Color War

Just when our lower school kids were convinced that this year there really would not be any color war, color war was sprung upon them.  For a day and half the school was sea of yellow and blue and red and black.  They competed in everything from relay races to basketball, Torah bowl to team newspaper, banner to skit, and everything in between.  Both the chesed team and the tzedakah team demonstrated what it means to work together as well as sportsmanship and middot par excellence.  Here's a small taste of what it was like:

From Movies

Debate Day

What better way to culminate a year-long Debate elective in both high schools (the first of its kind) than with a debate against... each other.  So it was on Monday, that four pairs of debaters from the Boys School squared off against four pairs of debaters from the Girls School, over the national high school policy debate resolved "That the United States government should substantially increase social services to those living below the poverty line in the United States."  The teams sparred with each other over three rounds, each team arguing both the Affirmative and the Negative side of the debate at least once, and needless to say it got rather intense.  Each side grilled the other over their knowledge of the government's current social service programs, over the other team's proposal to enhance or reform it, over funding, over statistics, evidence, and anything else you can imagine.

It was a special privilege to have members of Seedco's Memphis Office, who several months ago introduced our debaters to many of the issues related to poverty in the US, join us as judges for the day.  Across the board, they were impressed by the eloquence, thoughtfulness, resourcefulness and creativity of both teams.  In the end, though, there could only be one winner... and this year it was our girls.

Here's a list of all the recipients of the individual and team awards:

1st place team: Maddie Tavin and Debbie Farber
2nd place team: Jeremy Cooper and Isaac Krupp
3rd place team: Shoshana Somer and Zahava Gersten

1st place speaker: Debbie Farber
2nd place speaker: Maddie Tavin
3rd place speaker: Jeremy Cooper and Zahava Gersten (tie)

A job very well done by all!

8th Grader Wins International Essay Contest

8th grader, Shira Osdoba, was awarded 2nd place in the 'True Story" category of the 2010 Jewish Heritage Essay Contest.  The contest included entries from Middle School students from 22 schools in 21 cities in the U.S, South Africa, and Israel.

Here's one small piece of her insightful and inspirational essay about the indomitable spirit of her father, the late Matty Osdoba, of blessed memory:

It could be very easy for anyone to be resentful or angry with God when someone’s life could be taken from him at  any second. Where is the joy in being sick? My father had a powerful answer. He firmly believed that by smiling at anyone and being cheerful that he was representing God on this
earth.


Read the rest by clicking here.  It's a short piece with a powerful punch and a critical lesson for life.

Thank you, Shira, for sharing it with us all.

Birthday Presents for the School

 

6th graders Nathan Goren and Marty Lang celebrated a special12th birthday together on Wednesday night. No, it wasn't the laser tag or the Ricki's pizza that made it so out of the ordinary.  It was two little lines written on all of the invitations which read "In lieu of gifts, a small donation to either the MHA Library Fund or to the MHA Athletics Department would be appreciated. Nathan and Marty will be prepared to accept any donations on behalf of MHA during the party."


As he was leaving school yesterday, Nathan handed me an envelope with all of their "presents."  It was a special gift from two very special boys.

A Moving Tribute

The Girls High School put on a most meaningful tribute dinner Monday night, in celebration of the life of their teacher, Mrs. Karin Schmitt.  Over two hundred community members were in attendance as the girls put on a program that would undoubtedly have made Mrs. Schmitt proud.  To say that her sons and husband were moved by the experience is an understatement.  From the slideshow to the video, and the dvar Torah to the desert, everything was done with class and the utmost taste.  It was a kiddush Hashem of the highest order and we are most proud of them.

From Exported Videos

From Tragedy to Triumph

These past few weeks have seen school-wide commemoration and celebration and we remembered both the tragedies and the triumphs of our people's recent past.



It began with Yom HaShoah when our older elementary and Middle School students watched as our high schoolers put on a dramatic rendition of eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust written by children who were there.  Afterward they broke into groups moderated by our Kollel boys and our Bat Ami girls, who led them in meaningful and reflective conversations about what the Holocaust means to us as individuals and to our people.

Yom HaShoah was followed by Yom HaZikaron, a day in which members of our own faculty who served in the Israel Defense Forces shared their thoughts and experiences with our students.  In the evening, our kids were on full display, as their choir performance, flag dance, and skit formed the centerpiece of the communal Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut program sponsored by all of the local Orthodox shuls.

From Movies

Unlike the somber moods of Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron, Yom Ha'atzmaut was one of unbridled joy and non-stop celebration.  From plane rides to Israel to davening at classroom kotels and from a special minyan and breakfast for the upper school to Israeli snack making in second grade, celebrations of Israel and what it means to us were everywhere you turned.  As has become the tradition, the day was capped off by a jubilant march from the school to Baron Hirsch in which the entire school joined several community members in publicly displaying our support and love for the State of Israel.  Upon arrival, our students were treated to ices followed by mincha and a shiur for the older kids and Israel oriented programming for the younger kids.  Finally, before dismissal, the entire school came together to dance and sing one last time.  Suffice it to say, it was a special day for all.

Student in Finals of International Math Competition

11th grader Molly Brakha will be heading to Israel later this week to compete in the final round of the Ulpaniada International Math and Logic Competition.  Now in its fourth year in Israel, the Ulpaniada was created by Michlalah College in Jerusalem as a means of promoting excellence in math amongst young Jewish women.

This year, for the first time, the Ulpaniada was expanded to become an international competition.  Thousands of girls in Jewish High Schools from across the globe competed in the first two rounds and only a select few made it to the finals which will take place on Tuesday, May 4th at the Michlalah campus in Jerusalem.  At its completion, all finalists will receive a special certificate from the Israeli Minister of Education.

We thank Mr. Vaughn and the rest of our Math faculty for preparing Molly so well and we wish Molly the best of luck.  We know she'll make us proud...she already has!

MHA Students Win Community Awards

While certainly it was not the focal point of Sunday's community-wide Yom HaShoah commemoration, nor should it have been, it was hard to walk away without being impressed with the students of the Margolin Hebrew Academy.  This year, the Federation used the event to culminate three community-wide student contests - for Holocaust related art, essays, and poetry – and our students could not have done any better.

In the Art contest, Racheli Tsuna shared 1^st place with 2 students from Solomon Schechter and Brina Copper took 2^nd place along with a boy from BSSS.  In the poetry contest it was a clean sweep: Alexa Wender took 1^st, Jake Baum took 2^nd, and Lavi Tsuna took 3^rd.  We swept the essay contest too with Maddie Tavin taking first place, Jordana Wender taking 2^nd, and Jonathan Tavin taking third.

Click here to see Alexa's award-winning poem and the evening's program listing all of our award winners.  Congratulations to all of the winners and a special thank you to Mrs. Fleischhaker and Mrs. Johnson for their help in encouraging our students to participate. 

Student Art On Exhibit at Dixon

The artistic creations of four of our Elementary School students are currently on display at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens.  As part of their Made in Dixon exhibit, the work of Edya Finkelstein, Dovid Freiden, Ethan Morris, and Joel Weinstein can be viewed by the general public until April 4th.  The Dixon has been kind enough to make several free passes available to those Academy families who would like to visit over chol ha-moed.  To get them contact Mrs. Chani Fleischhaker and when you do, be sure to thank her for the wonderful work she does running our school's rather impressive art program! 

Student Wins Scholarship to NYU-Poly

The Cooper Yeshiva High School's resident videographer, technical coordinator, and concert pianist, has received an enticing offer to continue pursuing his passions.  Ethan Addess received notice this week that he was selected for the Promise Fund Scholarship at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, NYU's school of engineering, applied science, and technology.

According to the letter he received, the purpose of this scholarship program "is to identify, support, and encourage young men and women who demonstrate the potential for making significant contributions to our university."   Should Ethan decide to accept the offer, he would join fellow graduates Andrew Tavin (class of '09) and Yonadav Tsuna (Class of '08) in representing our school on the campuses of NYU.

Ethan's scholarship offer brings the total scholarship offered to this year's seniors up to $44,000, with the vast majority of acceptances still to come.  He, like almost of all of our seniors from both high schools, will spend a year learning in Israel before beginning his college career.  And, like all of our seniors, we're so proud of what Ethan has accomplished and can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Student Accepted to Honors Program

Ariav Schlesinger was notified last week of his acceptance to the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program at Yeshiva College, the Men's Undergraduate Division of Yeshiva University.  Yeshiva University, ranked by U.S. News and World Report as #52 on their list of the country's best colleges, founded this program in 1999 as a means of challenging outstanding young scholars to reach their full potential by stressing writing, speaking, critical analysis, creativity, the arts, and research. The program also enhances educational programs and expands academic opportunities for all Yeshiva College students through intellectually rigorous experiences, individualized mentoring, and advanced work. It encourages students to express themselves articulately, both verbally and in writing. Through intense study and dedication, graduates of the program develop stronger ties to faculty members at large and contribute strongly to courses and the college community. A long-term educational investment, the program prepares young men who seek prominence in their professions, in their communities, and in the world at large.

Applicants to the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program, including Ariav, have all earned a minimum combined score of 1400 on the critical reading and math sections of the SAT I or a score of 32 or above on the ACT, a 90 or above high school average, and correspondingly high SAT II and AP scores. Ariav also has many other talents which have been nurtured during his tenure at CYHSB, which include singing, acting, and a gift for studio art. Should he accept the offer, Ariav will have access to a wide range of special honors courses, a plethora of specially designed summer enrichment programs including several experiences abroad, and will have to submit an honors thesis upon graduation.

As part of his acceptance to the program, Ariav received $10,000 in academic scholarship.  Following classmate Luky Guigui, who received close to $20,000 in scholarship awards with his early decision acceptance to Brandeis, Ariav's acceptance to the Honors Program at Yeshiva College is the second exciting announcement in what we anticipate will be another proud college acceptance season for the Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys and the Goldie Margolin High School for Girls.

The Margolin Academy of the Performing Arts

These past few weeks have featured one incredible student performance after another.  Starting with the third graders whose Purim Play, done completely in Hebrew, gave the 5th graders a run for their money, followed by the second graders who acted out a story from their literature series, and culminating with the second stunning performance by our new lower school Music and Dance program, our elementary school students have been shining like never before.  A special thanks goes to Morah Yehudit, Moreh Shimshon, Mrs. Winestone, Mrs. Fleischhacker, and, the director of our Music and Dance program, Mrs. Kugielsky, for making it all happen.

Of course, our upper school is always ready to get into the act as well.  Tonight at 7:30pm our Girls High School will be presenting a pre-Pesach musical for women at Baron Hirsch on the life of Natan Sharansky and at 7pm on Tuesday of next week, our Boys High School will take the stage with their rendition of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night here at the Academy auditorium.  Be sure to join us!

In case you missed our lower school students in action, here are few clips.  Follow the links for more!

From 3rd Grade Play

From 3rd Grade Play

From 2nd grade play

From Music Performance

Athletics Blog

If you haven't yet seen Coach Carr's new MHA Athletics blog, you have to check it out! It's the hub for everything sports related at the MHA: forms, schedules, news, pictures, and, of course, results.  You can even follow @MacsAthletics on Twitter!

You can access the blog by going to our school homepage (www.mhafyos.org), clicking on the tab for any of our divisions and following the link for athletics. It's a top-notch blog, from a top-notch Athletic Director, who is quickly building a top-notch athletics program here at the MHA!

A Lesson in Poverty

The Girls High School Debate class took a field trip downtown last week to visit the Memphis office of Seedco.  Seedco is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to help low-income individuals and communities move toward economic prosperity.

The eight girls in this elective class are participating in the national high school debate program whose resolved this year is that "The United States federal government should substantially increase social services for persons living in poverty in the United States."  In what is known as policy or cross-examination debate, the girls are paired into teams of two and together they must prepare to argue for and against this resolved.  Before the debate they will be assigned either the role of the affirmative team, in which case they have to argue for the resolved, or the negative team in which case they have to argue against it.  As the affirmative team, though, the girls not only have to convince the judge presiding over the debate of the need to increase social services to the poor, but that they have feasible plan for doing so.  The team on the negative side, then, has to be prepared not only to argue against an increase to federal social services in general, but need to be somewhat familiar with the myriad programs out there and the way in which they work, so as to be able to poke holes in the affirmative team's proposal.

There are few people in the city of Memphis better equipped to start our girls on this journey than Laura Seidell and her team at the Seedco office in Memphis.  Seedco, after all, is a funnel which directs federal funds to a variety of organizations and institutions which help those living at or below the poverty line.  As such, they were able to explain to our girls the details of how various federal programs work, what their strengths are and what challenges they face.  They were also able to explain in real terms just what it means to live in poverty and how real the problems facing the American people are.

From the handouts, powerpoint, and various oral presentations made by the Seedco staff, it was clear that they enjoyed bringing the girls into their world of working with the poor.  From talking to the girls on the drive back, it was clear that they had learned more than they could have from any textbook and that they gained greater appreciation both for the enormity of the problem and for the efforts of the people who have dedicated their lives to trying to solve it.

New Heights in Hebrew

Now that we are a few years into our Lower School Hebrew immersion Judaic Studies curriculum, the seeds that we've been planting are beginning to sprout.  There was no clearer indication than in yesterday's 5th grade play.  Under the direction of Morah Yehudit and Moreh Shimshon, our 5th graders put on a masterful performance about a mother and daughter recounting the story of their family's history -  from Frankfurt to Warsaw and eventually to the Land of Israel - and the importance of their Jewish faith and their Jewish pride in keeping the family together throughout the generations.

More impressive than their acting, though, was the fact that, with the exception of brief narration, the entire play was performed in Hebrew.  Have a look for yourself...

From 5th Grade Play

From 5th Grade Play

From 5th Grade Play

From 5th Grade Play

Rosh Chodesh Adar

Rosh Chodesh Adar at the Academy is one of my favorite days of the year.  It's not just the incredible ruach generated by 207 dancing students along with their teachers and faculty, but it's the way the high school students take the 1st graders on their shoulders, the way the 5th graders dance with the Kindergarteners, the 10th grade rebbeim hold hands with the 3rd graders, and so on and so forth throughout every division and every grade.

It is a family simcha in the every sense of the word.

From Movies

Weather Man comes to MHA

As part of their unit on atmospheric science, Mrs. Henry's 5th grade science class had a special guest teacher today: Channel 3's Chief Weather Anchor, Tim Simpson.  Mr. Simpson spoke to the kids about the various components of weather and the tools we can use to predict it.  He also drew his own weather map and explained to the 5th grade what the various signs and symbols represent.  Perhaps most exciting for our kids, though, was the little "shout out" he gave them on this evening's news:

 

Mrs. Schmitt

Last week we lost a long time member of our faculty, Mrs. Karin Schmitt.  If you knew her, please share your memories with her family by posting something either on the Commercial Appeal's memorial page or on the Legacy.com guestbook .

Here are the words I wrote to our school community immediately after hearing the sad news:

Dear Students, Parents, and Faculty,

I was just informed of the sudden passing of our beloved Math teacher, Mrs. Karen Schmitt earlier today.  As you know, Mrs. Schmitt was a fixture in our Junior High and High Schools for decades.  Her no-nonsense style was complemented by a tremendous heart that wanted nothing more than to see her students succeed.  She would meet with students in class and outside of class,  she'd take on extra sections and create sections within sections, just to give our students that extra boost they needed to taste success. 

In recent years, her declining health forced her into a wheelchair and one only had to watch the way in which our students would gently wheel her from place to place, out to her car, or into the building, to see that our students cared for her as much as she cared for them.  Indeed, our Girls High School had announced that their upcoming Girls School Dinner would be dedicated to honoring Mrs. Schmitt for her years of unwaivering dedication to our school.  Sometimes, though, G-d has other plans. 

Our thoughts and sympathy go out to her family today as they mourn this terrible loss.

Mrs. Schmitt was a teacher who touched the lives of countless students here at the MHA / FYOS and we, as a school, will forever remember her as such.

Sincerely Yours,

Rabbi Perl

Round-table on Kids & Sleep

The Early Childhood Program sponsored a breakfast Round-table discussion for parents this past Wednesday on the issue of children and sleep. Pediatrician Dr. Ellen Stecker,Child Psychologist Dr. Kip Parrish, and our own Early Childhood Director, Mrs. Charna Schubert, offered expert advice to parents on topics ranging from bed-wetting and bed-times to daytime naps and children who don't sleep through the night.

The feedback was quite positive and we hope to host similar forums for parents on issues of interest to them in the near future.  If you have a suggested topic feel free to let Charna know.

Siddur Play

The first graders did a terrific job in their Siddur play this past Sunday.  Under the direction of Morah Chavi Katz, they showed off all the Hebrew they have learned through singing and speaking while demonstrating their growing love for davening and Jewish life.  At the end of the program, Rabbi Greenblatt handed each child the special siddur which their parents worked hard on decorating, followed by a wonderful celebration organized by the many volunteers who helped out.  Thank you to everyone for making it so special and we look forward to watching as these 1st graders use their siddurim for many, many years to come!

From Siddur Play