, so the guard will let you go inside,” she said. In addition to stricter security policies, both Wurmbrand and Cohen found

differences between the behavior of Israeli and American students. Cohen believes that American students are less attentive than Israeli students.

“The kids in Israel are much more wild,” Cohen said. “We’re not as quiet in class as the Americans.”

Although American students are thought to be better behaved, Lugar-Hamer believes that the attitude toward discipline is much stricter at JDS.

“I think the ways of treating [others] here are much more strict. In Israel, they pretty much try to be softer,” she said. “I think that how you deal with it is very important.”

Dagony also saw a gap in the student-teacher relationships in America. She believes that in Israel, “the limits between teacher and students are different.”

In Israel, students can address teachers by their first names or even call them on their cell phones.

“Students were my neighbors, they were my friend’s children, there was a much closer relationship,” Dagony said.

Dagony also saw a separation between the working world and home life in American culture in general.

“Israel is a much more closer culture society. Here we try to keep more distance with students. I’m not the teacher that is doing Facebook with students, and I don’t have friends on Facebook with students,” Dagony said.

Different teaching styles for different countriesninasimpkins and jeremykaplanreporters

Israeli students and teachers compare education in Israel, America

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Avoiding a nuclear IranRecently, Iran reached a deal with the International

Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that allows for inspections into Iran’s nuclear program. This agreement will allow the IAEA to resume its stalled inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The IAEA is an organization dedicated to the promotion of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Iran’s nuclear program has long been controversial. Iran has claimed that its program is peaceful; President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that it is for medical purposes.

Others dispute this claim, saying that there is no need for Iran to pursue these materials for any reason other than nuclear weapons.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak believes that Iran is playing for time with the international community, and that this deal will not achieve much, if anything.

Some students at CESJDS agree.“Iran will probably try to get

around the deal a bit, but I think it will fail due to a good job by the IAEA,” junior Robbie Shorr said.

“I believe that if the IAEA is allowed to inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities and [if ] they find that in fact, Iran is using its nuclear energy solely for peaceful purposes, it will significantly lower the tension that is currently keeping the Middle East on the brink of war,” sophomore Daniel Thorne said.

Although negotiations have been going on for months, Iran only recently agreed to these inspections.

“I think if Iran were interested in making peace with the U.S., they would

have let the U.S. and or U.N. forces inspect the facilities without being so difficult,” sophomore Jason Cohen said.

“I think Iran’s admittance of

inspection teams means that Iran has at least some

desire for peace, but we must first see the results of these inspections before jumping to conclusions about Iran’s aspirations for peace,” Thorne said.

“I feel positive about the deal because the international community is very worried and Iran will therefore be very careful,” Shorr said.

Sophomore Jacob

W e i n b e r g e r believes these

negotiations will be “fruitless.”

“[The inspection teams] are denied access to

some sites, like they were in the past,” Weinberger said.

“I do not think Iran will comply with such an agreement,” Cohen said, adding that his overall view

is “pessimistic.”“They could have stockpiled and hidden all the

materials they needed to build a weapon of mass destruction, which of course the IAEA would never see. They are not to be trusted,” Weinberger said.

In an attempt to persuade Iran to end their nuclear program, the U.S. government recently approved tougher sanctions against their energy sector, as well as against companies that provide the Iranian regime with weapons that are used to commit human rights abuses.

Shorr, who is opposed to international sanctions on principle, believes that these sanctions will be no different.

“Iran has shown a tendency not to really worry about its dealings with foreign countries,” Shorr said.

“These seem like just sanctions, in that they stand up for the Iranian citizens and forces their government to behave more ethically and perhaps cement their basic human rights on which America was founded,” Thorne said.

Weinberger supports the new sanctions against Iran’s energy sector, as long as “they prove not to cause severe economic suffering for the average Iranian citizen.”

Weinberger does not support economic sanctions in any form, because he believes that they “produce hardships on the everyday citizens of Iran, most of whom are totally innocent.”

While Thorne favors the concept of the sanctions, he doubts that they will work because “there will be other countries which will be willing to trade with them with no

hesitancy.”“I favor sanctions that directly impact those sectors,

like the energy sector, that benefit Iran’s WMD capabilities,” Weinberger said.

In addition to approving the newest round of sanctions, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that he would be ready “from a military perspective” to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

In an interview with The Week magazine, Panetta further stated that such an action on the U.S.’s part would be consistent with other measures the U.S. uses to “defend ourselves.”

“I fully support the principle of a preemptive strike on Iran because it would be in self defense. It would

be better for us to attack them and only destroy military technology than for them to

murder civilians,” Thorne said.“I believe that Iran is a growing

threat to Israel and the U.S., and if the U.S. does not push harder to

stop Iran’s nuclear program, the result will be a nuclear

Iran with Ahmadinejad in power,” sophomore

Jason Cohen said.As if to

underscore the feelings held by people like Cohen, Iran recently

announced that it will continue to develop uranium that can be used for nuclear weapons. They planning to contrust two additional nuclear facilities.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a group dedicated to monitoring the progress of Iran’s nuclear program, published a statement claiming that Iran will soon have enough uranium for five nuclear bombs.

“This is extremely disturbing, and if this is true, people should be even more suspicious of Iran’s nuclear ambitions than they already are,” Thorne said.

“It’s important to distinguish between penalizing the government and its policies and penalizing everyday citizens who are just trying to make a living,” Weinberger said.

Sanctions, inspection teams try to promote peace in Middle East

A mother stricken with lupus. A father with severe back issues. Six children. A disgustingly unhealthy and dangerous home. No, this family does not live in some far-

off third-world country. The reality is that this occurs much, much closer to home: only a few miles away

Recently I, along with my good friend Scott Gershman and about 10 to 20 other volunteers, participated in a project called “Rebuilding Together.” The mission of the organization, according to its website, is to bring “volunteers and communities together to improve the homes and lives of low-income hom-eowners.” Their vision is for every person to have “a safe and healthy home.”

In our case, this meant traveling to the Kemp Mill neighborhood of Silver

Spring, affectionately called “the shtetl” for its high population of ultra-religious Jews. What we found there was absolute-ly shocking. To begin with, no one in the family we visited, was able to keep the house tidy, mainly due to health issues. If you’ve ever seen the A&E show “Hoard-ers,” the experience was similar, but with pictures of rabbis and religious objects instead of old bags of food. (But believe me, there was enough of that, too.) We couldn’t help them with this, however, as the mother refused to allow us to get rid of anything we deemed “unnecessary.” But she didn’t give us an argument about giving the house a physical makeover. Neither would you if you lived in what amounted to a large dumpster.

Let me paint you a picture. Since my first job was ripping up all the excre-ment-stained carpet around the house—no small task, mind you—before I even was allowed to enter the home, I had to put on a surgical mask to protect myself from whatever harmful toxins were to be found under the carpet. Even with the mask, I had to step outside every 10 or

15 minutes to give my body a break from the dust-filled air inside the house. (There were also no windows, and therefore no light in any of the rooms, so I needed to see the light of day every once in a while, too.)

Yeah, it was that bad.The first Sunday I was there, Scott

and I ripped up carpet for about six hours straight. We were able to see firsthand just how grotesque this house was. In the bedroom of two of the daughters, for example, the carpet was moldy and stained everywhere. After we ripped it up, we saw there were nails in the middle of the floor holding the carpet down, which had never been seen before by the present handymen.

This experience taught me two things. First, it forced me to think about the people whose day job it is to do the same back-breaking labor I had to do. I’m as big a proponent of blue-collar jobs as anybody you will find, but thinking about having to do hard manual labor every day just to put food on the table really highlights how ignorant we are. Many of

our parents have white-collar jobs and sit in an office all day, but we never think about the people who do the dirty jobs no one else would want to do.

The more important lesson I learned was the value of community service, especially in our tightly-knit Jewish com-munity. Because of the school that we go to and its environment, it’s very easy to think that, if someone is Jewish, they are free of hardships and in a fine situation. It’s mind-boggling to realize that there are Jews in the community, our brothers, who urgently need our help. We are all so lucky to be in the amazing situation that we’re in, and the least we can do is give back to other Jews, our family, who could never dream of being as lucky as we are. It’ll make you feel better about yourself, and, without a doubt, it will permanently change the lives of those you’re helping.

Now, the next time you get an op-portunity to go rip up some carpet and inhale harmful particles in the shtetl, I hope you will take it.

stukrantzcopy editor

gues

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umn

‘Rebuilding’ the community, one house at a time

Iran

matthewfoldichadashot editor

art by

Annie

Schte

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entertainment june 6, 20128

Bridge of

Poetry-N-Motion Dance Company: Dancing For a Cause

All JDS students must fulfill a certain amount of community service hours. Some choose to find a way to earn these hours doing something they love.

Junior Danielle Masica and sophomores Diana Bender-Bier and Samantha Gruhin dance with Poetry-N-Motion Dance Company as a way of earning community service hours. This unique dance company has a mission of spreading awareness of domestic violence through the art of dance.

“Basically, we are raising awareness about domestic violence. We are educating everyone about it,” Masica said.

Bender-Bier explained that the company’s dedication to domestic violence awareness came from director Kiima Morrison, who suffered the loss of her close friend to domestic violence.

“[Morrison’s] friend died of domestic violence so she realized she can use dancing to honor her,” Masica said.

The group honored her recently by performing a dance show called “Bridge of Light” on May 5.

Gruhin said that the show was a major success.“Our show every year has tons of people in the

audience that are educated about domestic violence. We

give advice on how to stop it if you know someone going through it, or how to help,” Gruhin said.

The money that is raised during the performance goes to an organization called “In Honor of Her.” The

organization raises awareness for domestic violence.Masica found out about Poetry-N-Motion through

former JDS students at the school. She loves that the group is a small group of people who are now her close friends.

“The company is a small group of girls that is really tightly knit. They are all my best friends,” Masica said. “I

feel like I can truly be myself around them and they never judge me.”

Gruhin described dance as one of the most important things in her life.

“I have been dancing since I was really little. And I love it so much. It has always been a window to express emotion when I needed to. I wouldn’t know what to do, or even who I was if I didn’t have dance,” Gruhin said.

Masica agrees that dancing has an expressive aspect.

“I like dancing so much because it’s a place where I can relieve stress,” Masica said. “It’s a place where I can express how I feel.”

Bender-Bier said that she got more out of her community service experience when she did something that she was passionate about.

“I feel like I was really able to contribute to [the community] and still have a good time,” Bender-Bier said.

Bender-Bier also said she would encourage other students to participate in community service involving their passions.

“If you can find something that involves your hobby and your passion then you should definitely do it because it is going to make you feel ten times better,” Bender-Bier said.

Masica, Gruhin, and Bender-Bier love to dance, and they love dancing in their community. Poetry-N-Motion provides the perfect place for them to do just that.

“It’s amazing to be able to do all of it for such a strong cause,” Masica said.

“If you help someone who is in a rough situation, you’re not only giving them the necessities to get out of that bad situation, you’re also doing something that you love,” Gruhin said.

ninasimpkins and hannahwexlerreporters

“It’s amazing to be able to [dance] for such a strong cause” —junior Danielle Masica

photos by Rebecca Panitch and Linor Shemesh

Students, teachers and staff came together on May 23 to celebrate the arts at CESJDS during Arts Chai-Lights. Many types of performance came together for this event, including poetry reading, music, and photography.

9advertisementjune 6, 2012

in depth june 6, 201210

Educating a more perfect unionCivic education is a critical issue for schools in America. According to the 2012 Na-

tional Assessment of Educational Progress exam, fewer than half of all eighth-graders know the purpose of the Bill of Rights.

David Feith (’05), assistant editorial features editor at the Wall Street Journal and editor of the anthology “Teaching America: The Case for Civic Education,” is a strong believer in the value of civic education.

“Civic education is … absolutely crucial for maintaining a healthy American citizenry,” Feith said. “There’s a lot of work that has to go into cultivating the kind of sentiments and skills and knowledge that you need in a healthy democratic citizenry, generation after generation.”

Feith, through the Civic Education Initiative, recently began a program called “Challenge 2026.”

“Challenge 2026 is a very simple idea. By 2026, which is the 250th birthday of the country, all high school students ought to be able to pass the U.S. citizenship test,” Feith said.

CESJDS is no exception. The Lion’s Tale administered a test modeled after the U.S. citizenship test to students in grades eight through 11. Out of about 275 students tested at JDS, fewer than eight percent knew who wrote the Constitution (over 40 per-cent believed that Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote it) and 62 percent of students knew how many U.S. Senators there are; answers ranged from fewer than 10 to more than 400. Answers to the meeting place of the U.S. Congress ranged from the White House to the Library of Congress.

So how exactly does JDS go about “cultivating those … sentiments and skills?” Much of the foundation, according to History Department chair Steven Manley, is laid in the eighth grade Government and Economics course.

“Eighth grade is where we teach the basics,” Manley said, noting that JDS does not offer an AP U.S. Government and Politics course.

History teacher Eytan Apter agreed, adding that understanding government is essential to understanding U.S. history.

“Eighth grade is fundamental to understanding 11th grade. Without understand-ing how government works, you can’t understand U.S. history. You’ll learn a set of facts, but you won’t understand how it works, why it works,” Apter said.

According to Apter, the course is not designed to teach students a set of facts, but rather to give students a sense of the functions of government.

“So, I think all of us try to take the approach of, ‘We’re not just going to teach the facts, but enable kids to actually experience it. ‘ We have a lot of experiential learning activities … instead of giving them a test on government, show them what govern-ment does,” Apter said.

Manley agreed that the curriculum is designed to privilege understanding the workings of government over trivia.

“[Students] typically participate in a simulation of some kind,” Manley said. “We consistently do activities where students are asked to evaluate the impact of a piece of legislation on their lives.”

Feith thinks JDS is a suitable environment for civic instruction.“JDS, as a Jewish day school, has a very central mission, a focus on cultivating

values, and the idea which other schools should do is cultivate feelings of value, of community, feelings of history and shared history,” Feith said. He noted that “that kind of education, which is comfortable with values, with a focus on values and community is a thing that’s missing far too often from other schools.”

Manley agreed, though he thinks one reason why JDS has relative success is that it is close to Washington, D.C.

“Being at JDS is helpful to due its proximity to the government. So many of our students, or their friends or family, have parents who work for the government, so we can tie it directly to their daily lives,” Manley said.

Overall, Manley believes that the History Department does an “impressive job” with their eighth grade curriculum.

Some students had different opinions. Junior Nathan Poznerzon believes that most of his political knowledge comes from outside the school.

“If I had to guess, I’d say at least 80 percent of my knowledge of governments and how they work comes from outside of school,” Poznerzon said. “I’ve been aware for several years now that we’ve been grossly under-educated.”

Junior Molly Schneider believes that while most students may be under-educated in the political arena, the fault does not lie with the school.

“They try, but we’re only teenagers,” Schneider said. Sophomore Jacob Serfaty thinks that most of his civic education has come from

extra-curricular activities outside of the school’s walls.“JSA has definitely been the most important factor in my civic education … I think

that my education has mostly come from ‘Being the people’ at JSA,” Serfaty said, invok-ing the motto of The Junior State of America, a civic education organization for high school students in which some JDS students are involved.

The importance of civic education does not end with the bell that begins summer break. Apter thinks civic education is essential for citizens to take part in their democ-racy.

“In order to participate in American democracy, we need to understand how it works. There are many people who are quick to complain, ... but they don’t know where to take their concerns and their grievances,” Apter said. “If we are teaching with the goal to better society, ... then we need civic education, because it contains the means to go about doing it.”

aaronboxermancopy editor

The challenges of educating a student citizenry

in depthjune 6, 2012 11

Educating a more perfect union

infographic by Jonathan Reem

For all the promise

and all of the excitement, especially among young people, surrounding education reform, there seems to be a failure, even of those good guys, who

are pushing for reform, and doing innovative things, and doing creative things and attracting young talent, even among those good guys there is a real failure to

talk about civics, to talk about how the primary purpose of public schooling, going back to the founding of the country is to cultivate a citizenry, and so I wanted

to push back against that failing, given that background of mine, began to

interest me in the subject.

There’s a lot of work that

has to go in to cultivating the kind of sentiments and skills and

knowledge that you need in a healthy democratic citizenry, generation after genera-

tion. And I think that one of the challenges for the education world is to adjust itself so that it’s showing more conscious effort for that kind of

cultivation, the cultivation of those senti-ments and skills, that young citizens need to understand and appreciate the system, and to participate in it, and

protect it, and to preserve it, and also

to perfect it.

My grandfather sur-vived the Holocaust and

had almost his entire family killed in Europe and he was able to escape, first to Britain and then to the U.S. My mother was born

and lived the first twenty years of her life in the Soviet Union before mov-ing to Israel and then to the U.S. This

meant I grew up in an environment that was extremely conscious of the amazing good for-tune that people who were born in the U.S.,

with all the protections and privileges that

entails, have.

Challenge 2026 is a very simple idea, which is that by the year 2026, which is the 250th birthday of the country, all high school students ought to be able to pass the

U.S. citizenship test. It’s the same test we give to any immigrants who want to become

naturalized citizens, it’s a fairly elementary test that measures basic knowledge of the American political system, and America’s history -[one] that already ex-

ists, that is, my organization doesn’t have to create something new that will

then be debated over.

The following are excerpts from an interview conducted by copy editor Aaron Boxerman with David Feith (‘05), an assistant editorial features editor at the Wall Street Journal and the editor of “Teaching America: The Case for Civic Education.”

opinion june 6, 201212 • • • • • • • • • • ourvoice: staff columns • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Next year, CESJDS will institute the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. The majority of The Lion’s Tale staff already brings our own laptops to school. Under the new policy, all students will be required to bring a laptop to school every day. This requires students to buy their own laptops and pay for their upkeep.

As justification for this policy in a letter sent to all Upper School families, the school argued that “students will be able to harness all of the benefits of accessing their personal devices inside and outside of the classroom, while teachers will be able to expand the number and types of learning activities that utilize technology.”

There are some positive aspects to this. For example, the BYOD policy has the potential to minimize the cost of textbooks by providing students with online materials for class. Having personal devices facilitates the ability to use them in class. Teachers will be able to maximize class time without the hassle of getting computers from the carts and finding computers without problems.

However, the way that the administration introduced the policy makes us feel that the policy

is forcing students to conform to a single style of learning - namely, learning with computers. We all have different ways of learning. While, for some of us, using computers can be beneficial, it can be detrimental for others.

Currently, teachers are required to incorporate a certain amount of technology into their lesson plans. The emphasis on taking notes on the projector and using technology in the classroom may detract from critical thinking and other valuable skills. Teachers primarily incorporate technology by writing notes on the tablet. The Lion’s Tale staff has found that following notes on the tablet is more challenging than following notes written on the board. Technology shouldn’t be incorporated simply for the sake of using it.

Then there are the distractions. In the FAQ section of the school’s BYOD web page, the school addresses the question of whether technology will be a distraction in the classroom. While the school plans to teach the staff methods to address these distractions, these techniques can only extend so far.

“Students are ultimately responsible for their own learning, and the ability to stay focused is one

of the many skills that must be taught and learned in middle and high school. To help students, faculty members are studying techniques for managing the classroom in the digital age,” the website stated.

We agree that students are responsible for their own education. However, for students to truly be able to take responsibility, they must be able to learn in a way that fits their individual needs. Not all students would benefit from having their computers with them in every class. Some students learn better from writing notes by hand.

Another central concern with the BYOD policy is the expense of buying new laptops. The BYOD policy places an additional burden on families, who already make many sacrifices to attend JDS, to pay for the devices.

While we understand that technology is an integral part of today’s society, we believe that the new policy is an overextension. We are concerned that having our own devices will lead classes to use technology where it is unnecessary, which will ultimately take away from the actual learning experience.

abbybirnbaumaaronboxermanstukrantz

scopy editors

matthewfoldihaleylerner

STAFF • • • • • • • • The Lion’s Tale is a forum for

student expression. Its purpose is to inform the CESJDS community and to express the views of its staff and readers. The staff has made every effort to ensure the accuracy and objectivity of its news.

Editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the LT board. The Lion’s Tale encour ages its readers to write letters to the editor and reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. All letters must be typed and signed. Letters may be emailed to lionstale@cesjds.org.

The Lion’s Tale is made possible by The Simon Hirshman Endowment for the Upper School Newspaper and The Kuttner-Lev-enson Endowment for the Upper School Cultural Arts and Student Publications.

EDITORS • • • • • • • •

elanaschrager

editor-in-chief

news editors

dorefeithjessezweben

in depth editors

colearonsonstevenreichel

reubencohenmatthalperngefenkabikgabimendickemilyshoyerdavidsolkowitz

senior reporters

miriamisraelass’t: rebeccapanitch

photo editor

r’ayfodorannieschtevie

graphic editors

jacobdorn

web editor

jonathanreem

design editor

photographersariellefontheimsymonginsburgmaxgreenbergsamhofmanhannahjosovitzjessicakamjoudavidkulpevansatinsky

claireburke

staff adviser

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adviser emeritajongalitzer

business editor

managing editors

shirabeckersamanthawiener

chadashot editors

alisonkraneryaelkrifcher

features editors

eitansnyder

entertainment editor

reporters

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School 11710 Hunters Lane, Rockville, MD 20852 phone: 301.881.1404

www.lionstale.org

social media editor

davidkulp

sports editors

aricharnoffjeremyetelsonalexanderflum

robbiebelson maddiedworkinjeremykaplanevankravitzmattlitmanadinapollakdinarabinovitz alecschragerninasimpkinshannahwexler alliewiener shiraungar

BYOD policy poses new challenges to learning

We are standing in the doorway of a glorious summer, one foot lifted, ready to hop

over the threshold and fall down into a pit of swirling golden and green light. For some of us, this sum-mer will be a time of pure and total relaxation; for others, it is a summer of decisions. This summer, rising seniors will decide which colleges to visit, to apply to, what tests to take, what tests to retake. We make our decisions based on what our scores are, what the academics are like, what kind of people go there, whether the school feels right. We will decide who we strive to be, who and what we want and need to be, and we will try to find a school that will help us achieve our dreams.

Over the past few years, my friends and I have asked ourselves a question over and over: why are we doing this? Why do we spend an enormous amount of energy and time to do well in school, in our many extra-curriculars, on standard-ized tests? The most common an-swer seems to be that it is all to get into college. But that is a short-term goal. There has to be something be-yond that. Otherwise, our efforts in

school sometimes truly feel like a race to nowhere.

I believe that the answer to this question is simple. We do the best (and often more than the best) we can do in the pursuit of a long term goal, one that stretches out far be-yond the now near horizon of col-lege. We work in order to be success-ful. The trouble is that I don’t know anyone who quite understands what success means. Are we work-ing now in order to be financially successful? Are we working in order to have powerful positions when we are older? Are we working now in order to be able to retire early? Or might we be working now in order to be happy as adults?

Happiness. That is the substance that the light in the pit is made of. How do we make decisions now that let us be happy later? I suspect that to some extent, happiness comes from knowing yourself. Which is why I think this summer we should all minimize the resumé-padding activities and the studying and the stress and the decisions that are all about who we will be. Instead, we should spend this summer learning who we are now. Let’s not focus on how we will write the poem that will be the rest of our life. Let’s take this one summer to finally understand the beauty of the poem we are now.

“I thought I wanted to a poet, but deep down I wanted to be a poem.” — Jaime Gil de Beida

elanaschragereditor-in-chief

As the year comes to an end, we are b o m b a r d e d with the ques-tion, “So, what are your sum-mer plans?”

Some of us will respond quickly to this ques-tion with a plan that was confirmed earlier in the school year. Others will lie in order to conceal an unsuccess-ful attempt to find an internship, job or other program.

Summer is finally here, the air warm and inviting. We have the opportunity to use the next two months of our lives to experience the unknown and find ourselves; to finally get some relaxation time be-fore school reconvenes next fall. But the ultimate tragedy of summer is that most students don’t view sum-mer this way, but rather as an ex-tension of an already rigorous and demanding school year. Why do stu-dents do this, you may ask? Simple – it feels absolutely necessary.

We feel pressured by our parents and teachers (college counselors as well, for all the juniors out there) to find the most prestigious program available to us, as if it were a matter of life or death. We are fed, or at least we have rationalized to ourselves,

the idea that a summer program could make the difference between an acceptance and a rejection to a college of our choosing. As a result, many opt to spend summer in class-rooms, labs and office cubicles.

From a young age, we have waited and waited for that major moment in our high school years that will define us, make for a clever senior jersey and transform into the perfect college essay. Many of us believe that this will come from our acclaimed summer programs. The (second) ultimate tragedy is that it is unlikely that many of us will actu-ally experience anything life altering by the time we have to get a start on things like the college essay, espe-cially if we continue to do things to please others (colleges and parents).

So where does our insight come from? It comes from actually do-ing things we enjoy and allowing ourselves to experience the sum-mer that is illustrated in sappy mov-ies like “The Notebook” and “High School Musical 2.” My philosophy is to work your hardest during the school year, but use the summer to maintain sanity and do what you actually appreciate. As Drake would say, “YOLO” (you only live once). Stop trying to grow up so quickly and take some quality time to truly live and be yourself.

#summerproblems

shirabeckermanaging editor

opinionjune 6, 2012 13• •

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Dear Editor,Currently, Israel’s best

friend in the world is the U.S. A lot has been said about the relationship be-tween these two “besties.” Indeed, as an Israeli and as a student in a Jewish day school in the States, this connection is con-stantly on my mind. But it’s time to look at the mirror, and ask, “Am I really con-nected enough to Israel?”

Connection to Israel may be expressed in many ways. One can make “Ali-yah” to Israel or support it, both spiritually and ma-terially. Though at school, we all pray every morning in the “Amidah” for our re-turn to Israel, I dare say that there are those who don’t truly understand the impor-tance of this connection. This lack of understanding can result in indifference

to the state of Israel, or even worse, mislead oth-ers when criticizing Israel.

To say that Israel has never been more isolated is an understatement. The ex-istence of this tiny country, located in a “problematic” neighborhood, is under constant threat. Therefore, we must remain united in our support to Israel, and if you agree with me, take a stand and support Israel in your own way. My way will start next year, when I will attend George Mason University; I’ll further in-crease my support for Israel whenever I can. A year later, I’ll join a combat unit in the IDF. So this my way, what about you? Are you con-nected enough to Israel?

Ilai ElimelechJunior

Dear Editor,Last week in an off-topic discussion in [one of my classes],

I realized that BYOD is not just about bringing your own de-vice, but much, much more. My classmates already seemed set against the soon-to-be-enforced BYOD rule. It was hard to be-lieve this from people who already bring computers to school! But to them, it was not just about students having to bring their own computers but about the greater idea that revolved around it. The email the school sent on May 9 read that, “teachers will be able to expand the number and types of learning activities that utilize technology.” While no one doubts this, an idea of technology replacing teachers is what becomes more disturbing.

For the teachers and administration, the idea of PowerPoints replacing teaching might seem fantastic. No longer will stu-dents be able to say that something on the test was not taught by the teacher or that the teacher did not explain it well. This is because the answer will be, ‘You should have checked the PowerPoint!’ Every day the teacher will matter less because the only person to blame will be the PowerPoint. As a teacher put it, the role of a teacher will become more like one of a ‘fa-cilitator.’ Also, it will surely prepare us for college when the only material that will be available for students will be online!

In terms of helping students cope with the material they are responsible for learning, this is a true mistake. There is simply so much that a teacher has to offer that a PowerPoint will never give you. In terms of memorizing, maybe online learning is not a problem. Yet, when it comes to understand-ing concepts, you can’t have any type of online summary that will describe it in a sufficiently helpful manner. In the classes that already go by a PowerPoint system, it has been very hard for me to understand overnight, visualize or grasp the main idea behind the lesson. Trying to simply get over it by simply memorizing 80 slides word-by-word is futile. The few times lessons have been drawn on boards instead of being based on PowerPoints, it was impossible to describe how helpful it was.

I can only say that policies like BYOD that intend to make every classroom into an online learning center will not work to anyone’s benefit. A class that you come in and you are told, “All right, study slides 63-86 and ask me whatever questions you might have,” is not a class.

Moses LiskerFreshman

Dear Editor,Recently a new policy was an-

nounced at school: the Bring Your Own Device policy. The policy states that next year, every Upper School student will have to bring [his or her] own laptop to school every day.

Unfortunately, laptops, es-pecially well-made ones, are not cheap. Tuition at JDS for Upper School students costs a lot, many families already require financial assistance, and not every family has $1,000 to spend for their child’s laptop. For families who have sev-eral children in the school, the cost can be multiplied two, three or even four times over.

In addition, students already use the school computers to play around when they should be do-ing work. If every student has their own laptop, this issue will only continue to grow. Some might argue that the burden lies on the student to take responsibility for getting the most out of their edu-cation and while this may be true, there are still several flaws.

Speaking from experience, it is much harder to stay focused with all of the Internet’s distractions. It is not a question of responsibil-ity; it is simply a proven fact that it is easier to justify multi-tasking with a computer open in front of you. Also, the fact that “it is the student’s responsibility” will not stop many teachers from taking time out of class to remind people to close their computers, which can be very disruptive for those students who already are paying attention. Lastly, if we are mature enough to take responsibility for

our education, why, then, are we not trusted with the responsibil-ity of making our own decisions about what is most beneficial to our own individual learning styles? Laptop computers, while benefi-cial to some, are not educationally beneficial to all students. We both feel that taking notes by hand ac-tually helps us learn better, in class and when studying for tests. For students who feel similarly, the BYOD policy will not help them.

We also would like to point out that JDS is already very tech-nologically advanced. Students and teachers at JDS have found ways to integrate technology into the classroom through collabora-tive tools like Google Docs. Forcing everyone to switch to programs that they are not comfortable with (and which often serve the same purpose as the programs already being used) will only hinder the learning process.

The school has already spent a huge amount of money provid-ing us with new laptops this year. We need to learn to appreciate and respect what we already have, instead of constantly looking for new and improved solutions.

Overall, we think that institut-ing a BYOD policy for next year will only increase distractions and problems in the classroom. There are many other more beneficial ways to make JDS technologically advanced, and we don’t think that this way is the best way, for the parents, teachers or students.

Juliana Isaac and Ruth GopinSophomores

Dear Editor,I love reading The Lion’s Tale

and admire how must time and ef-fort the students and staff clearly put into each issue. There was one omission, however, from the April 30 issue which I would like to bring to your attention. In the article ,“The predominance of spring sports: Stu-dents vote on the team they feel receives the most attention,” by Reu-ben Cohen. There is one spring sport, golf, which was left out as if it didn’t exist at JDS. While the golf team is admittedly small, the participants, which, in the interest of full disclo-sure, includes my daughter Isabella,

spend many hours practicing and attending matches and Mr. [Dominic] Lee, their coach, gives much personal time and atten-tion to this special group of kids. These students proudly represent their school and the fact that JDS has a golf team is a testament to the diversity and breadth of its sports program. For these rea-sons, it should have at least been acknowledged as a spring sport at JDS (albeit one that receives lit-tle or as in this case no attention).

Sharon ZissmanParent

Check out Lion’s Tale online:

Letters to the Editor

Look for the new Lion’s Tale website coming Fall 2012.

@jdslionstale

features june 6, 201214

Speaking, like, smart “Well, it’s sort of like, you know, like, when a person,

like...,” a girl says as she struggles to formulate a thought. A boy at the back of the room turns to his friend and says, “She said ‘like’ three times in that sentence!”

Students and teachers find different reasons for the misuse of the word ‘like’.

“Like is used as a placeholder,” English teacher Me-lissa Fisanich said.

Seventh-grader Emma Waldman explained that she uses the word when, “I can’t think of anything.”

Freshman Dorina Langer said that the word ‘like’ “is just natural.” Langer believes that people can easily over-use the word ‘like’ because it is hard for a person to notice how often they say it.

“I don’t think I use [the word ‘like’] as much as others, but I think, ‘like’, yeah, I say [‘like’] too much,” Langer said.

Many find that the overuse of the word ‘like’ leads others to view you in a negative light.

Sophomore and Debate Team co-captain-elect Noah Mayerson said that it is hard for him to focus on the con-tent of opponents’ arguments when they frequently use the word like during their speeches.

“I think that [the word ‘like’] sometimes gets in the way of their main idea and affects how myself and the judge view their speech and ideas,” Mayerson said.

Sophomore Daniel Thorne agreed that the tendency to say ‘like’ leads others to make assumptions about one’s intelligence.

“Using the word ‘like’ makes you sound as if you have

no idea what you’re talking about and you’re just using the word like as a filler,” Thorne said.

Mayerson said that he does not view people who overuse the word during a normal conversation differ-ently.

“I don’t have a problem with it. It’s just casual dia-logue. It doesn’t make me judge their intellect,” Mayerson said.

Fisanich agrees with Mayerson that students should not be judged based on this aspect of speech.

“I notice [students saying the word ‘like’], but I under-stand why young people do it,” Fisanich said. “That’s just the way a teenager talks.”

Thorne, however, disagrees, saying that using the word ‘like’ invites others to make judgments about you on a regular basis.

“It just gives off a bad impression,” Thorne said. Fisanich believes that overusing the word can inter-

fere with communication. However, Waldman said that the word ‘like’ has become a part of everyday interactions and no longer distracts her during a conversation.

“I think I’m used to it,” Waldman said.

“Well, it’s sort of like, you know, like,

when a person, like...,” a girl says as she

struggles to formulate a thought. A boy at

the back of the room turns to his friend and

says, “She said ‘like’ three times in that

sentence!”

adinapollakreporter

A Day in the Life of Blue

Team Captain Ben Steren1:15 a.m. Sneak away from Lieutenants and other captains to go to my room to actually get sleep. Shhh.5:38 a.m. We all wake up from our slumber. Sven [Ethan Blank] and I are ready within 10 minutes, girls take a tad bit longer.6:25 a.m. Eat pancakes my mother made. Text Green Team all the things I enjoy about their faces.6:47 a.m. Arrive at school with pancakes for Green Team. Freak out a little about the amount of gold seen from the entrance.7:10 a.m. Walk around aimlessly.7:15 a.m. Stand at door blowing whistle at people walking in. Jump up and down, yell.7:50 a.m. Get my whistle privileges taken away. Sadness ensues.7:59 a.m. Get to minyan on time, what a role model.8:28 a.m. Get pumped from Color War-related minyan activities.8:35 a.m. TO HEADQUARTERS (to do Color War-y thing).8:38 a.m., Tug of War Yelled a lot, tried to use my whistle again, got rejected.9:15 a.m., Period 1. Soccer. By soccer I mean walking around and eventually ending up there. But yeah, soccer. 9:48 a.m. Period 2. Basketball. Sorta. Just take my word for it.10:00 a.m. Color War captain mode activated. This part of my life is blurry, all just random shades of blue, I think I fought a polar bear.12:30 p.m., Lunch. Catnap to recover. I think we lost Talia. 1:00 p.m. Second meeting. They gave me a microphone, I had fun. Taught some things, said random nonsense. I thought it was a good meeting.1:00 p.m. Closing ceremonies. The banner was stunning. The cake has lights—lights! Pretty awesome. Song started, broke out a few dance moves and a smile. Pst... Gold Team...1:33 p.m Red, white and blue, oh I love you.1:38 p.m. Defeat. Oh noooooooooooooooooooes.2:00 p.m. Go home, shower, sleep. Adios!

How language affects image

photo provided by Penina Graubart

featuresjune 6, 2012 15

photos by David Kulp

robbiebelson and sarahrubinreporters

Z i m r i a h v e r s u s C o l o r Wa rSpring at CESJDS

is famous for the competitions, showcase

of talent and bonding opportunities presented during Zimriah and Color War. While both activities are competitive, they also help strengthen the school’s community.

“[In the Spring,] the school is more unified than regularly, because . . .

we’re in an environment where we can

socialize and have fun and really get to know each other,”

sophomore Adir Hakakian said.In a Facebook survey of 100 students, 61

percent replied that Zimriah was more fun than Color War. Additionally, the majority of students who responded believe that Zimriah brings the school closer together than Color War.

Zimriah, which celebrates Israel’s independence, is a day of festivities unique to JDS. With Zimriah comes preparation

and effort, but the day itself is rewarding and celebratory.

“Zimriah requires a lot of hard work, but it all pays off in the end because it is so fun,” Sophomore Kobi Fodor said.

Color War is more common in schools and camps. Students are divided into two

teams and spend the day learning cheers and participating in activities to earn points, closing

with a concluding ceremony. Freshman Tessa Silverman

prefers Zimriah, because it is a competition unique to JDS.

“They have Color War at other public

schools and camps, but Zimriah is something that you only get here,”

Silverman said. Sophomore Rina Bardin agreed with

Silverman, adding that Zimriah better unifies the school because of its connection to Israel.

“When everyone is singing and dancing, there is a strong sense of community and pride of Israel,” Bardin said.

Junior Tamar Eisen, a Co-Secretary of Zimriah for her grade, thinks that Zimriah contributes to the school’s communal atmosphere through school-wide singing.

“Even though the grades are in competition during Zimriah, at the end we all come together and sing as one school. Especially this year when you saw many grades dancing together,” Eisen said.

However, not all students believe that Zimriah is more enjoyable than Color War. Freshman Miranda Escobar thinks that Color War is more fun because it is stress-free.

“[Color War is] less stressful, it’s just a day where you really get to enjoy with your friends,” Escobar said.

Eighth-grader Ilan Blask favors Color War because it provides opportunities to spend time with the greater school community.

“I like Color War because you interact with all the grades, so it’s really fun,” Blask said.

Junior Danielle Masica usually prefers Zimriah. This year, however, Masica found Color War more enjoyable because of the new perspective she gained through her role as one of this year’s Gold team captains.

“Color War [was more fun this year] because with Zimriah every grade goes against each other and there is more tension, whereas Color War is just the whole school divided in two,” Masica said. art by R’ay Fodor

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As the 2011-2012 school year comes to a close, students look back on their accomplishments and memories, trying to identify what made this year special.

Many students are proud of the way their grades have grown this past year.

“I feel like my grade’s matured a lot because a lot of [students have left] and a lot of us are driving,” junior Rachel Fredman said.

Some students believe communal activities have helped CESJDS become more unified this year. Seventh-grader Josh Abramowitz thought school-wide activities such as Zimriyah helped to bring the school closer together.

“The whole school came together [during Zimriyah],” Abramowitz said.

Students also found that improved school unity trans-lated into improving the overall school environment.

“I think that JDS is a bright community for new students coming into the high school and the community is closely knit,” freshman Danielle Galitzer said.

Although some new students initially felt anxious about fitting into an already close and connected grade, experi-encing JDS’s communal atmosphere helped change their perspective.

“As a new student to the school, I feel very welcomed and happy here at JDS. I especially enjoy meeting new people on the basketball team,” freshman Noa Zarka said.

Many students were accepting of their new classmates and excited to watch their grades grow.

“There were a lot of new kids from JPDS [a Washington, D.C. Jewish elementary day school] and it was fun getting to know them,” seventh-grader Arielle Weinstein said.

Younger siblings from families that have been at JDS for a long time enjoyed the opportunity to make a name for themselves after their siblings graduated.

“The thing about this year that stands out is that I am

finally the only Felsen in the school, so I’m more independent and not ‘Briana’s little brother,’” sophomore Samuel Felsen said.

While students appreciate the past, they also anxiously consider the year to come.

“Next year I’m expecting the difficulty level to be a lot higher, and teachers will expect more out of us,” freshman Micah Cowan said.

Some students eagerly await the implementation of new school policies.

“I’m excited for the … [Bring Your Own Device Program],” eighth-grader Jeremy Schooler said.

Others worry about the changes the coming year will bring.

“I’m sort of nervous about this whole graduating thing,” Fredman said. “It’s just a crazy idea for me that next year is my last year of JDS.”

Despite their apprehension, many students are looking forward to new classes and choices next year.

“I’m exciting for having [more of ] a choice in Judaic classes,” sophomore Leah Schaperow said.

Students anticipate improving upon the successful ele-ments of 2011-2012 during the upcoming school year.

“I hope that next year our grade will continue to grow and work together,” freshman Rachael Schindler said.

features june 6, 201216

Com

mun

ity

2011

-201

2Looking backward, looking forward

dinarabinovitz and shiraungarreporters

Grow

ing U

pSp

ort

sZ

imri

yah

But first,

art by R’ay Fodor

photo illustration by Yael Krifcher and Dina Rabinovitz

As summer approaches, students and faculty hurriedly make vacation plans. After a long week of exams, students can finally put down their books and enjoy their break.

Students have the option to work at or attend camps, study for standardized tests or relax on vacations, among many other possibilities.

Eighth-grader Rachel Steren is one of many students who will be enjoying two months away from home at a summer camp.

“I am going to Independent Lake Camp and Camp Judea for the whole summer. I go to two dif-ferent camps to get away from my parents for the summer,” Steren said.

Seventh-grader Claire Brodsky has also de-cided to spend her summer at camp. Unlike Steren, she chose this camp to follow a family tradition.

“I am going to Camp Timber Tops in Pennsyl-vania. This will be my fifth summer there. I go there because my sister went there,” Brodsky said.

However, not all students are lucky enough to escape from school during their breaks. Sopho-more Robert Ost is one of many who will be bal-ancing his time between SAT classes, community service and downtime.

“I have signed up for SAT classes. I am planning on applying for working with the non-contagious but … I’ll at Children’s Hospital. I am also going to go sailing,” Ost said.

Students, though not necessarily excited to take classes over the summer, feel that it is their responsibility to prepare for the upcoming stan-dardized tests.

“[I am choosing to spend my summer doing

SAT prep because] this is the summer before my junior year, when I will be taking the SATs … I have a lot of free time to do stuff so there wouldn’t be a better time than the summer when I won’t be hassled with anything else,” Ost said.

Sophomore Jack Gruber plans to spend his free time working as a counselor at a camp he used to attend.

“I am going to jazz camp and then working at a camp called TIC,” Gruber explained. “I decided to [work at TIC] because I have been going there as a camper for five years.”

Faculty members also have the option to work at summer camps. Health and Exercise Science teacher Carolyn Holmes will spend part of the sum-mer working at JDS Sports Camp.

“This summer I am going to go home and spend time with [my] family at our lakehouse. I’m going to do summer camp with JDS as well,” Hol-mes said. “I chose to work at the CESJDS summer camp because I enjoy working with students of all ages and improving athletic abilities at young ages. I was [also] just invited to coach a ski race team in Mount Hood the first week of June.”

Holmes will be taking online classes as part of what she calls graduate school boot camp. Although many dislike learning over the summer, Holmes is looking forward to this program.

“I really liked my teacher education program. I’m really proud of the education program I came from, and I know the professors, I know the pro-gram, and this is the graduate school that I picked, that I was accepted to, so it’s not like I had a choice. If I want to do a master’s degree, this is what I have to do. I love to learn,” Holmes explained.

alecschrager and alliewienerreporters

Summer Plans

2012-2013

featuresjune 6, 2012 17

Writing right In an April 2005 survey conducted by UC-Berkeley,

more than half of the companies surveyed, employing nearly 8 million people combined, said that in order to be promoted, excellent writing skills are an absolute must.

In today’s hyper-competitive job market, where employers can afford to be picky, that sentiment has only become more true. As a result, CESJDS has and continues to emphasize the importance of writing.

“Writing is absolutely essential,” Director of Studies Robert Snee said. “Good writing is one of life’s most im-portant skills. That’s true here, and any school that doesn’t hold writing high is doing a disservice to its students.”

Snee emphasized that when he and English Department chair Thomas Worden hire a new English teacher, writing is a central issue.

“Nobody gets out of [my] office without having a long conversation with Dr. Worden about writing,” Snee said.

Worden explained that writing is viewed by the Eng-lish Department as an applicable skill in any field of study or work, since writing fosters rational and logical thinking, a universal skill.

“We teach the relationship between thinking and writing,” Worden said. “That’s why dialectical argumenta-tion is really important. [Writing builds] thinking path-ways. Every time you work out a new argument, that’s

a new thinking pathway. It’s about reading well, writing well and thinking well all at the same time. We use writing as a thinking tool.”

JDS alumnus Josh Boxerman (‘11), who now attends Northwestern University, offered advice via email for any-one doubting the importance of strong writing skills.

“Even if you’re not trying to [focus on] something that explicitly involves writing, like academia or journalism, having it as a skill makes you much more marketable,” he wrote.

Boxerman, a former Lion’s Tale managing editor, wrote that his writing career at JDS adequately prepared him for papers in college.

“I found that I could write college papers the same way I wrote papers at JDS and be successful,” Boxer-man wrote.

But changes have been made since Boxer-man went to high school. According to Worden, the English Department has been undergoing major revisions in its approach to teaching writing.

“I think we are offer-ing types and formats of writing that are not universally taught in a curriculum,” Worden pointed out. “We spend a lot of time teaching what we’ve called dialectical argu-mentation in the writing of critical essays, which departs from some of the older formats of purely analytical, some-times termed a ‘five paragraph essay,’ which is analytically-based writing.”

Worden said that junior year is the culmination of all previous English studies.

“[In] 11th grade we always felt it was developmen-tally appropriate to take that step forward. Before that, we wanted to establish academic protocols of writing about a freestanding text. We have [in] 11th grade a level of complexity beyond just a freestanding text,” Worden said.

Before junior year, English classes are designed so that a student can move up a level more easily. Generally, in a higher level, analytical skills are more valued than writing skills. However, some students have found that writing skills seem to be the main emphasis of lower-level classes.

“I learned to write a lot better last year in CP,” sopho-more Robert Ost, who is now in Honors English, said. “I built up vocabulary and phrasing and learned to write more maturely. But I needed more depth in analysis [in Honors this year].”

“I think that being in a different level would not have improved my writing,” junior Robert Shorr, who has been in Honors for all of his high school career, wrote in an email. “A higher level would have expected more out of me coming in and taught me less, while a lower level would have expected less and assumed I was not ready for more intense writing.”

According to English teacher Melissa Fisanich, the content of classes is all the same, regardless of level. But in advanced classes, expectations are much higher, which affects the writing process.

“The way I teach the advanced ninth grade class and the way I handle writing, the emphasis is put on the student. Students are more independent, there’s less structure to the writing process. My expectations for level of analysis are higher than for [Enriched College Prepara-tory],” Fisanich said. “In ECP, a lot of time is spent helping students to comprehend and develop skills. The advanced level assumes you already have a lot of those skills.”

stukrantzcopy editor

Retiring teachers reflect on their time at CESJDS

compiled by evankravitz

The importance of writing skills, and its role at JDS

Michael Abell: “The first holiday that I experienced here was Rosh Hashanah, and I did not realize what the symbols are. So one day I was going into my mailbox to see if I had anything in my mailbox, and there was an apple and a little thing of honey and I thought, ‘Gee, how nice that they want to welcome me so much that they’re giving me treats and goodies.’ It didn’t dawn on me that every teacher was getting these treats for Rosh Hashanah, but who cares, I felt very welcome, and that was the atmosphere that was always there for me.”

“JDS has reinforced the reason I came here, which is that I love kids, and if this place has taught me anything, it’s taught me that loving kids is a good ideal.”

“The last day of the school year you’d think they’d be all jumping up and down [and] ready to go [home], but they all sat and listened to me [give my speech] and I felt so honored. “

“Well, I’ve become part of the family, and so obviously things always change. I know more now than I did then. Having learned what the school is like, I think it’s a great school. I think we do a good job of turning out kids who are ready for life, study for college, ready for post-high school life.”

“I have serious mixed problems [about leaving the school], and I really love working here and I’m going to miss it like the devil. But on the other hand, I’m 70 years old — it’s time to go [leave the school], and I’m looking forward to enjoying some free time of my own to do things that I’d like to get done, stuff that I’ve put on the shelf.”

“And I think I’m going to enjoy myself [once I’ve retired], but I’m gonna miss the kids.”

English teacher Michael Abell in 1999, his second year teaching at CESJDS

Cynthia Peterman: “I love Jewish History, it gives you an opportunity to really study it, because the students take it really seriously, and you have to be on your toes all the time, because students expect a lot from their teach-ers. So it means that for me as a teacher, I have to really know what I’m teaching really well. So it gives me a chance to study and learn. I’m always learning and I’m always having to be on my toes to be able to teach my students, be-cause they expect a lot [because] the students are such high caliber.”

“That caliber of the students who really want to learn [is what’s special about teaching at JDS] and have amazing class discussions, and the relationships with colleagues over the years have been wonderful. A lot of my deep-est friendships have been with people that I’ve met here. There are some really outstanding

people that the school has been able to attract over the years, and I think that’s what makes the school special.”

“I think [my career at JDS] been enormously successful, rewarding, and fulfilling. It’s given me an opportunity to do lots of different things: to lead minyan, to be a class advisor, to teach Jewish History, and Bible and Rabbin-ics, to be a department chair, I mean, I had so many different roles that I got to play. It was really, really rewarding.”

Jewish History teacher Cynthia Peterman in 1987, her second year teaching at CESJDS

“Good writing is one of life’s most important skills. That ’s true here, and any school that doesn’t hold writing high is doing a disservice to its students.”

—Robert Snee, Director of Studies

photo taken from 1987 Dimensions

photo taken from 1999 Dimensions

photo by Yael Krifcher

sports june 6, 201218

M a d d i e D w o r k i n s i t s d o w n w i t h J o r d a n L i p p

Students and coaches alike are raving about the re-vamped CESJDS weight room after its first full year of use.

After the close of the 2010-11 school year, major con-struction was done to increase the size of the facility. New machines and weights were added to increase the quality of the facility.

Athletic Director Michael Riley was instrumental in the push to improve the weight room.

“I think that the students saw the weight room as an excellent addition to both our physical education and athletic programs,” Riley said. “I feel that the students have utilized the weight room on a daily basis. Teams and coaches now have a state of the art facility that can help athletes get stronger and more flexible and can help them avoid injury.”

Sophomore Barak Bader, a member of the varsity wrestling team, enjoys using the new weight room.

“The weight room is amazing,” Bader said. “It’s a great resource and I like it a ton more than last year. It benefits not just the wrestling team, but actually the whole school. I see a lot of people working out in it.”

Students who take a physical education class are in the weight room almost every class. Sophomore Jacob Weinberger, an Exercise Science student, is pleased with the changes that have been made.

“The weight room is a lot bigger and the equipment in previous years was outdated,” Weinberger said. “There wasn’t as much equipment and this year the equipment is higher quality and there are new machines for a better workout.”

Physical Education teacher Brian Westerman is pleased with the attitude of the people who use the weight room and is extremely impressed with how it’s worked out so far.

“I thought that the weight room exceeded my expectations,” Westerman said. “Every student-athlete that would like to go to the weight room and work out has been provided a safe environment where they are able to use the machines effectively and efficiently.”

As Westerman pointed out, a key priority in the new and improved weight room is safety. With a bigger space students have more space to exercise.

“Teachers have told me that the new room has had a great impact on the classes because the students have safer equipment and the teachers can develop an excel-lent strength and conditioning program for each student,” Riley said.

The weight room is open to all students during and after school.

New, improved weight room serves as resource to manyStudents use weight room for building personal strength, team training and after school PE

MD: What specific things do the wrestling team do in the weight room that you have seen help benefit it on the mat?

JL: Really anything that you do outside of wrestling to get in better shape for wrestling will benefit you. We do a lot of pull-ups, we use the TRX band a lot, we do a lot of pushups and some of our more advanced guys will use the bench press and squat racks. It also helps that Mr. [Forestieri] is an expert

when it comes to all things exercise science, so it’s great having him around because I can use

him as a resource. He’s come in and taught the wrestlers how to do specific lifts, which is really great.

MD: What do you think is the benefit of the weight room to

students, specifically athletes?

JL: I think the weight room really legitimized our athletic program. It’s sort of a point of pride for all of our student athletes in the school to come in and see this top notch, first class equipment, especially with our logo on it. Also, it’s sort of a statement to the athletes that somebody in this school really cares about them as athletes and recognizes how important their athletic performance is.

MD: How do you think sports teams benefit from having the weight room, specifically your wrestling team?

JL: Conditioning, [the wrestling team] were able to use this to get into better condition for the wrestling season. Also, there’s a lot of bonding that went on in here, it was an excuse for me to get the wrestlers on the team together and hanging out it a relaxed atmosphere. The weight room is less intense than the wrestling mat is, so it was a good place for the wrestlers to get to know each other and for me to get to know them.

MD: What is the quality of the weight room? Does it need improvements?

JL: I love the quality. It’s awesome. I think it’s as nice as a Division I college’s weight room.

MD: For students who don’t typically work out, what would you suggest they could do in the weight room?

JL: I would encourage for all students to use the weight room. Do you know the number one way to reduce physical stress? [It’s] to get sleep. Do you know the number one way to reduce mental stress? [It’s] to exercise. I encourage all students to come in, even if it’s [for] 15 minutes a day, to just come in and do something because really doing some push-ups or some sit-ups or just doing any sort of exercise is really a stress reducer. I think it’s a good habit to get into at a young age: exercising for a short period of time every single day and finding the time to exercise.

Sophomore Ben Gaskill works out after school to stay in shape for the winter wrestling season. “It feels really good to stay in shape and know you’re leading a healthy lifestyle. I do it for wrestling, but students should work out in general to feel good,” Gaskill said.

matthalpernsenior reporter

photo illustration by Jeremy Etelson

photo by Jeremy Etelson

sportsjune 6, 2012 19

Race to the top

Reuben Winston is perfectly still. With his race in five minutes, he sits down on the grass by the starting line, his head in his hands. Soon, the call for the 1600 me-ter race -- a distance slightly less than one mile -- rings out over the track. Winston jogs to the line, and tenses, waiting for the gun.

Winston’s 1600 meter time is 4:52. He also has an 800 meter record of 2:13. At just 13 years of age, these times make him the top-ranked seventh-grade runner in the United States in the 1600 meter, and the third-ranked in the 800 meter, accord-ing to athletic.net, a website that tracks middle and high school runners.

In this year’s PVAC middle school track championships, Winston was awarded four first-place medals. He won first place awards in the 1600 meter, 800 meter and

long jump events and a team medal in the 4x400 meter relay along with his JDS middle school teammates.

These awards were particularly im-pressive as Winston had been sidelined for a month due to a hip flexor injury.

“I got injured mid-season [and] had to take about a month off,” Winston said. “[During that time,] I pretty much just did cross-training [training without running]. I biked and I swam.”

Despite Winston’s efforts to stay in shape, he struggled with his return to run-ning. However, he was still satisfied with his performance at championships.

Varsity track and field and cross coun-try Head Coach Jason Belinkie believes that there are many reasons why Winston is such a successful runner.

“Reuben has the combination of a strong work ethic, passion for running and natural talent,” Belinkie said. “When you possess all three of these elements, you

have the potential to be a great runner.” Eighth-grader and fellow runner Dan-

iel Levy agreed, saying that Winston’s ac-complishments are a product of his work ethic and natural athleticism.

Winston’s success can also be con-nected to alumnus and former CESJDS runner Alex Tritell (‘12), who Winston said had been his role model.

“[Tritell] always got [me] psyched up, and always had a speech to tell... even though running a race is not fun, he’s always so excited,” Winston said.

Winston also credits Belinkie as a ma-jor figure, as well as his teammates for their support.

“[Belinkie] is so inspirational. I don’t think I would be able to do all of this, and push myself as hard as I do without him,” Winston said. “It’s just so awesome to be with a team that supports you.”

Winston hopes to be running cross country on the varsity team next season.

Seventh grader Reuben Winston ranks eleventh in the country, shows further potential

Student wrestlers qualify for Maryland National Team

Sophomore Benjamin Gaskill joined junior Max Smith on the Maryland Na-tional wrestling team after he qualified by placing third in the statewide freestyle tournament.

“I’m looking forward to the opportu-

nity to wrestle with the best wrestlers in the state, and to wrestle alongside my teammate Max. It’s going to be a great chance to improve my [wrestling] and learn from the best,” Gaskill said.

Smith and Gaskill will be training with the team over the summer, and will compete against wrestlers from other states at the national level.

jeremy etelsonsports editor

evankravitzreporter

Girls middle school softball team faces controversial lossVarsity baseball first seed in league, wins championship

Trailing 4-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, it appeared that the CES-JDS varsity baseball team’s season was go-ing to end with a disappointing defeat in the title game.

With the fans supporting them, the team was resilient and scored nine runs in the last at-bats to take the lead by six runs.

Captain and junior Jake Mintz re-lieved starting pitcher junior Yaacov Adler in the fourth inning, with the team down, 2-1. After giving up two runs in that in-ning, Mintz closed out the game strong, throwing 10 strikeouts in three and two-thirds innings.

“We just had to bring everyone to-gether and regroup,” head coach Steven Forestieri said. “We’ve been able to come back from deficits prior in the season, we knew that we could do this.”

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Lions scored nine runs on 14 batters.

“Everyone did their part and that one

inning showed what we’ve [done] all sea-son,” Mintz said. “Fighting every at bat, ev-ery play, every inning I think really shows what kind of team we are.”

Mintz was named MVP for both the regular season and the tournament.

“It feels incredible, been working five years for this, to win a varsity baseball ti-tle, finally achieved that goal. To do it with these teammates, this group of guys, it’s the best thing that could happen,” captain and junior Michael Paretzky said.

The team won two banners, one for winning the regular season champion-ship and one for winning the tournament.

Despite the impending departure of three key contributors, Adler, Mintz and Paretzky, the team hopes to build on to its success and win the championship again next year.

“We’re losing a couple key pieces next year, but we’re going to work hard during the offseason,” sophomore Matan Meloul said. “We’re going to practice hard during and before the season next year and hopefully we’ll be able to repeat.”

alexanderflumsports editor

photo

by Je

remy

Etels

on

Mr. Smolin’s work out tips

P e c t o r a l s•Make sure you work the

upper, lower, inner and outer

part of the chest.

•When you work out your

chest, in your first set do 12

reps, then your second do 10,

then eight, then six.

• If you are first starting to

exercise, do only three

different exercises.

1. Flat bench press

2. Incline bench press

3. Incline cable crossover

Exercises

next

issue

:TR

ICEP

S

compiled by matthalpern

Winston competes in the cross-country state

championshi ps for the Junior Olympics in Ellicot

City, Md. Winston is ranked first in among seventh

graders in the country in the 1600 meter

run.““He started running in sixth grade and he has a lot of passion and potential,” Winston‘’’’’’’s sister, junior Shira Winston, said.

photo by Miriam IsraelJunior Michael Paretzky prepares for a pitch during the PVAC championship game.

photo provided by Reuben Winston

The girls middle school softball team began the season in March with two quick wins against Covenant Life and Grace Brethren. The team then began a difficult four-game losing streak. In the PVAC playoffs, the team beat the McLean School in the first round and continued on to play Sandy Spring. But the semifi-nal match up was far from ordinary.

On a day with terrible thunder-storms, the team struggled early on in the game. But as the game went on, the team picked up its play. In the top of the sixth inning, the second to last inning, the team had scored two runs and was down by two run, had no outs and it looked like they would come back and win.

Soon after, the umpire decided that the weather was too bad, even though the athletes were playing in the same conditions that most of the game had been played in.

“The [umpire] called the game due to weather situations and as per league

rules it was able to count as a full game,” head coach Jason Leonard said. “It was an unfortunate way to end the season for us.”

Eighth-grader Sydney Schneider thought that the stoppage of play was unfair, since the game was discontinued only as the team began to come back.

“We could have rescheduled the next day, but the other team wouldn’t have wanted to, so they took the win,” Sch-neider said.

Despite the disappointing end to the season, Leonard appreciated the way his team reacted to the bad news.

“[The] girls conducted themselves in a respectable manner and it was a learn-ing experience and opportunity to grow as individuals,” Leonard said.

The team still feels they accom-plished their goals.

“Our goals were to have a positive ex-perience for the season and prepare our girls to play at the varsity level in the fu-ture,” Leonard said. “I believe that we were successful in achieving those goals and I am proud of what we accomplished this season.”

robbiebelsonreporter

A YEAR IN REVIEW

page 20 • february 27, 2012

OF CESJDS SPORTSBoys Varsity Soccer•Captains: Sam Swire and Ethan Walfish•Record: 3-6•Lost in first round of PVAC tournament

Girls Varsity Tennis•Captain: Shira Becker, Hannah Becker and Olivia Wasserman •Record: 6-1

•Won regular season and tournament

Boys Varsity Basketball •Captains: Alex Halpern and Daniel Kravitz •Record: 12-9•Lost in first round

Varsity Track and Field•Junior Captains: Nichole Goodman, Madison Roll, Sam Swire, Samantha Weiner and Shira Winston•Boys finished ninth, Girls finished fifth

Boys Varsity Baseball •Captains: Jake Mintz and Michael Paretzky•Record: 10-2•Won regular season and tournament

Girls Varsity Soccer•Captains: Shaina Wasser, Paige Siegel and Elana Handleman•Record: 5-4•Lost in semi-finals

Girls Varsity Volleyball•Captains: Talia Byck, Helene Katz and Stephanie Liss•Record: 4-7•Lost in semi-finals

Girls Varsity Basketball •Captains: Elana Handleman, Jamie Strassman, Shaina Wasser, Aviva Weinstein•Record: 8-7 •Lost in championship

Boys Varsity Tennis •Captains: Ben Steren and Dore Feith •Record: 8-3•Won regular season and second place in tournament

Girls Varsity Softball •Captains: Ariel Lanes and Molly Schnieder•Record: 5-3 •Lost in semifinals

Varsity Cross Country•Captains: Danya Czarnolewski, Matan Kline, Elana Schrager, Alex Tritell and Samantha Wiener •Boys finished fifth, Girls finished first

Girls Varsity Dance•Captains: Stephanie Aseraph and Danielle Masica

Varsity Wrestling•Captains: Daniel Neuberg, Sam Cohen and Max Smith•Record: 7-4 overall

Boys Varsity Volleyball•Captains: Jacob Borenstein, Ilai Elimelech and Andrew Siegal•Record: 6-8•Lost in first round

Varsity Golf•Captains: Ben Lieberman and Jonathan Silverman•Record: 2-1•Finished in third place

photo by Hannah Becker

photo

s by H

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h Bec

ker, D

avid

Kulp,

Dan

ny K

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d Pen

ina G

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page 20 • june 6, 2012sp rts