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Invention Convention

Here is a message our fantastic art teacher, Mrs. Chany Fleishhacker,about the Invention Convention she ran earlier this week for our 6th grade.  Much of the talk today about 21st century skills focuses on the importance of nurturing creativity and out-of-the-box thinking within our core curriculum.  It doesn't get more creative or more out-of-the-box than this...

Dear Parents,

Today the 6^th grade art students gathered together for our annual Leonardo Da Vinci Invention Convention. This convention was the culmination of a long term art project that our artists have been working on for most of the spring semester.

The project began with a brief introduction to history of Leonardo’s invention ideas. We all of course know about his Mona Lisa, but many of our students were surprised to find out that he was the father of many of the modern conveniences that we use today. Leonardo was a dreamer. Though the technology and materials were not available during his time to bring many of his dreams to fruition; the meticulous notes and diagrams that he made in his journals have helped the scientists and inventors of later generations make those dreams come true. (For example, the Write Brothers’ first flying machine was based on his design).

The students were divided up into teams and each team had to come up with a proposal for an invention that would make life easier and/or more fun. Upon approval of their proposal each team received some class cash to spend on the supplies that they needed to build their scale model and create some promotional material to advertise their product.

I am so impressed with the ideas that hatched out of our students’ minds. Today each team presented their idea in front of a panel of judges along with their promotional material. The judges had a hard time making their decisions. The results were very close. (The winners won by 1 ½ points!). Congratulations to Noga Finkelstein and Rena Osdoba on their SMILE machine. Special thanks to Cindy Massey and Charna Schubert for their help with the judging.

Please follow the link below and watch the video of our young inventors hard at work. I know you’ll be impressed with what you see: http://chanyfleischhacker.blogspot.com/

Have a great summer,

Morah Chany

Girls Capture 2nd Place in City-Wide Writing Contest

The anxiety was building as Girls High School Principal Mrs. Anat Kampf, High School English teacher Mrs. Abby Johnson, 12th graders Shoshana Somer and Molly Brakha, their families, and I listened to the announcements of the winners of Bnai Brith's Diverse Minds Writing Challenge downtown at the National Civil Rights Museum.

Before making the announcement, the director of the program informed the crowd that they had received at least one submission for the contest, a challenge that asked high school student to write and illustrate a children's book about tolerance and diversity, from every high school in Shelby County. Only the authors of the five submissions which a team of expert judges deemed best, were invited to the program at the Civil Rights Museum.

After her introduction she began by announcing the two Honorable Mentions: a pair of girls from St. Mary's Episcopal School and a girl from White Station High School.  Then she announced the third place winner, who would take home a $1000 college scholarship: it was two boys from Germantown High School.  Smiles then flashed across the faces of our entire contingency.  No matter what happened next, the girls from our tiny little high school had just beat out students from the biggest and most well-regarded private and public high schools in our city.

Molly and Shoshana were called next and went up to receive their $2000 college scholarship.  Though 1st place came with the additional bonus of having the book published by Bnai Brith, our girls realized rather quickly that the accolades their book received meant it might be worth exploring other publishing options.   So don't be surprised if in a few months, while walking through the children's section of your favorite book store or browsing on Amazon, you notice a book called the World of Color, written by Molly Brakha and illustrated by Shoshana Somer.  If you do, buy it.  It's well worth a read.

Pictures from Kindergarten Graduation

I apologize for the delay, but here is a link to the all the pictures from Kindergarten graduation. As all those who were there will attest, the kids were simply spectacular.  From an educational standpoint, though, what it made it all the more impressive is that the overwhelming majority of the performance was simply a reflection of material the children had learned over the course of the year, rather than new material learned just for the purposes of putting on a show.  Borrowing from the terminology of the Tal Am program, we would call this a chagigat ha-nilmad - a celebration of what they have learned, rather than learning for a celebration - par excellence.

Thank you Morah Michelle, Miss Katie, Miss Cathleen, Moreh Shimshon, and Miss Charna for all your hard work!

Kindergarten Graduation Slideshow

Here's the slideshow we showed at our Kindergarten Graduation.  Pictures from the graduation will be up soon.  Mazal tov to all our graduates!

Israel Festival and Color War

Even as the year winds down, things don't get any less exciting here at the Academy.  This weekend was a perfect example.  The festivities started on Friday afternoon with a fairly successful Color War fakeout, followed by a much anticipated Color War breakout for grades 1-8.  On Sunday our lower grades, under the direction of Mrs. Leba Kugielsky, performed at the rain-soaked Israel Festival sponsored by the Memphis Friends of Israel.  On Monday the fun continued with a full day of Color War activities between teams Gevurah (strength) and Chochmah (wisdom) culminating with banner, skit, cheer, and song presentations from each team.  It was a fell fought battle by both teams, but when all was said and done team Chochmah won with the slightest of margins.

Below are pictures from both events:

12th Grader Wins Flatow Scholarship

On April 9th, 1995, 20 year-old Alisa Flatow was killed in a terrorist attack outside of Kfar Darom during a year of study abroad in Israel.  To preserve her memory and to enable others to do what she had been doing when her life was tragically cut short, the Alisa Flatow Scholarship Fund was created to provide scholarships "on a limited and competitive basis" for full time religious study in Israel to students "showing academic promise in their religious studies."

In each of the past three years, only five such scholarships have been awarded from a pool of over 250 applicants nationwide.  Yet in each of the past three years, one of those five winners has been a student from our high school.

We are most proud to announce that this year Mendel Osdoba has been awarded the Alisa Flatow Scholarship. Undoubtedly a major factor in the decision was the powerful essay which Mendel wrote about what the ability to spend a year in Israel would mean to him. Here is just a brief a citation:

Learning Torah in Israel after high school has always been a dream of mine; learning in Eretz Hakodesh would also fulfill one of my father’s deepest wishes. I vividly remember the somberness and solemnity that enveloped all who stood in the airport hangar as my father’s body was loaded onto the airplane. The entire community, especially my family, though faced with the painful task of saying goodbye to a beloved husband, father, and friend, understood that my father’s final resting place was exactly where he longed to be. My head spun as fast as the plane’s propellers from the turbulence I had just encountered, yet I was calmed by the fact that my father was on a voyage to the place he coveted most, the land of Israel. Attending yeshiva in the Holy Land would not only make it possible for me to visit my father’s grave for the very first time, but moreover it would allow me with the good fortune of connecting to him on an elevated spiritual level. I fervently believe that going to Israel next year would help bring closure to the childhood tragedy that has permeated my life since I was eight years old.  

You can find the essay in its entirety here.  It is well worth reading.

Mazal tov to Mendel and we look forward to hearing great things from him next year and for many years to come!

Brother and Sister to Headline Graduation

For the first time in our 62 year history (or at least in so far as anyone I spoke to can remember), our high school graduation addresses will be given by a brother-sister combination.

Valedictorian for the Yeshiva of the South Graduating Class of 2012 will by Maddie Tavin and Salutatorian will her brother, Jonathan.  Both of the Tavins will be heading to Israel for a year of study next year; Maddie to Shaalvim and Jonathan to Yeshivat Har Etzion.  Following their year abroad both Maddie and Jonathan will enter Yeshiva University's Honors Program, where both were awarded significant academic scholarships.

We look forward to hearing from them at graduation and to hearing about them for many years to come!

Students to Participate in NY Siyyum

As part of the new Masmidim Program instituted by Rabbi Noam Stein this year, 8th graders Avi Katz and Asher Finkelstein, as well as 9th graders Akiva Somer and Bentzy Kampf, and 12th grader Jonathan Tavin, have successfully completed mesechet Megilah.  The Masmidim Program, which is intended to provide opportunities to students for additional Torah study, works in conjunction with the Bronka Weintraub Bekius Program at Yeshiva University, which provides a framework and incentives for high school students across the country to engage in Talmud study beyond the classroom.  As part of that program, Yeshiva University is organizing a siyyum in New York this month, marking the completion of mesechet Megilah, for all of the students who participated and our boys will be flying up to New York to participate.

As those who have done so can attest, completing an entire mesechta of Gemara is no small feat.  For these boys to have done so outside the context of their regular classes is all the more impressive.  We therefore wish them a sincere mazal tov and yasher kochachem li-orayyta.  We're looking forward to many more such celebrations in the future!

News Coverage

If you didn't catch it, today's Business Section of the Commercial Appeal mentioned Yosef - a.k.a. Jay - Gersten's award:

Local student honored

Memphian Jay D. Gersten, a senior at Margolin Hebrew Academy, has received a $1,000 scholarship from the National Federation of Independent Business Young Entrepreneur Foundation.

Gersten is one of seven students across the state -- and the only one from West Tennessee -- chosen to receive the NFIB/Tennessee Leadership Council Young Entrepreneur Award, which promotes entrepreneurship among high schoolers.

"It's a challenge for anyone to start a business and keep it going," said Jim Brown, state director of NFIB. "These scholarship winners managed to start successful small businesses while keeping up with their classwork. They really are an inspiration to anyone who's ever thought of starting their own business."

Nationally, more than 4,500 students applied for the scholarships and 131 were awarded.

Corrections

Now that Noga Finkelstein's book review has been published by Moment Magazine, I need to make a few corrections to my last post.  It turns out that there were six winners, not four.  However it also turns out that the submissions - and the winners - came from across the globe, not across the country.  Here is a list of the winners taken from their website:

• Hannah Levine, 10 years old, 5th grade, Fair Lawn, NJ
• Noga Finkelstein, 12 years old, 6th grade, Margolin Hebrew Academy, Memphis, TN
• Chunchom Gonmei, 9 years old, St. Mary’s Montessori, Dimapur, India 
• Samuel Farbman, 10 years old, 4th grade, Ezra Academy, Woodbridge, CT
• Beatriz Maria Sofia C. Pangalangan, 13 years old, 7th grade, Pasig City, Manila, Philippines
• Andrew Gary Walters, 9 years old, 3rd grade, Duncanville, TX

6th Grader Wins Publish-A-Kid Contest

This month's edition of Moment Magazine, North America's largest independent Jewish magazine, features a book review by our own 6th Grader, Noga Finkelstein. Her review of Judy Blume's Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret was amongst many book reviews written by 9-13 year-olds across the country and entered into Moment's Publish-A-Kid writing contest.  The email which our fantastic 6th Grade General Studies teacher, Mrs. Cindy Massey, received from the magazine said that Noga's piece "was so wonderful and insightful that we had to share it with our readers."


As one of only four winners nationwide, not only does Noga become a published author, but her teacher wins a subscription to Moment Magazine and - best of all - her class wins a pizza party!  As of Wednesday, May 4th, the book review will be online at www.momentmag.com.  Be sure to read it and to let her know how much you enjoyed it!

GMSG Sweeps Writing Contest

The prowess of the high school English department was on full display this past Sunday, when the Memphis Jewish Federation announced the winners of its Holocaust Poetry and Essay contests.  Our girls pulled off a complete sweep of both categories.  Racheli Tsuna, Myrel Nechama Samuels, and Zehava Gersten took first, second, and third place respectively in the poetry section.  Naomi Samberg took the top prize in the essay contest and read her piece aloud at Sunday's community-wide Yom HaShoah commemoration.  She was followed by Ariana Kaufman in second place and Leah Flieschhacker in third.

Congratulation to all of them - and their teachers - for a job very well done!

Student Wins St. Jude Internship

Each year, students from across the region vie for the three highly coveted spots in the Summer for Sickle Cell Science Program at St. Jude's Children Hospital.  The students selected for the program spend their summer doing hands-on research in the laboratories at St. Jude's with some of the world's foremost experts in the field.  They are also charged with creating an altruistic "give-back" program to increase the quality of life for children with Sickle Cell Disease.

It gives us great pride to announce that 12th grader Sam Rapp has been selected for the program for this summer.  Following his summer of research, Sam will be attending the Honors Program at Yeshiva University where he will continue to be mentored by word-class academics and where he will be expected to continue his own sophisticated research.

We look forward to hearing more great things from Sam in the not-too-distant future!

Senior Wins NFIB Young Entrepreneur Award

The  National Federation of Independent Business Young Entrepreneur Foundation named 12th grader,Yosef Gersten, as a recipient of one of its 2011 NFIB Young Entrepreneur Awards.   The program, which awards between $1,000 and $10,000 scholarships to the award winners, is designed to reward and encourage entrepreneurial talents among high school students.  Those who know Yosef, whether through his Four Corners Video Production operation or any of his other assorted endeavors, know that he certainly fits the bill.

More than 4,500 students nationwide applied for a YEF scholarship this year and only 131 scholarships were awarded.   Of those, 7 were from the state of Tennessee and Yosef was the only winner from the city of Memphis.

High School Debate

Tuesday of this week featured our second annual FYOS debate tournament pitting the boys debate team from the CYHSB against the the girls debate team from the GMSG.  Both teams have been preparing all year for this tournament through extensive research, planning, and practice debates amongst themselves.

The debate format we use is known as Policy Debate or Cross-Examination debate.  What separates CX Debate from the other popular form of high school debate known as Lincoln-Douglas Debate, is that in LD Debate, the debaters recieve a new topic every month whereas in CX debate there is one topic for the year debated by all CX high school debaters throughout the country.  This year's topic, or resolved as it is known, was "That the United States Federal Government should substantially reduce its miliatry and / or police presence in one or more of the following countries:  Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Turkey, South Korea, or Japan."  As you can imagine, recent events in both Japan and the Middle East made the topic incredibly relevant and required that our debaters stay on top of the news at all times.

Tuesday's tournament featured three rounds of three debates each, followed by a final round in which the highest scoring boys team faced off against the highest scoring girls team in front of both schools as well as parents who wanted to attend.  All of the debates were judged by adults with knowledge of the field, including several who are active or retired US millitary.

As any of the judges will attest, our kids - both boys and girls - were phenomenal.  They demonstrated deep knowledge of the subject area, strong rhetorical skills, and the ability to think critically on their feet.  At the end of the day, though, this year's bragging rights belong to the GMSG.  With a record of 8-2, they captured all three of the top team awards and two of the three speaker awards. 

The boys, though, are hungry to get even. And, with all eight members of their team poised to return again next year, they are sure to give the girls a run for their money.

Click here for all of the pictures and video clips from the event. 

GMSG Dinner

This past Sunday the Girls High School held their annual tribute dinner honoring Rabbi Yonason and Mrs. Sandy Gersten for their 25 years of service and dedication to our school.  The high school girls, who plan, promote, and execute the lavish affair in its entirety, brought in a record-breaking crowd from across the community all of whom were treated to a delectable meal and a moving tribute to two very special educators.

See below for a slideshow from the event.  For individual pictures, click here. 

Video of Governor's Visit

Here is the full length video of Governor Bill Haslam's dedication of our Max Cooper Business and Technology program last week at our school.  The speakers, in order of appearance, are Dr. Larry Wruble, myself, Mr. Ron Belz, Governor Haslam, and Dr. Brad Somer.

Many thanks to 12th grader Yosef Gersten for acting as our videographer for the day.

Enjoy!


Governor Haslam's visit to the MHA/FYOS from MHA/FYOS on Vimeo.

Shrine School

Thanks to the help of Mrs. Teri Graber, over the past two years we have forged a very special relationship between our Middle School and the Shrine School, a local public school which serves the physically and mentally handicapped population. Several times a year our students visit them, or they come to visit us, for a "fierce" game of basketball. The first half of the game features the wheelchair bound Shrine students playing against our students - who also take to wheelchairs for the event. In the second half, the ambulatory Shrine students, with the help of an aide or two and with exceptions made for them to the rules of dribbling, take on another set of Academy students, this time with everyone walking and running. Many of our younger grades come to the gym to watch, as one of their staff members works the microphone as the play by play announcer and inevitably gives the Shrine students an overwhelming home court advantage. With the scoreboard lit up, both teams in uniform, and a professional ref in place, it has the look and feel of any other inter-school basketball game. But the event, of course, has very little to do with basketball. For our students it gives them an invaluable opportunity to interact in a meaningful way with the disabled population and to learn that as different as they may be with regard to race, religion, socio-economic status, physical capability, and academic ability, there are still so many areas - like a love of basketball and the thrill of performing in front of a crowd - where we are all really the same. And for their students playing against our kids is a chance to feel like a million bucks and a rare opportunity to get attention for what they can do, rather than what they can't. For pictures and videos of the latest game, click here.

Governor Visits MHA

In what was a landmark event for our school this morning, Governor Bill Haslam and recently installed State Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman, along with some 75 Memphis business leaders,  visited our school to dedicate our new Max Cooper Business and Technology Program.  The Max Cooper program, which has allowed us to install new technology in all of our classrooms and to offer a plethora of Business and Technology related electives for our high school students, marks our school's first step toward meaningful integration of 21st century learning.

After an introduction by Dr. Larry Wruble, a business associate of Mr. Cooper's, I spoke to the crowd for a few minutes on where I think education is going and what we need to do to get our kids there.  I then handed the program over to Mr. Ron Belz, one of the city's leading businesspeople, who introduced the Governor.   Governor Haslam then spoke about the serious challenges facing education in our state and how he believes even faith-based private schools like ours can be part of the solution. He also encouraged our high school students not to be afraid of high expectations and rigorous demands, and not to be afraid to bring the "treasures" of our religion with us into the public square.  Dr. Brad Somer closed the program and then we accompanied the Governor out to the front of our building where our Early Childhood and Elementary students were eagerly waiting for him.  He charmed them, much as he had charmed the adults, and after a few pictures with the kids he was off to his next destination.

For pictures from the event click here.  Below is Fox Memphis's news coverage.  Needless to say, it was a special day that won't soon be forgotten in our school community.