{charles e. smith jewish day school • 11710 hunter’s lane, rockville, maryland • vol. 29 issue 2 • monday, october 3, 2011}

news october 3, 20112

Throughout the month of September,

the classes of 2013, 2014 and 2015 participated in a

brand-new activity called Moving Up. The objective of the program was to

familiarize students with new expectations as they move up in grade level. Grades were separated into groups, with members of the grade above them talking about what it was like to be freshmen, sophomores or juniors.

Some freshmen had good things to say about their program.

“I liked that we got more information about what ninth grade was like that we didn’t know before,” freshman Rachel Silverman said.

Freshman Zoe Orenstein appreciated the honesty of the program.

“I liked how they were honest with us that there’s going to be a lot of work, but it’s going to get better,” said Orenstein. “Even though the amount of work may not go down like it used to, it will get better by dividing up your time.”

However, the program received different reception from some juniors. Instead of being reassured like many of the freshmen, some juniors only got more stressed about the rest of their junior year.

“I left the meeting with a ball of stress in my stomach, a feeling I know a lot of my classmates shared,” junior Madeline Paulson said.

The sophomore class was the last to meet. Sophomore Robert Ost valued the older students’ advice.

“I thought it was great that the people giving us the advice were students who had been sophomores last year, instead of some guidance counselor,“ sophomore Robert Ost said.

Dean of Students Roslyn Landy agreed.

“I think it’s good to have upperclassmen tell the students what they need to know. Kids tend to listen better to other kids, rather than to adults,” Landy said.

Landy recognized that there were a lot of things that could have been improved to enhance the program. However, as a whole , Landy was satisfied with the program.

“Some groups were better than others, which is always true,” Landy said. “Overall, it was successful.”

Moving Up program meets mixed reviewseitansnyderreporter

9/11 remembered a decade laterStudents gathered for an assembly

commemorating 9/11 on the following Monday. Earlier that day, students par-ticipated in a brief moment of silence to honor the victims and first responders who were killed in the attack.

The assembly was organized by members of the faculty and emphasised how America has moved forward and re-built since 9/11.

“We wanted to focus on a positive element,” Director of Jewish Life Miriam Stein said. Stein helped organize the event, along with Jewish history teacher Paul Blank, Hebrew teacher Han-nah Rothschild, study hall teacher Jordan Lipp, science teacher Nick Miller, music teacher Charles Ostle, Technology Consultant Ed Ramsey and senior administrative assistant Jillian Pedone. These staff mem-bers volunteered to start planning the commemoration, even before school started.

“It created a great outlet for JDS stu-dents to empathize with the victims of 9/11,” Lipp said.

Senior Stephanie Aseraph read a poem in Hebrew at the assembly, but overall there was less student participa-tion in the assembly than in past years.

“I think there should have been more students in it,” Aseraph said. “I didn’t know [I would be the only student]. I was ex-pecting it to be like other assemblies.”

Stein grappled with how she and the

organizing committee could incorporate students into the program.

“It was a challenge because a lot of the students don’t have personal memo-ry of 9/11,” she said.

Junior Sahara Reiz was critical of the service as a whole.

“I didn’t think it was that meaningful,” Reiz said.

“I like how it focused on the death of the people rather than the attack,” sopho-more Gabriel Hardgrave said.

Some students, such as eighth-grad-er Rachel Oppenheimer, had a more emo-tional reaction to the assembly.

“I cried and that means it was good,”

she said.During the assembly, students

watched a video describing the experi-ence of a father whose son, a firefighter, was killed on 9/11. There were mixed re-sponses to the video and its usage in the assembly.

“I volunteer at the fire department, so it really hit home,” senior Rachel Cotton said.

Other students felt that the video missed the mark.

“You have to remember and then

move on. I don’t think the video did any-thing about remembering,” sophomore Jacob Borenstein said.

Principal Michael Kay spoke about how 9/11 connects to Judaism, citing his own personal experience after 9/11. He spoke about the relation between 9/11 and Rosh Hashanah. He related a Musaf prayer translated as “Today is the day of the re-birth of the world,” tying it back in to the rebuilding theme of the assembly.

The assembly’s focus on Judaism was a controversial topic.

“9/11 was an American tragedy,” Cot-ton said. “Everything doesn’t have to re-late back to Judaism.”

Kay culminated the assem-bly by blowing the shofar as a call to come together in mourning.

Commemorative artwork was featured in the Cardo along with a basket with names of 9/11 victims on stickers. Students were encouraged to pick a few stickers

and place them on the artwork. “The goal was to commemorate a

tragedy and a time of more personal re-flection and to pay respect,” art and de-sign teacher Benjamin Tellie said.

Tellie said that his fifth period class had done most of the work for the exhibit. Sophomore Ilana Bernstein contributed in the creation of the Pentagon picture.

“The words should be inspirational for both the people affected by 9/11 and the people learning about it,” Bernstein said.

jonathanreem and gefenkabikreporters

“You have to remember and then move on. I don’t think the video did anything about remembering.” —Sophomore Jacob Borenstein

Junior Sahara Reiz is competing in an interna-tional equestrian racing competition with her horse, Lucy. “I felt good because I felt like people realized what I did, and when people realize the stuff you try really hard at, it makes you feel good about it,” Reiz said after the Sept. 19 assembly. ”

photo provided by Sahara Reiz

compiled by eitansnyderreporter

Freshman Gabriela Morrell Zucker glided all the way to first place in Pikes Peak Ice Championshi p in the Silver Short Dance. The competition was held in Colorado Springs, Colo. from Sept. 23-25.

photo provided by David Solomon

Freshman Josh Bernstein gives JDS a taste of his talent during the Sept. 19 recognition assembly. Bernstein is in the final four for the Kidz Star USA 2011 singing competition. He traveled to New York City where he met former American Idol winner Kris Allen shot a music video and was featured on ”The Today Show.”

photo by Alex Zissman

JDS’ got talent: School gathers to support students in competitions

On Sept. 27, the eighth grade went to the Solar

Decathlon on the National Mall’s West Potomac ParkThe Solar Decathlon is a competition between 19

international college teams to design, build and oper-ate a solar-powered house.

The collegiate teams were judged based on 10 different criteria: architecture, market appeal, engi-neering communications, affordability, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment and en-ergy balance.

The guest were allowed to tour the homes to get energy-saving ideas.

The last time CESJDS students went to the Solar Decathlon was in 2009 when the Class of 2014 went as eighth graders.

aricharnoffreporter

Class of 2016 visits theS lar Decathalon

newsoctober 3, 2011 3

After returning from summer vacation, CESJDS students discovered that the old bell had been re-placed with a new bell that resembled the sound of an elevator.

The new bell software is called Priority Time, and it allows the school to program in as many bell schedules as needed.

Last year, administrators had to manually ring the bell during an irregular schedule. This year the bell rings automatically. Because the bell allows any number of schedules to be programmed into the system, the bell does not need to be turned on manually.

In addition, the new bell allows the school to record announcements and broadcast them into the PA system.

Front office administrative assistant Sara Moline said that the new bell makes her job easier because the bell rings by itself without having to be turned on manually on days when there is an irregular schedule. It also saves the school money on repairs when the bell is not working. This is because the new bell is computer-based and the technology department can repair it when it is not working. The older bell was not computer based, so every time it malfunctioned, someone from out-side the school would be payed to fix it.

Although the bell has provided new conve-niences for the school, some students disapprove of the sound of the new bell.

“The new bell is harder to hear ... the shofar bell gives me a heart attack every time I hear it,” sophomore Rebecca Panitch said.

The typical sound of the bell can be substitut-ed with music, which can be used to enhance the spirit of special events. This includes other miscel-laneous sounds such as the blowing of the shofar. The shofar bell was used during the first few days of Elul.

The idea for the shofar bell came from Principal Michael Kay. The sound of the recorded shofar was blown by junior Avichai Ozur Bass. Kay made the decision to have a shofar bell because “the hall-mark of Elul is the blowing of the shofar,“ and he wanted to “enhance the Jewish spirit of the school.”

Re-BELLing the system

adeenaeisenreporter

This year’s seventh grad-ers went to Calleva on Sept. 6 to promote their grade’s cohesiveness through team-building activities. Met with a substantial amount of rain, they were able to complete the scheduled activities, in dif-ferent locations than planned, and have worked to use the lessons they learned at Calleva in a school environment.

Calleva, an outdoor educa-tion facility, is located in cen-tral Maryland, offers activities ranging from ropes courses to horseback riding and has its own camp

There was a “combination of scenarios, with groups, each with physical and mental chal-lenges to help students get out of their comfort zones,” Joan Vander Walde, middle school director, said.

“We all shared laughs and solved problems,” seventh-grader Joel Vardon said.

The weather, while not presenting any logistical prob-lems, was on everyone’s mind.

“The weather actually made the trip more fun. We had one activity where we played in the rain,” Vardon said.

“The weather was not what we wanted, fully, but it was still a lot of fun,” seventh-grader Ari-ella Kulp said.

Seventh-grader Dahlia Lehman said, “All I wish is that it rained another day, but it was still fun.”

The trip was met with much acclaim. It was the first time that the seventh grade traveled together to Calleva.

Students are already looking forward to next trip, planned for later in this school year.

“I can’t wait till we go again,” seventh-grader Ariana Epstein said.

The last 20 minutes of school on the day of the trip were dedicated to thinking about applying what they learned to school. The most re-curring lessons had to do with teamwork and listening to oth-ers.

“It definitely helped with teamwork,” Vardon said.

matthewfoldireporter

This year, the CESJDS admin-istration implemented three new policies: realting to the tablet computers, attendence and the grading system. Since students often mistreated and broke the tablets, the school made rules to protect them. If the computers are found outside a cart, who-ever was last logged on to the computer will receive a warning, and if done again, he or she will be completely blocked out of all CESJDS accounts for 24 hours.

Sophomore Jason Cohen said that students will find a way around the consequences.

“I agree with the rules, but I think the punishment is useless.” sophomore Jason Cohen said.

“ All we would need to do is ask our friends for whatever we need [on the computers].”The new late policy which issues a de-tention after four lates to a class

or minyan upset sophomore Kobi Fodor.

“I think it’s just ridiculous. It’s not like people are intention-ally late,” Fodor said. “Sometimes something unavoidable happens and you will be late. And after just four times late to minyan or

any class you get a detention. That’s crazy, what about traffic, crashes?”

“I think we should change it back to last years policy.” he said.

There was, however, one new change that excited students, adding the A-plus. A score of

97-100 in a class will result in an A-plus on a students transcript.

“The A-plus is awesome,” junior Sam Hofman said.

“It gives us a chance to show the extra effort we put in, you know, the difference between a 93 and a 98.” Another small change was the switch from trimesters to quarters, which changes the timing of report cards.

New year, new policies

“The A-plus ... gives us a chance to show the extra effort we put in.”

—junior Sam Hofman

jessezwebenreporter

For more than 25 years, Dr. Rick Hodes has been saving lives of chil-dren in Ethiopia who had been di-agnosed with life-threatening dis-eases. He spoke to CESJDS students Sept. 22.

According to Principal Michael Kay, this assembly embodies JDS’ communal values of Tikkun Olam and experimental education.

“Rather than simply reading about it, we’re able to understand the difference he has made not only in the lives of his patients, but clearly in his own life as well and how he as benefited from this,” Kay said. “Therefore, as we move particularly toward Rosh Hashanah, he is a wonderful role model of Tik-kun Olam.”

At the end of his presentation, Hodes displayed this quote: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

This quote spoken by former President Theo-dore Roosevelt serves as a major influence in Hodes’ life.

“That’s the way I have to deal with things in Ethiopia, I don’t have a lot,” Hodes said. “Not a lot of money, I don’t have a lot of help, and I don’t have a lot of medicine. I don’t have fancy anything, but I have a couple of empty rooms. I do what I can to import medicine and to treat kids.”

Hodes has adopted five children for the sole reason of saving their lives because they could not afford the vital surgeries necessary to live.

Hodes specializes in cancer, heart disease and spinal conditions. He explained his work through graphic images of children with diseases including scoliosis, lymphoma and cancer.

“It was actually the most effective tool that he used to show people just how bad things are,” sev-enth-grader Yoni Weiner-Tobin said.

Hodes concluded the assembly by connecting his presentation to the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

“On Rosh Hashanah we all have to evaluate our deeds, and we all have to try to be even better peo-ple than we were the year before and everybody, all of us in this room,” Hodes said. “When you see the suffering of kids your age on the other side of the planet, it makes you think, ‘What can I do to help them?’”

alexanderflum and jeremyetelsonreporters

Making a difference

Dr. Rick Hodes speaks with senior Noam Schildhaus after his presentation to the high school. Hodes continued to talk to all the students that approached him after the assembly.

photo by Hannah Becker

The senior class sits on the Pearlstone porch and sings together Saturday night after Shabbat. Jonathan Zuckerman, Brendan Pell, Jonathan Shair and Jonathan Kader play guitar as the rest of the grade sings along. The shabbaton was Sept. 23-24 at the Pearlstone Retreat Center in Baltimore, Md.

photo provided by Stephanie Aseraph

7th grade Calleva

op ed october 3, 20114

In this issue’s editorial meeting, the editors of The Lion’s Tale struggled to come up with a topic. We typically try to answer the same questions. “What is a pressing issue in the school?” is often the first, followed by “Do we agree on how it is being handled?” It usually takes us a lunch period to come up with the topic and agree on a stance. However, this time lunch ended, and we had absolutely nothing. When trying to figure out why, the answer became clear. We are talking, and the administration is listening.

In our first issue of The Lion’s Tale this year, our staff editorial was about how the school should feel more Jewish by implementing Judaism in more aspects of the school. Within days of the paper being distributed, the bell on Rosh Chodesh was replaced by a shofar sound because it is Jew-ish tradition for the shofar to begin being blown on Rosh Chodesh Elul. Additionally, the bells on Fridays are now snippets of Jewish songs to help celebrate Shabbat. These small acts have helped the school atmosphere feel more Jewish.

The most apparent change was the Sept. 11 assembly. The assembly included a poem read

in Hebrew, a prayer for the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11 and a speech given by Principal Michael Kay that connected the events of Sept. 11 and the new memorial at Ground Zero to Rosh Hashanah. Student opinion on the assembly being heavily focused on Judaism ranged from outrage to ap-preciation. But one thing was clear: incorporating Judaism into the assembly was a definite goal. Kay said that these changes were made directly because of the editorial.

When looking at previous editorials, columns and opinions heard in the hallways, it is clear that many changes are being made in response of the concerns of teachers, parents and students. After many years of students complaining about the NETA Hebrew program, a new curriculum was designed and implemented this year. When par-ents expressed concern that there wasn’t enough transparency in the grading system, PowerSchool was implemented so that parents can now see their children’s grades as soon as they are updated. After students criticized a lack of standardization for expectations and curriculum in classes, a new leveling system is now in place starting with the

freshman class. Additionally, many departments, now have a concrete plan for what they plan to teach in every level for every grade. These are only a few examples, but The Lion’s Tale is seeing a trend: people are talking, and they are being heard.

The Lion’s Tale wants to encourage students to express their opinions about the school. The school, as an institution and as a community, can only grow if its members express their concerns. We can assure you that the administration’s door is open, and they genuinely want to hear your opinion. We also encourage teachers, parents and particularly students to send letters to the editor as a way to get their opinions heard, as the paper is read by hundreds of members in our community including the administration. The school is going through a period of transition, and if you have something to say, now is the time to say it. Opin-ions are being shared, changes are being made, and administrators are truly listening.

Community talks, administration listens

– The Lion’s Tale

Say

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Diverse views on Israel need additional forums Journalism classes need credit as English elective I was recently asked to lead a

session on something to do with Israel for our senior shabbaton. Though initially hesitant to take on the responsibility, I am glad I did it.

The text we read was a contro-versial article published last year in the New York Review of Books

by Peter Beinart called “The Failure of the American Jewish Establish-

ment,” in which he describes our generation, today’s American Jewish youth, as becoming increasingly disillusioned with and disconnected from Israel. The discussion in both of my 45-minute sessions had to be cut short because it stirred so much passion and debate. Dr. Kay, who sat in on one of the sessions, commented that the conversation could have easily continued for another hour.

Though JDS students may have more knowledge and commitment to Judaism than the more secu-lar students Beinart describes in his article, it is still necessary to consider how our school encourages us to engage with Israel. One of the six precepts of the school’s mission statement is Ahavat Yisrael: “To form an inextricable bond with the Jewish people — past, present and future — to foster a sense of commit-ment to the State of Israel.”

The way Ahavat Yisrael is currently taught at JDS is by promoting a support of the State of Israel, al-

most regardless of Israel’s policies. We are treated to activities (like Zimriah), assemblies and Judaics cours-es which primarily teach the traditional Israeli/Jewish narrative. We are treated to a rosy view of Israel, what Beinart describes as “imaginary,” which is unrealisti-cally reassuring and unable to be maintained or de-fended outside of the secure Jewish “bubble” that is JDS.

To be able to have an Ahavat Yisrael that is real-istic and defensible on college campuses and in the larger world, we need to become aware of the many aspects of the situation and to be able to discuss its tensions rather than blindly support Israel because it is all we have been taught and know. We need the op-portunity to independently determine our personal balance of a love for Israel with positive and negative opinions of Israeli policies. We need to know how to respond when we encounter contradicting view-points of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Though JDS provides some forums for this dis-cussion, such as the Arab-Israeli Conflict course, it is not enough. The Arab-Israeli Conflict class is only an optional semester course offered to juniors after they’ve been taught the traditional Israeli narrative for 12 years. As a Jewish pluralistic school, we should not only focus on teaching and discussing a variety of religious practices, but also need to teach and discuss a variety of views on Israel and the conflict as thor-oughly.

Why hasn’t JDS established Jour-lism as an English credit? After sev-eral years, we at The Lion’s Tale are still waiting for an answer.

Several years ago, our newspa-per published a letter to the editor from Dani Marx, then a freshman student and now our managing edi-tor, discussing the merits of counting

Journalism as an English elective. Marx sardonically suggested that “of the 10

students who know where to place commas, it’s a safe bet nine of them took Journalism.”

Her critique continues to ring true, because of the nearly dozen English classes that JDS has to offer, only one of them offers instruction in grammar and sen-tence construction — Journalism. For better or worse, the English curriculum at JDS nowadays de-emphasizes grammar in favor of other writing skills. The complaint still has resonance because JDS requires that students take at least one English elective before they graduate, and there is no good reason why students who take Journalism should not get appropriate credit.

An entire third of the SAT, the writing section, tests a student’s knowledge of grammar and writing me-chanics. That’s 49 questions on the SAT that Journalism students are far better prepared to answer correctly than the majority of students at JDS.

It would make sense for JDS to incorporate this class, which fills a gap in its English curriculum, espe-cially because doing so would cost the school nothing.

A change along these lines would put JDS in bet-ter alignment with the surrounding county schools. Not only do Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) count Journalism as an English credit at each of its 25 high schools, but nearly half of the English electives MCPS system offers relate to journalism skills.

Previously when asked whether Journalism could be reconsidered for an English elective credit, the school indicated that it was taking the issue under con-sideration by relaying the message through our Jour-nalism adviser. Meanwhile, the administration has failed to take action on the issue to date.

As we have noted elsewhere in this issue, we ac-knowledge the administration‘s efforts to respond bet-ter to student feedback, and those efforts have been appreciated. The issue of providing English credit for Journalism class, however, is one that has been long festering, and we believe it is also worthy of serious consideration. There is clearly room to provide English credit for a class that actually teaches fundamental Eng-lish skills, such as grammar, that have traditionally been considered a core part of English instruction.

Liss

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Each year, our teachers and families ask us what we remem-ber about 9/11. And year after year, I have heard my peers share their memories they recall so vividly about panic, confu-sion and fear. But 10 years later, what does 9/11 mean to my generation? Evidently, nothing.

This year, I asked my friends what they were doing to commemorate 9/11, and they shrugged their shoulders. Instead my peers agonized over the ACT that was administered at JDS. Many JDS girls played in their first Montgomery County fall league basketball game. My BBYO chapter planned a scavenger hunt at the zoo in D.C.

Disheartened, I tried to find other ways to me-morialize and contemplate the day. So I turned to the paper. I flipped through the Washington Post and headlines declaring that it was “time to get

over 9/11” blared at me. And in addition, after hearing a few too many comments about how America exaggerates 9/11 and that it’s “no big deal” from my peers, I grew bitter.

I will never, ever get over 9/11. Even though I have no personal ties to any victims or heroes I am bound to the day as an American. 9/11 has changed all of our lives in innumerable ways and to treat it as “no big deal” is a complete injustice.

This is our generation’s first national tragedy that we’ve witnessed. If we can all recall the day, we all have a responsibility to our country to me-morialize it appropriately as well. My peers, I call upon all of us to make 9/11/12 a more meaning-ful day of remembrance.

I call upon us to put our routine activities aside for one day of the year and instead fulfill our duty as Americans to remember the thousands that lost their lives to hatred.

9/11 deserved more respectful commemoration

gues

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EDITORS • • • • • • • •

copy editor

eitansayageditor in chief

daniellisseditor in chief

ariellepanitchnews editor

op edoctober 3, 2011 5letters editor • • • • • to

the

Dear Editor, As seniors, we value consistency. We love the “same

old, same old,” the classics of senior year. We want to wear our senior jerseys and bask in the glory of senior skip day. We want the typical essentials that all senior classes have. But let us tell you something that is not classic about this year: the new bell. It lacks funk, cha-risma and overall classiness.

Take a step back, and examine the fundamental purpose of the bell. Not only does the bell help us suc-cessfully transition from one class to the next, it creates a sense of kehila, community, a taste of home. Where is the home? Where has the Shalom Bayit gone? Does it not say in our school’s mission statement that we strive to foster a “just and peaceful place?” Does this new bell not directly contradict the very foundations upon which our school was built?

I likey. Nojt new bell. Sorry the bell just rang. We could not concentrate. Let us proceed.

The new bell is like tuna fish without chocolate syrup. To put it simply, lacking.

Chief librarian Zemsky said it best. When asked what comes to mind when hearing the new bell, Zemsky answered “anemia.” She elaborated, stating “it drains me because it is so lacking in energy.”

We thought we would get a broader range of opin-ions, try and show the other side. There was no other side. Upon Mr. Forestieri’s first encounter with the bell he displayed confusion, asking question such as “What’s that?” Mr. Westerman was not sure of the source of the sound. Westerman commented “Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s the bell or my alarm clock.”

Mrs. Wilkins, who may we remind you, has never even heard the pure chimes of the old bell, being that she is new to our so called kehila, said the following when asked to comment on the bell “Oh, that thing, it’s all right...”

Is that what this school is? Just all right? How can our school, the biggest Jewish day school in the D.C. Met-ropolitan area settle for all right? We hold ourselves to a higher standard than that.

If you resonate with our cause, we urge you to stand up for what’s right. We remember those first days when

students would stand up in outrage as the bell shrilled overhead. Now, students hear the bell and don’t seem af-fected. Has the stress of schoolwork made us apathetic? Have we lost touch with all that’s truly important?

Let us pray that we have not. Let us pray for the heal-ing of this kehila. This community needs you. If you won’t stand up for the old bell, who will? Do not be a bystander. This is your duty to the school. Take charge. Act out. Be a leader. You are a leader. Feel the empowerment of the old bell. Do not let the new bell reduce you until you are nothing more than a speck in the main Cardo. You are more than that. So be more than that.

This one goes out to you old bell:Do doo do doo do dooooooooooo.

Jamie Strassman and Aviva WeinsteinSeniors

Dear Editor,After the Sept. 11 assembly,

I was surprised at the number of students who were upset and angered by the assembly and more importantly, their reasoning behind their steaming emotions. In my Hebrew class, the teacher gave students the chance to go around and express their personal opinions and reactions they had after the assembly. To my surprise, every single student who spoke was outraged at two particular things that happened earlier that morning. One, that we sang “Hatikvah,” and two, that Judaism was incorporated in the speeches given. One student in my class argued that because Sept. 11 is a day in American history, we should not be mentioning Israel or Judaism at all. I, however, disagree with this completely.

Almost everyone in my class said something along the lines of, “We shouldn’t be singing ‘Hatik-vah’ at an assembly commemo-rating a day in American history. Sept. 11 has nothing to do with Judaism. It is not a Jewish day.” I was somewhat frustrated with this statement. Many of the students that say this are confusing Juda-ism with Israel. The “Hatikvah” is not a Jewish song or prayer. It is the Israeli national anthem. When a student says that the “Hatikvah” is a part of Judaism, they are completely wrong. Judaism is a religion, while Israel is a country. Students need to take a step back and notice that Judaism and Israel are two separate entities.

Furthermore, many students

said something along the lines of, “they [the administration] always have to connect things to Juda-ism.” Meaning, at every single school event, some way or anoth-er Judaism has to be mentioned or connected to what’s going on. I don’t see any fault in the fact that a Hebrew prayer was said at the assembly or that Dr. Kay’s speech mentioned Rosh Hashanah.

Just because we live in America doesn’t mean that we are simply “American” and that is all. America allows us to be anyone we want to be and identify our-selves in any way that we want. In America you can be Jewish and American, Muslim and American, Asian and American, Hispanic and American. Not all of us are simply “American.” And because America is in a way a “culture pot” or “melt-ing pot” or “salad” (whatever you want to call it), why not incorpo-rate the other cultures we iden-tify ourselves with on American holidays? In other words, I think some of my peers are not really seeing the real definition of what it means to be an American. Amer-ica is a country that is accepting of all races, all religions, and all cultures, so why not embrace this right that we are given? Why do we need to separate being Jewish and being American? The way I see it, being Jewish is a part of be-ing an American.

Nicole NabatkhorianSenior

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 pos-sible 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.

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

phone: 301.881.1404 www.lionstale.org

EDITORS • • • • • • • • editors-in-chief

daniellisseitansayag

managing editor

danimarx

copy editor

jacobschaperow claireburke

susanzuckerman

news editorsbrianafelsenariellepanitch

in depth editorsrananadinemerylkravitz

chadashot editorsemilydworkinshirabecker

devinyolles

abigailbirnbaumjacobdorn

michaelgreenbergemilyshoyereitansnyderscottgoldsteinsydneysolomon

haleycohenrebeccarubinelanaschragersamanthawiener

alexzissman

noahzweben

features editors

senior reporters

photographers

sports editors

photo editor

graphic editor

web editor

assistant copy editors

STAFF • • • • • • • • • • adeenaeisen • jeremyetelson dorefeith • alexanderflum

matthewfoldi • matthalpernmiriamisrael • gefenkabiksamanthakevy • alisonkranerstuartkrantz • yaelkrifcherhaleylerner • avichaiozurbassjonathanreem • stevenreichelsarahrubin • ericsayagdavidsolkowitz • ethansteinberg

jessezweben• alextritellariellefontheimsymonginsburgsamhofmanelishurberg

jonathanblockjoshsinger

reporters

staff advisor

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jongalitzer

business editor colearonson • aricharnoff

Dear Editor, Ho, Ho, Ho and a bottle of ... grape

juice?When I read Shira Becker’s article in

the last issue of The Lion’s Tale titled “Can I keep kosher in China?” I found myself exclaiming over how similar my summer experience was to hers. I, too, gained a “new level of Jewish pride” that I’d never felt before, and couldn’t have gotten from any program at school, synagogue, camp or even Israel.

Over the summer I became a crew member (along with 23 other high school students) on a 135-foot, two-masted sailboat called the Corwith Cramer. It was by far the most life-changing experience I’ve ever had. And right up there with the memories of seeing a blood-red moon rise on the horizon (yes, it does that) and climbing a 100 feet up into the rigging, is the memory of having Shabbat dinner on the boat.

Like Shira, I thought about what was important to me in Judaism and how to keep that up while away from home. I decided that in addition to keeping kosher, I wanted to have Shabbat on the boat. So into my duffel bag went a travel-sized challah and a small bottle of grape juice. Candles would have been a fire hazard, so I left them behind.

It wasn’t until I was out in the middle of the ocean did I realize how much Juda-ism is a part of my life. And it wasn’t until then did I truly realize (though it seems odd to say) how much it’s not a part of other people’s lives. Many of my shipmates

didn’t know that much about Judaism, but they were eager to learn, and as a result we had many conversations that ranged from kashrut to the Holocaust to debates on the Arab-Israeli conflict. I found myself doing things I never would have done back home, like explaining what the dif-ference between Hebrew and Jewish was, and explaining that there is no such thing as “the Jewish church.” It was amusing at the time, but it made me take a step back and realize how much of a bubble there is around our school community.

On Friday morning I made an an-nouncement to the entire crew, saying that I would be making Shabbat before dinner, and that anyone who wanted to join me was welcome to. That evening, along with another Jewish student and the first mate (who had just been to Israel for the first time), I blessed the challah and the grape juice, and the entire ship had a Shabbat meal. Afterward, the first mate looked at me, smiled, and said, “Thank you for doing that.”

That Shabbat dinner really opened my eyes to what I had brought with me to the boat and what I took away from it. I had no idea that running a sailboat would strengthen my Jewish identity, but it did. Just like Shira wrote, you wouldn’t believe how much you can learn about your own connection to being Jewish when you’re placed outside of the Jewish bubble.

Tamar Gasko Senior

Tell us your opinion! Send your letter to lionstale@cesjds.org by Nov. 1 to get your letter in Issue 3!

chadashot october 3, 20116

As the bell rings at 8 a.m., the ma-jority of students rush to grab their sid-durim and run to minyan ready to focus on prayer. Some students begin their daily conversation with God, while oth-ers drift off from lack of sleep or pure boredom. This is not junior Eli Shurberg’s usual morning. Shurberg is a member of the Drisha minyan, the alternative minyan option for students.

Jewish Text, Thought and Practice teacher Grace McMillan leads the Drisha minyan. McMillan took over from teacher Paul Blank who started the program over 10 years ago. The program has changed over the years, but this year a lot of thought has been put into the new pro-gram. Drisha students choose between yoga minyan, tikkun olam minyan or art minyan for every two out of three days, and the third day they either visit a more traditional minyan or attend small-group discussions.

“Over the years I heard a lot of stu-dents express very strong objections to being required to pray,” McMillan said. “A lot had substantive basis, either they were atheist or not spiritual.”

The word “drisha” means to seek out. McMillan explains how this connects to the minyan itself.

“The idea for the program was to cre-ate it for kids who were ‘seeking out’ for what they believed in and connected to,” McMillan said.

Shurberg explains the personal im-portance of Drisha minyan.

“It provides an outlet for students who have beliefs that don’t match up with the other minyans, or who just don’t want to pray,” Shurberg said. “Some people feel like they shouldn’t have to pray if they

don’t want to or have a serious issue with prayer belief-wise.”

Principal Michael Kay believes that Drisha minyan is an important option to have at CESJDS.

“One of the principles that underlies our school’s Jewish community is that there are multiple ways to express a con-nection with Judaism,” Kay said. “It’s im-portant to provide opportunities for our students to explore their spirituality and to experience a variety of approaches to sacred time.”

The fact that Drisha does not pray in the traditional sense every day, excludes more observant students.

“I just wouldn’t go to Drisha minyan because I believe that we are command-ed to pray three times a day,” junior Josh-ua Eisdorfer said.

When asked about what he responds to those who are opposed to the concept of Drisha minyan, Shurberg said, “JDS is a pluralistic school, not a school that has things that only align with whatever be-liefs you happen to hold. Pluralism means respecting and representing all beliefs, even if that means no beliefs at all.”

There are also those who think the skills of prayer are beneficial, such as ju-nior, Sam Hofman, who attends Mechit-zah minyan.

“I think that the JDS needs to encour-age kids to take religion seriously,” Hof-man said. “Drisha minyan is not teaching kids how to pray.”

Although some may criticize the lack of prayer, McMIllan finds that the students are gaining other benefits.

“It is unusual to have that opportunity to discuss with a group of only four or five people,” McMillan said. “They are getting the opportunity to talk about philosophi-cal things that need to be talked about.”

6

Alternative Drisha option implementedemilyshoyersenior reporter

“We also believe that talks should press on until com-pleted. Now is the time for the parties to help each other over-come this obstacle. Now is the time to build the trust and provide the time for

substantial progress to be made. Now is the time for this opportunity to be seized, so that it doesn’t slip away,” Presi-dent Obama said to the U.N. General As-sembly on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

As a young Jewish American girl who has known nothing other than a Jewish state in the land that is consid-ered Israel, and as a Zionist, this notion of a Palestinian state is nothing less than scary. At the same time this is some-thing that I have to come to terms with, because I know that it is only a matter of time until the Palestinians live in an autonomous community of their own: a Palestinian state.

I want to make it very clear that I am by no means anti-Palestinian; I believe that they should have a state. As Jews, we lived most of our history under the rule of an oppressor. I am by no means comparing the Israeli’s to an oppressor, but as Jews we know what it is like to not be able to live on our own. The Pal-estinians should be given the opportu-nity to live on their own, they have infra-structure, leadership, government and a culture of their own.

The Palestinians have long awaited their own state, and I believe that they should have their own country, but I don’t believe that going to the United Nations is the proper route to achieve this goal. I cannot support their bid for statehood in the United Nations. Not only do I believe that going to the Unit-ed Nations goes against the Oslo Ac-cords, signed on Sept. 13, 1993 by Yasser Arafat and Yitzchak Rabin, but I believe that it is giving an outlet to the world to publicly display anti-Semitism.

Ideally, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas would be able to negotiate the establishment of the Palestinian state. I do not believe that going to the U.N. is the best way to go about having a Palestinian state. Like President Obama said during his speech, “And those of us who are friends of the Palestinians must understand that the rights of the Pales-tinian people will be won only through peaceful means including genuine rec-onciliation with a secure Israel.”

Peace is internal; it is something that can only come from the efforts and understanding of the Israelis and Pales-tinians to one another. “Manufacturing” this peace by going to the U.N. will only create two neighbor states filled with hatred and misunderstanding of each other’s cultures. If the two nations could come to a peaceful agreement without the outside influences and the whole political game then I would be able to support the Palestinian state 100 per-cent.

Some people at CESJDS may be won-dering what is going on with the new bells. Others may be curious about the recent He-brew language announcements and words of the week. All this is part of the school’s attempt to incorporate Judaism and Jewish culture into the daily lives of its students.

The sound of the shofar can now be heard as part of the bell system, made pos-sible by the new software, which has the capacity to record any sound and play it over the PA system. On Rosh Chodesh Elul, students heard shofar blows instead of the usual bell.

The “defining sound of Elul is the sho-far,” Principal Michael Kay said.

Seventh-grader Max Strickberger thinks that JDS could take more personal approaches, such as assemblies and tzeda-kah projects to promote Jewish feeling, in-stead of bells.

The Friday bell schedule consists of Is-raeli music instead of the usual bell. Sopho-more Jacob Borenstein finds the change disruptive in some situations.

“I do like the concept of special bells except that when you’re trying to talk to someone and all of a sudden a random song comes blaring through the speakers,” Borenstein said.

However, Borenstein and sophomore Eitan Armon said that the music is pleasant and puts people in the appropriate mood for Shabbat.

Director of Jewish Life Miriam Stein said that the school’s main goal is for students to have a fluency and comfort with Judaism.

“One of my main goals in all the pro-gramming I do is making [Jewish] connec-tions with our everyday life. It shouldn’t be ‘I’m Jewish when I walk in and just a normal kid when I walk out,’” she said.

The Hebrew Department has taken further steps to integrate daily Jewish and Israeli culture, too. This cause is called “Ivrit Al Hamapa,” or, “Hebrew on the Map.” This is accomplished through the Hebrew words of the week at the front of the building and the Hebrew morning announcements on Fridays.

Support for the future

Bells infused with culturedorefeith reporter

Senior skip...year: Israeli students

Junior year is stressful for everyone: Standardized testing, research papers and getting good grades are challenges faced by all, but for some there is an addi-tional component: college applications. Instead of moving on to senior year of high school, former CESJDS student Asaf Wurmbrand moved on to George Mason University. He is one of several Israeli stu-dents who apply to attend a university for one year instead after junior year.

“I’m moving back to Israel at the end of this year, so if I spend a year in col-lege it would count as graduating high school in Israel,” Wurmbrand said. “The educational system is different in Israel, we have tests called Bagrut, which is why most of us go to college instead.”

The Bagrut test is the official Israeli matriculation certificate. Students are tested in every subject they study and the 10th-grade through 12th-grade cur-riculum is designed to prepare students for the exam.

“If I went back to Israel after staying at JDS for senior year, I would have to take the Bagrut test, and would be un-prepared because the school curriculum in America is not the same, so I go to col-lege for a year instead of taking Bagrut,” Wurmbrand said.

Junior Ilai Elimelech is looking for-

ward to attending college next year, but is in the midst of juggling college appli-cations and the workload of junior year.

“It’s really tough because I need to do the process during junior year, and I don’t get to have my grade with me dur-ing the college process,” Elimelech said.

Despite the challenges, Wurmbrand is pleased with the overall experience.

“I was kind of nervous about being the youngest in college, but I realized that is just for a year,” Wurmbrand said. “I do feel like I’m gonna miss out on senior year. I really would have wanted to go to Israel but this is a once in a lifetime kind of experience. Being able to have more freedom has been great for me.”

Alumnus Dor Segal (‘11) went through the same experience. He attend-ed Montgomery College last year, and is currently in Israel working in Ra’anana until he is enlisted into the IDF.

“It was weird being in college while all my friends were still at JDS but I was included in all of the fun senior things like prom and graduation so that was a lot of fun for me,” Segal said. “I still keep in touch with my friends from JDS and I plan on seeing the senior class when they come visit Israel.”

Wurmbrand looks forward to join-ing the IDF next year. Elimelech plans on joining the IDF and traveling to South America for a year.

emilydworkin chadashot editor

move on to college after junior year

iIllustration by Shira Becker

illustration by Shira Becker

gues

t col

umn

brianafelsennews editor

chadashotoctober 3, 2011 77

The Jew-1-1 on

shirabeckerchadashot editor

Every day, alumnus Alon Krifcher (‘10) makes his way to the Hillel at the University of Pennsylvania for his meals. He has opted to participate in the kosher meal plan his university offers, a decision he believes was easy.

“Growing up religious my whole life, I’ve always kept kosher, but as I got older and learned more I became more and more strict,” Krifcher said. “Spending my gap year in Israel in yeshiva solidified my belief in keeping strict kosher out of the house and as I moved on in life.”

As students approach graduation day, it becomes natural for them to begin deciphering how they will conduct themselves once they exit the Jewish community CESJDS offers them. This includes the question of keeping kosher in college.

Junior Elana Oser has already made the de-cision to keep kosher in college. Like Krifcher, she said that her upbringing influenced her de-cision. Even though she has made up her mind, she is perfectly fine with whatever her peers de-cide to do.

“I mean, I don’t eat meat anyways,” Oser said. “Even if I did, I would be more comfortable keeping kosher. I’ve grown up in a kosher home, and it is just the lifestyle I am used to. I have no desire to change that aspect of my life. I also think everyone can make the call on whether or not they want to keep kosher. If they do believe for it to be ‘too difficult,’ then that is what they will act upon. I have nothing against people [who choose not to] keep kosher. I have my be-liefs and they have theirs.”

Some students have decided that although they will not be keeping kosher, they will still participate in the programs Hillel offers at their schools. This is the case for senior Sarah Rubin-stein.

“I do not plan on keeping kosher in college because it’s too difficult to try and eat every-thing kosher,” Rubinstein said. “I will still check out the Hillels located at colleges I visit because going to the Hillel and being involved with the Jewish community is a great way to make new friends that share Judaism.”

Some students currently keep kosher but think that when they get to college they will modify their level of kashrut.

“I keep kosher regularly, but I plan on keeping a differ-ent variation of kosher in college,” junior Aron Cannon said. “Maybe a more lenient version of kashrut, not necessarily waiting as long in between eating meat and dairy. Also currently I only eat cheese that isn’t certified kosher out-side of my house, but I think in college I’ll bring un-kosher cheeses into my dorm room.”

Alumna Elaine Prigal (‘10), now attending the College of Charleston, has made a decision similar to what Cannon is contemplating.

“Last year I didn’t keep kosher at all,” Prigal said. “But this year I am keeping kosher-style. It is absolutely impossi-ble for me to keep kosher the way I did when I was at home because my resources aren’t here. Last year I didn’t have a kitchen, and my options were limited. This year I have my own apartment and kitchen and have many more op-tions. I am able to decide what I eat when. I missed keeping kosher the way I did at home. I can’t keep it to the same extent, but at least I can do the best with the resources I have.”

Contrasting with Prigal’s opinions, Krifcher believes keeping kosher on campus is easily done. He even enjoys getting friends into the Hillel scene.

“It is easy keeping kosher on campus because I go to a university where 40 percent of the students are Jewish,” Krifcher said. “The Hillel serves lunch and dinner every day, which happens to be the best food on campus. I love the social scene at Hillel, and I love bringing my friends into experience it too. Hillel is my home base for any social ex-perience. I love branching out and meeting new people and experiencing new cultures and religions, but I know

that coming back to Hillel for lunch and dinner is my safe haven and my comfort zone. ... I love that I share so many common beliefs and have so many things in common with so many people.”

Keeping kosher isn’t that simple everywhere. George-town University does not offer a kosher meal plan. Obser-vant students may opt to get all their meals from the veg-etarian kitchen.

“Georgetown does consist of some observant stu-dents, and they are perfectly fine with eating vegetarian meals,” Georgetown Hillel coordinator Deborah Reichmann said. “The university is in the process of organizing a new space for the Hillel, which will include a kosher kitchen, but that is a couple years away. Students have to work hard at keeping kosher, but it is definitely doable.”

Reichmann also explained that Georgetown takes pride in its pluralistic campus, but meeting everyone’s needs is near impossible.

“Georgetown is a pluralistic campus, and it is a part of the mission statement of the school to encourage dia-

logue and interactions between dif-ferent faiths,” R e i c h m a n n said. “We take pride in this. This is why the university has an imam and a full-time rabbi. It is almost i m p o s s i b l e to provide to every need of every religion, but we try and things are constantly changing.”

On the other hand, Johns Hopkins University tries to make keeping kosher a carefree and simple decision for ob-servant students. At Hopkins if a student wishes to partake in the kosher meal plan the university offers, it is a program completely separate from the Hillel. However, the Hillel at Hopkins does serve Shabbat and holiday meals. The Hil-lel at Hopkins only caters Star K certified kosher meals, a stricter certification then most Hillels serve in order to fit the needs of everyone.

“Our meals at Hillel are part of a separate meal plan than what the university offers,” Hopkins Hillel manager Monica Davis said. “Most Hillels around the country do not serve food at the strict level of kashrut that we do. We have a mashgiach here every Shabbat. We also have very involved Jewish student groups, in fact, this year the new freshman class is particularly involved in the Jewish scene.”

The kosher meal plan at the University of Maryland (UMD), serving around 325 students, is similar, except the program is run strictly through the Hillel.

“Our program is run separate from the university,” UMD Hillel assistant director and director of operations Danny Weiss said. “There are also a handful of holidays where [the] kitchen isn’t open. For example, most of our Orthodox students will be going home for Rosh Hashanah, and for this reason the kitchen will be closed. I do think Maryland makes it very easy to keep kosher on any level of kashrut, probably easier on this campus verses many oth-ers. A very flexible plan.”

At UMD, if one opts to partake in the kosher meal plan, each meal must be eaten in the Hillel. Towson University recognizes this as an issue and has tried to approach ko-sher dining in a different way.

Kenneth Krivitzky, the Towson Hillel director said, “I prefer the open dining methodology that we have. There is no barrier for a student to make the decision to keep ko-sher. It does not cost extra. They are able to get kosher food and eat with friends that do not keep kosher. They also can explore their own Jewish identity and experiment. We have had students that only choose to eat kosher meat or have gone fully kosher in large part due to the lack of barrier.”

The question of keeping kosher is not just being made by high school students. Even middle school students have begun thinking about how they will eat in college. Seventh-grader Dahlia Lehman has decided to keep ko-sher.

“I mean it might be hard, but it’s not that hard right now,” she said. “I’d eat a salad out even if it’s made the in same kitchen as a hamburger, so for me it won’t be that difficult. I’ll probably be able to manage since I do it now.”

* A survey was taken of the school community. Eighty-one students responded.

College

illustrations by Abigail Birnbaum

in depth october 3, 20118

The words “I hate applying to college!” have been wafting around the senior alcove re-cently. Frustration over the Common Application and college essays is common. It might seem strange to see students haggling over the smallest of words in their essays and tiniest of differences in SAT point scores, but students here give a lot of weight to their college ap-plications.

“I think there’s a huge desire to be successful here in a positive way. Students have drive, and students have ambition, and that tends to be manifested when you start to look at col-leges,” director of college guidance Susan Rexford said.

When it comes to choosing colleges there are many factors a student looks at. Sometimes even at the beginning of senior year, students still do not know how those elements line up.

“I don’t know [where I am applying] because I’m really far behind on this whole entire process,” senior Samuel Yeroushalmi said.

But what are the factors that drive CESJDS students decisions on college? The Lion’s Tale has chosen to examine just a few of the elements that motivate the complicated college deci-sion process.

Continuing Jewish LifeAt a pluralistic Jewish day school, JDS students have a range of traditions when it comes

to practicing Judaism. This range translates when it comes to looking at colleges. Some stu-dents need a college with kosher food and an active Hillel, while others are quite happy with the tiniest of Jewish student bodies.

“I want there to be a Hillel and if not then at least some active Jewish population,” senior Alex Berger said. “And also kosher meals are somewhat a factor for me ... why? For the com-munity. I like hanging out with Jewish people.”

Junior Sydney Exler agreed.

“I think that I want a college with Jewish life because it’s nice to have somewhere to go and have a group already in place to associate with,” Exler said.

Yeroushalmi, though, feels like college is the right time to break out of his familiar com-munity.

“I like having a Jewish community, Yeroushalmi said. “I enjoy that, but it’s more of a family thing. ... I want to explore some diversity, and I don’t want to always be restricted to a Jewish community.”

In a recent Lion’s Tale survey, 66 percent of 50 JDS seniors surveyed responded that Jew-ish life does factor into their college search in some way or another. Rexford agrees that the quality of Jewish life on a college campus should influence students when making their college decisions.

“I think it really factors in here [at JDS], and I think it’s a product of why, in many cases, you attend this school to begin with, because you obviously value your Jewishness, and you want to be able to continue having Jewish life play a role in your experience at the next level,“ Rexford said.

Financial MattersWith college clocking in at $50,000 a year for some, many students are looking for ways

to partially cover the cost of college. “I think, ‘How many people can comfortably say it doesn’t matter how much something

costs, regardless of what that something is?’” Rexford said. “And college is certainly not a cheap proposition, financially.”

Welcome to _________ universityStudents reflect on making college choices

University of JDS by the numbers:

•65% say Jewish life is a factor

•73% say they are applying to UMD

•90% say they feel like they must go to

college

•12% say they are taking a gap year

•31% say they want to be with high school

friends in college

•11% said they feel like they must get into

theirfirstchoiceschool

•4% say their parents have their hearts set on

them going to a certain school

•6% say they need a free ride to college

50 seniors surveyed online

rananadinein depth editor

“I want to go to California so badly! I love the weather

there. I love the people there. I love the girls there!”

- senior Sammy Yeroushalmi

in depthoctober 3, 2011 9

Students are turning to schools that are known for good financial aid and that offer schol-arships as a way to lessen the financial burden on their parents and future selves.

“[Worries over paying for college influence me] enough to make me apply to schools that I wouldn’t necessarily apply to otherwise,” senior Nechama Nelson said. “I think the real hope is that a school that is a safety school will give me a scholarship on the sense that they want me to go to that school very badly and that an Ivy [League] school gives a lot of financial aid because they have a lot of budget.”

“I’m sure my parents are looking for financial aid and scholarships,” Berger said. “It didn’t affect what colleges I looked at, but it might affect which college I go to.”

Location, Location, Location!One of the biggest issues when it

comes to applying to college is where the college or university is located. Some stu-dents, like Yeroushalmi, are happy to go all the way to the West Coast.

“I want to go to California so badly,” Yer-oushalmi said. “I love the weather there. I

love the people there. I love the girls there!”Other students are more willing to stay closer to home.“I think it’s nice to get away from home ‘cause that’s what college is about, but I don’t

necessarily think I need to go as far as possible,” Exler said. Senior Jonathan Ben-Harosh is more specific about how far from home he is willing to go.“I don’t want to go as far away as California or as down south as Florida ... but I’m thinking

of going to like Texas or New York … where it’s far enough that I’m independent but close enough where I’m close to home,” Ben-Harosh said.

Rexford explained how students often consider location when applying to colleges and universities.

“I think a lot of times ... students initially, in some cases, will think about looking far afield, but the closer the time to actually choose the colleges they’re applying to [comes], their circle gets smaller,” Rexford said.

Money and location also come into play when students choose to apply to the University of Maryland. In the recent survey, 74 percent of seniors responded that they were planning on applying to a University of Maryland campus.

“If I don’t get into the top schools that I want to, UMD has a really good engineering pro-gram and good honors and scholars programs. ... It also [has] a lot of Jews,” Berger said.

However, other seniors, like Nelson, have strong reasons not to apply to the University of Maryland.

“I don’t want to stay in state, I don’t find anything appealing about Maryland’s campus, there are tons of other good schools, and I think I’m sick of living in my same bubble,” Nelson said.

The NumbersStudents also said that friends, special programs and gap year programs affect the

schools they look at. All of these elements come together in the number of schools JDS stu-dents apply to.

“I think I’m going to apply to nine or 10 [schools],” senior Meredith Lerner said. “I want to have enough options where ... I can have a good idea that I’ll get into a couple and have a few reach schools and possible schools just so that I’ll hopefully have enough to decide from when the time comes.”

But overall, when it comes to applying to college there is one piece of advice to keep in mind.

“Take [the college search] seriously, but also take it one step time ... and ask for help,” Rexford said.

Welcome to _________ universityStudents reflect on making college choices

• “I was looking for a small liberal arts college and Hobart and William Smith had the best combination of every-thing I was looking for. I knew I wanted a school where I could get really involved with the Jewish community (Hil-lel specifically) and where I would have the opportunity to be really involved in theater as well. I was fortunate to find a school that has allowed me to do both!” - Emily Hamburger (‘09)

• “I came to Pitt because I wanted to go to a school with a city location, a strong biology department, and an active Jewish population. The opportunity to live in the honors dorm at Pitt was also a plus!” - Ruth Geller (‘10)

• One of the reasons that I decided on going to Hampshire was simply because I’m given the opportunity to liter-ally create my own major, incorporating everything that I want to learn about. Which ended up being shark con-servation and documentary film, a.k.a. Shark Week! - Amir Fogel (‘09)

Students outside the library at the University

of North Carolina — Chapel Hill.

photo by Scott Goldstein

“I want to go to California so badly! I love the weather

there. I love the people there. I love the girls there!”

- senior Sammy Yeroushalmi

Our famous alumni

features october 3, 201110

As he grew up, CESJDS history teacher Michael Connell’s interest in history ex-tended beyond what he could learn in school. He researched military leaders, strategies and history, which influenced him to make the United States Military Academy at West Point his school of choice.

When Connell, West Point Class of 1980, entered his freshman year at the Academy, he was finally experiencing mili-tary life firsthand.

The military lifestyle “is relentless,” Connell said. “From the time you get up to the time you go to bed, everything is regi-mented.”

However, the soft-spoken father of two girls, Sarah, 13, and Katie, 12, sought out this lifestyle more for the experience than the structure.

“I thought the military was an exciting and interesting career,” he said.

In his fourth and final year as a West Point cadet, Connell was selected to be an intelligence officer.

Connell constantly proved his dedica-tion by striving to be the best at his job. Believing that a successful intelligence of-ficer must know what it is like to work in the field, Connell volunteered to attend Army Ranger School.

The United States Army Ranger School in Fort Benning, Ga., is a 61-day combat leadership course. Its motto, “not for the weak and fainthearted,” properly conveys the dedication of its ranger students.

After graduating from Ranger School, Connell was stationed in West Berlin dur-ing the heart of the Cold War.

Following three years in Germany, Connell worked at two intelligence posts in the United States and received a Mas-ter’s degree from George Washington Uni-versity.

For his last two assignments overseas, Connell did “in-country training” in the Ivory Coast, and proceeded to serve in the American embassy in Niger from 1990 through 1992.

“I was the military adviser to the am-bassador. It was very challenging but very exciting. I’ve always thought that was kind of the highlight of my career,” Connell said.

After moving back to the United

States to attend the Commanding and General Staff College in Fort Levenworth, Kan., and to serve in the Pentagon, Connell became a history professor at West Point for three of his final four years in the mili-tary. He finally retired as a lieutenant colo-nel in 2000.

Connell’s interest in education began at West Point.

“I didn’t start thinking about teaching history until I went to West Point and saw how the history department was able to interact with cadets and run things. It was very special,” Connell said.

His experiences at West Point trans-lated well into his next teaching job at JDS.

“The style of teaching at West Point is very different from a typical university ... the philosophy was to have very small classrooms. They used Socratic method ... It really fits in very well at JDS, with the small classes and a similar learning style,” he said.

Eighth-grader Brian Shorr could only

sing praise about Connell’s teaching style. Connell “teaches really well and gets you into the curriculum,” Shorr said. To make the class more interactive and maintain in-terest in the topic, students “have debate and have trials,” Shorr said.

Senior Sarah Rubinstein adds that Connell’s personal experience contributes to the learning atmosphere in his history elective.

“Before I took War & Civilization, I defi-nitely had a different perspective on war and war tactics in general. I thought of it as boring material. I wasn’t good at history. But when I heard Mr. Connell was teaching it, I knew that he could bring something special and unique to the class,” she said.

Despite the different social environ-ment which distinguishes JDS from West Point, Connell can still incorporate his pre-vious education into his teachings at JDS — particularly in the case of writing.

“The style of writing I learned at West Point was very straightforward, very much

a thesis statement with evidence and analysis tying it all together, Connell said. “We used it a lot in the military. I found it to be not only well-received but effective when relaying information to officials.”

Connell found the student-teacher relationships at JDS to be different from what he had experienced in the past.

“It was hard for me to get the cadets to open up and give opinions. Here every-one is very willing to give their opinions,” he said with a laugh.

It was Connell’s passion for history that led him to pursue a teaching career, but it is his combined love of history and military that makes his classes so effective.

“In particular I had a better apprecia-tion for the military and foreign policies considering the jobs I had, overseas in par-ticular, in West Berlin and Africa,” Connel said. “I got to see things firsthand. ... I tried to integrate that into my teachings.”

Shortly after I graduated from West Point as a second lieutenant, I volunteered to go to the U.S. Army Ranger School, which trains you how to patrol behind enemy lines. The instructors try to make it real-istic and push the students hard, allowing us little food and maybe two hours of sleep a day. On a night patrol at around 1 a.m., we were crossing a road, which was considered a "danger area" since enemy forces could easily spot movement on an open road. Our proce-dure was to cross by having one patrol member at a time sprint across the road until the entire patrol was safely across. I was waiting my turn to cross, and the student in front of me did not seem to be moving. I

whispered two or three times to him to get moving, but he did nothing. Final-ly, I got so frustrated, I reached over and slapped him on the back. As my hand slapped into a bush, I suddenly realized that I had been yelling at a large plant for the past minute or so.

Connell brings world into classroomdorefeith and yaelkrifcherreporters

In the summer of 1984, I took a tour of the Soviet Union. Our Soviet guides had us stay in so-called "tourist hotels," so we could be kept under observation and away from ordinary Russians. Our hotel rooms had what looked like listening devices mounted on the ceiling. Also, the second floor of the hotel was somewhat mysterious. Of the two elevators in the hotel, only one of them had a button for the second floor, and no one in my tour group had rooms on that floor. We did notice, however, that Soviets in military uniforms seemed to always get in the elevator with the second floor button. My room was above the second floor on the fourth or fifth floor. One day, I decided to go down to the lobby, and since the elevator was quite slow, I took the stairs (not thinking about how I would obviously have to pass through the second floor). When I arrived at the second floor, the stairs stopped and three Soviet soldiers came out of an office on the second floor and started staring at me suspiciously. I wasn't sure what to do, but I wanted to convince them that I wasn't a Western spy.

So, I tried to look confused, and said in broken Russian: “Where’s the bar?” They seemed to think that was quite funny and, laughing, pointed at the elevator, which I quickly got on and got out of there, noting to myself not to take the stairs again.

photo by Alex Zissman

illustration by Yael Krifcher

Connell traveled to many places throughout his career in the military. Some of the places he visited include Britain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzer-land, the former Soviet Union, Turkey, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Republic of Mali, Ghana, Republic of Lithuania, Nigeria, Niger, Republic of Chad, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (formally Zaire), Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Hong Kong, Canada and Mexico.

featuresoctober 3, 2011 11

Despite years of countless standardized testing and practice testing, one exam always seems to stand alone in the interests and hearts of high school students: the driv-ing test.

It begins, inevitably, with the notorious driver’s education class. Students such as se-nior Stephanie Aseraph found themselves struggling to pay attention in the class, de-signed to prepare young drivers for the me-chanics of driving.

“The classes were really long, like three hours, so it’s really important to go in with a friend,” Aseraph said.

Sophomore Noah Soumekhian, who earned his permit this past June, stated his opinion a bit more bluntly.

“To be honest I thought drivers-ed was pretty pathetic ... The teachers didn’t really teach well at all, they didn’t explain every-thing thoroughly enough,” he said.

Students had mixed feelings on the dif-ficulty of the permit test itself. Some, like Soumekhian, found preparation key to his success.

“My sister told me that it’s much easier if you do a bunch of practice tests with about 200 questions, and that really, really helped,” Soumekhian said.

Others, like sophomore Sara Kresloff, who is still antici-pating getting her permit, found that some students didn’t recommend preparing at all.

“I feel like I should start studying because [the permit test] is kind of intimidating, but people keep saying it’s all self-explanatory,” Kresloff said.

However, the permit test is just a preliminary trial lead-

ing up to the practical test required to obtain a provisional license. For practice, students spend time driving with an instructor through their driver’s ed class.

Aseraph said that she would drive when ever she got the chance.

“I just [practiced] everything I knew I’d be tested on,” she said.

Senior Nate Druckman, who got his license in December, stresses the importance of re-maining calm during the driving test.

“Don’t be too nervous,” he said. “Relax, take your time ... as long as you keep a level head about it, it’s not going to be hard.”

Druckman enjoys the freedom that comes with having a license, saying “I can go places and do things.”

“I have to drive everyone in the family if they need to be driven,” Aseraph said. “I have to run errands for my mom, but I just feel like I should since she’s been doing it for me all my life.”

Responsibilities aside, upcoming drivers cannot help but yearn for their licenses. Kresl-off said that it’s the idea behind the license that attracts her, instead of simply the ability to go where she wants.

”I’m not so excited about getting to drive wherever I want, but more about the freedom

that comes with sitting behind the wheel,” she said.

photo illustration by Alex Zissman

Senior Danny Weiss gives senior Sammy Yeroushalmi a ride home from school. “I love having the freedom to drive and give rides to friends who need it. There are times though when I feel like having a friend in the car is a big distraction,” Weiss said.

New drivers race to get permits and licenses gefenkabik and yaelkrifcherreporters

A cappella grows exponentially miriamisraelreporter

For all you a cappella fans that know the

harmony to “Nachamu” by heart, who can sing back every word of “True Colors” get ready because Shir Madness is

back. After an unusually large turnout for auditions, the choir is off to a strong start. More than 50 students auditioned for 35 spots. Longtime director Karen Pang accepted 14 more students than in past years. Eleven

choir members are seniors who will be graduating at the end of the semester. Seven freshman joined the chior this year. Nineteen members returned from last year.

The veteran members are looking forward to getting started and getting to know the newer members. Senior Henry Baron is singing bass this year and has been in the choir since ninth grade. Baron is optimistic

about this year’s choir line-up.“I’m excited because I feel like we really got a lot of young talent this year from auditions. With more people joining

the choir, various parts [of the choir] are now stronger and I think the whole package of sound will be effected positively as a result,” Baron said.

Senior Brendan Pell, the groups conductor, is also excited for this year’s a cappella. Pell has also first started the choir in ninth grade and loves to sing. His favorite part of a cappella is when everyone finally masters a tough song and it all comes together.

“We’ll be singing in practice and we’ve been rehearsing a song for a while but all of a sudden, we’re singing it and for the first time it sounds amazing. And you can’t help but just close your eyes. At that point you’re not singing anymore, you’re just lost. Sounds just happen to be coming out of your mouth,” Pell said.

This year he will be singing bass and can’t wait to get to know all the new members. “All the new people sound really good and they’re all really cool people and I can’t wait to become closer with them,”

Pell said. One of the new members is freshman Emma Hofman. Hofman is new this year to the school and to a cappella. Hof-

man decided to audition because her older brother junior Sam Hofman auditioned this year also. She was nervous to audition at first but has felt welcomed by the other members.

“I was so worried to try out, but Mrs. Pang was really nice so I felt better about it. So far everyone has been very welcoming and I love the people. It’s a lot of fun,” Hofman said.

Another thing that a cappella members are looking forward to this year is the traditional senior song, which is when all the seniors get together and prepare a song for their final perfor-

mance. Senior Naomi Eyob is looking forward to working on their song this year. “I’m excited for this year mostly because [we get to] sing our senior song. It’s

always been a distant thing for me and now that it’s finally my turn. I can’t wait,” Eyob said.

features october 3, 201112

Off-campus privileges are granted to seniors and ju-niors. Members of both grades may leave the building dur-ing lunch and clubs, but only seniors can drive themselves off-campus, with seniors also being granted off-campus privileges during their free periods.

During lunch students eat at a multitude of places. Some of the most frequented restaurants are Subway, Goldberg’s, KosherMart and Chipotle.

Students eat out for a variety of reasons. Senior Scott Levengard chooses to eat out because of the greater vari-ety of food that is available off-campus.

“I like bacon, and I can get a good sandwich with bacon in it at Subway,” Levengard said.

Price and portion size also influence where students eat lunch. Levengard goes to Subway to buy the branded Five Dollar Foot Long sandwich. Senior Alex Halpern said

he goes to Chipotle because he finds the larger portion sizes there more satisfying than the school lunches.

For juniors, going out to lunch is a new experience. Junior Ben Steren said that the first time that his friends

and he left campus, they felt as though they were doing something wrong.

On the other hand, junior Talia Weiss adjusted quickly to the privileges of leaving campus during lunch.

“It was no big deal, and it was like regularly going out to lunch with friends,” Weiss said.

Many juniors, however, prefer to stay at school for lunch as they have in past years. Junior Yali Levy enjoys spending time with her friends at school.

“We bring out of school food to lunch anyway,” Levy said. “It’s more relaxing staying here, but that could change next year when I have my license.”

Some seniors also choose not to exercise their off-cam-pus privileges. Senior Samuel Yeroushalmi does not go out to lunch simply because he does not like to.

“I have gone out to lunch a few times before, but I have a tradition of sitting at the same table with the same peo-ple every day, and then walking around the school,” Yer-oushalmi said. “It is one of the most relaxing parts of my day, and I really enjoy it.”

Time constraints put additional restrictions on students’ ability to leave during lunch. Half-hour lunch periods limit the options of students who wish to get a quality meal, eat as much as they want, and still get back to school on time for their next class.

“I don’t have a car, so it takes a while to get anywhere, and I fear my teachers yelling at me if I am late to class,” senior Matan Kline said.

Junior Sam Swire likes the idea of going out for lunch, but for him the effort is not worthwhile.

“What’s the point [of going off-campus for lunch] if I can only walk,” he said. “The food may be better, but I get tired during the day and just want to relax and be lazy dur-ing my lunch period.”

Upperclassman off-campus lunch privileges present fresh meal options

Outside, it is a hot, humid September morning. Steamy mist rises up from the ground, a moist leftover of the rain that had been falling all week.

Two girls walk across the street and through the park-ing lot, where they stop to let a line of cars pass. They talk, fidgeting uncomfortably in their dark jeans and heavy sweaters. Finally the cars pass, and they walk together into the school building, their boot-clad feet squeaking along the hot, wet ground.

They flash their IDs to the guard standing by the door. As the doors open, a rush of cold air touches their skin. They smile and hurry inside. This is the weather they dressed for.

“It’s really difficult when the weather outside indi-cates something different than what we feel inside the school,” senior Eden Katz said. “Because most of our days are spent inside the building, and people dress in boots and sweaters, and they walk outside and a wave of heat hits them.”

Some students feel that temperatures inside CESJDS are much too cold.

Senior Tamar Gasko occasionally wears a scarf and gloves to class.

“I have often felt unwell because of the extreme tem-peratures,” she said.

Although some students may feel that the school is too cold, Director of Facilities Israel Moskowitz said that he and the maintenance staff try to keep the school at an average temperature.

“Mostly the school is between 72 and 76 degrees,” he said. “It’s a nice blend, so you won’t be too cold or too hot.”

The air conditioning and heating systems are con-

trolled automatically by a computer. The computer is con-stantly balancing the inside and outside air temperatures, instructing the fans in the air conditioning and heat sys-tem to bring warm air in and blow cold air out. Moskowitz oversees the whole system via his computer.

The individual classrooms are all connected to the master system. When a teacher asks for the temperature in his or her room to be changed, the whole sys-tem has to shift.

“Let’s say the 100 block, there’s three teach-ers asking for three differ-ent air condition tempera-tures,” Moskowitz said. “[The computer] takes the average of all three, and it helps to give them the quality of air that they’re looking for, so you don’t have one classroom that’s freezing and one that’s really hot. If you don’t change the temperatures a lot, it’s more efficient. It’s like a big ship in the ocean. It takes time to turn everything around.”

It is all a big balancing act. The maintenance staff does their best to keep students at a comfortable temperature throughout the year, and students

may simply have to get used to wearing heavy clothes in school.

“It’s not what they think,” Moskowitz said. “They think we’re over here trying to fool everyone. It’s a big system. It’s a lot more complicated than your system at home.”

Air-conditioning system distributes temperature over zones

Image captures the different temperature zones in the school building. Each zone control the respective temperatures of the individual classrooms within it.

photo illustration by Elana Schrager

elanaschragerfeatures editor

alextritellreporter

Dean and Bean... ...Go Fishing

Ronee Goldman

Aliza Horowitz&

Comic strip

featuresoctober 3, 2011 13

As students go through CESJDS, many of them must wonder what incentives they have to work and study hard for nine classes. How will they be rewarded at the end?

Some answers to how JDS incentivizes its students to perform well in class are basic to any school: JDS gives grades, GPAs, provides leveled classes, maintains a Dean’s List and gives out awards to students after senior year.

But how does JDS motivate its students beyond what one would expect of an academically-rigorous private school?

“It is important to have a variety of motivating factors,” Principal Michael Kay said.

Kay said the school has to balance Torah L’shmah with an environment in which students are externally moti-vated to achieve. He acknowledges that it is impossible to have an academic environment without competition, but emphasizes that the goal should be to focus on “the totality of the academic environment we are seeking to create.”

Assistant Principal and Director of Studies Robert Snee feels that JDS itself is not necessarily the right entity to provide motivation to its students.

“[I believe] the most important [motivation] is intrin-sic motivation a student brings into the classroom,” Snee said.

Snee reinforced Kay’s message of Torah L’shmah, say-ing that “we are cultivating ... lifelong learners.”

Snee said that there are also college-related reasons why JDS should have motivations like GPA weighting. Snee added, “A school’s attitude towards academics is the best indicator of how it incentivizes success.”

Dean of Students Roslyn Landy agreed with Snee that

the best motivation does not necessarily come from the institution.

“Competition is within yourself,” Landy said. She went on to say that in a private school in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area much of the motivation comes from home.

Sophomore Diana Bender-Bier moved up a level in English this year. She wanted to be in an environment that would better challenge her. For her, motivation comes from the students, not the school.

“I motivate myself, and my classmates motivate me,”

Bender-Bier said. Bender-Bier thinks students would work harder if

there was more motivation from the school if, for ex-ample, the school published the Dean’s List at the end of each year.

“People would work harder if they knew there was an award,” Bender-Bier said.

Sophomore Aaron Boxerman said that the school does not have an incentive problem so much as it has “an awareness problem.” According to Boxerman, if students knew the true implications of their decisions as early as possible, it would motivate them to work harder.

Sophomore Dean Bregman thought that looking for ways to motivate students, thereby making the academic environment more competitive, was not the correct way to look at the issue.

“I think [the school] is too competitive because people judge what kind of person you are based on what kind of grades you have,” Bregman said.

Senior Maya Lieber disagreed with Bregman’s point about competition between students, drawing a distinc-tion between wanting to beat the competition and simply being goal-oriented.

“I don’t think the school itself is too competitive,” Lieber said. “I’m motivated to get good grades by myself and my parents. I know my goal is to go to college.”

Balancing competition with collaboration

JV girls soccer has been rained out. I decide to use this newfound afterschool time

to investigate this new weight room I’ve heard so much about. The wrestling team is having a preseason workout, so I decide

to join. First of many mis-takes of my day. Still sore as I write this, four

days later.

Leave the building with Mr. Watkins-Chow. As I’m driv-ing on Rockville Pike, I spot a car

that I believe is his. I pull up next to it at a red light, dancing and honking. The young lady driving is less excited than I imagine Mr. Watkins-Chow would have been.

Meet a friend for dinner at a Japanese restau-rant. Attempt to impress my friend by order-ing in Japanese.

The waiter informs me his name is Eric and he has never been to Japan.

NFL season has begun. Settle onto my couch to watch Pack-ers vs. Saints. Spend less than

a second thinking about where I’d rather be from: New Orleans or Green Bay.

Awaken on my couch just in time to hear the an-nouncer say that we have just wit-

nessed one of the best finishes in any NFL game. Well, some of us have.

Alarm. As I show-er, I remember my dream (a rarity for me). I am sitting in Algebra II in tenth

grade with Ms. Torre, asking her when I will use this math in real life. I chuckle.

Grab coffee as I head out the door. The machine I have makes cof-

fee automatically. Feel like a complete yuppie.

Get into my hy-brid car and turn on NPR. See above: Re: Yuppie.

NPR has lost its luster. Goodbye, Matt McCleskey. Hello, Top 40.

Get confused for a student more than once on my way in the door.

Pre-Algebra Or-ders of Opera-tions. PEMDAS no more. We shall use GEMDAS. No,

the G doesn’t quite stand for “Ge-rentheses.”

Geometry “Mr. Kaplan, is it re-quired that math teachers here write in all caps?”

Word on the street (Hunters Lane) is that there is food in the main office. The street is wrong.

Black bean Morningstar burgers again, I guess.

Pre–Algebra Redux We finish a bit early with the aforemen-tioned GEMDAS. Students guess my

age. The guesses range from 22 to 40.

Go for my daily lap of the building. Run into Ms. Ball’s psych class. They are ex-

amining the weather to see if Ms. Ball can host people on her roof later that evening. The answer is a decided yes.

Start my car to head to Ms. Ball’s with Mr. Smedinghoff.

Make it out of the JDS parking lot. Light traffic today it seems.

A lovely gathering in Takoma Park. If only someone had brought hint of lime chips…

Thanks for the bur-rito, Ms. Goldstein.

No, Mr. Manley, I did not know you went to Jamaica with Ms. Ball. Tell me more.

Mr. Silberman ar-rives. I leave. The two are unrelated. (Writing this is up-

setting me.)

Arrive back home. Enter to find my roommates watch-ing snippets of

“GLEE” on YouTube. Home sweet home.

A day in the life of Mr. Kaplan

colearonson and alisonkranerreporters

“A school’s attitude towards academics is the best indicator of how it incentivizes success.”

–Assistant Principal Robert Snee

In the tradition of my Jewish heritage, my day will (roughly) take on the form of sundown to sun-down, Thursday, Sept. 8 to Friday, Sept. 9.

photo illustration by Alex Zissman

sports october 3, 201114

Observing the girls junior varsity soc-cer team’s practice af-ter school, a fan may mistakenly think a Jo-nas brother is direct-ing the team’s drills. Really, it’s William Ka-plan, in his first year as a coach and as a math teacher at CESJDS.

Kaplan brings four years of coaching ex-perience to JDS, after coaching youth soccer in high school and col-lege.

“I would say I bring fresh blood, some fresh energy, some young energy,” Kaplan said. “And I’m hoping to infuse a good balance of soccer technicality as well as a lot fun.”

Kaplan intends for the team to build each day and get better and bet-ter. He expects everyone to work hard and improve on a daily basis. He in-tends for veteran leadership to play a large role in the team’s success.

Sophomore Maya Goldstein is cap-tain of the girls junior varsity soccer team.

“We will work hard, [and] put a lot of effort in,” Goldstein said. “And we want to win and have fun at the same time.”

The team is looking forward to the Hebrew Academy game as the rivalry heats up.

Montana Gibson, recently hired as the new Lower School physical educa-tion teacher, is coaching the boys junior varsity soccer team.

Gibson brings experience to the boys junior varsity soccer team, as he played and coached soccer in college.

After losing 16 seniors from last year, the boys soccer program does not

have enough players to fill two rosters. During tryouts, rumors circulated that the junior varsity soccer team would be downgraded to a platoon squad.

Gibson called up several middle school athletes, establishing a full squad and suppressing the rumors.

To help prepare players for the var-sity team, Gibson plans to focus on de-fense and working together this year.

“If you don’t work as a team, that is a huge factor,” freshman Drew Hein said. “In practice when we work as a team, you can see that we are a lot better than we are when we have one player just trying to dribble up-field and score in the zone.”

Gibson belives his dedication and determination will help lead JDS to vic-tory.

“What I am bringing to JDS is some new innovative coaching ideas with a lot of energy,” Gibson said. “I am very passionate about the game and that can be seen in my players and how they will play.”

—BJVS & GJVS—

alexanderflum reporter

Freshman Isabella Zissman clears the ball from the goalie box. Zissman is recovering from ankle and knee injuries, both of which occured in the past year. This will be the first year she plays on junior varsity.

photo by Alex Zissman

The CESJDS varsity cross country team started the season with wins from the boys and girls teams.

The boys won first place at their first meet and the girls took second, giving JDS the highest ranking at the meet. This placement gave JDS a large amount of momentum and confi-dence.

“We’re going to win [the champi-onship], obviously,” sophomore Aaron Boxerman said.

In addition to winning their first meet, the team has gained confidence from the girls winning the champion-ship last season.

Coach Jason Belinkie had the players set specific goals for them-selves at the start of the season to achieve throughout the rest of the

season.Although the team has many new

runners, the more experienced run-ners see the young team as an expan-sive learning opportunity rather than a hardship. The veterans hope to help shape the younger members into ex-perienced, competitive athletes for seasons to come.

“Our team this year is mostly mid-dle schoolers, which means the best is yet to come,” Boxerman said.

The captains this season are se-niors Matan Kline, Alex Tritell and Danya Czarnolewski, as well as juniors Elana Schrager and Samantha Wiener. Their job for the season is to support the team and keep motivation high.

The team also meets on Sundays for what Tritell says is “the hardest practice of the week.” The location changes from week to week and has been held at Whitman High School and Rockville Civic Center.

The captains have an optimistic

view of the younger members of the team.

“After our first meet they have really shown their potential,” Kline said. “I think they might put us in a better position than last year at championships.”

In upcoming events, players will attempt to achieve their origi-nal goals despite the challenges they may face.

“It can be tough, but the team is great and the coaches are so mo-tivating,” sophomore Hilary Druck-man said. “It makes you want to push through.”

jeremyetelson reporter

photo by Alex Zissman

Seventh-grader Isaac Eichenbaum practices long distance running for an upcoming meet. Eichenbaum is running at the varsity level for the first time this season. He and other middle schoolers make up the majority of the varsity squad.

New coaches bring personal

experience, encourage fun

atmosphere

Captains mentor young runners

—XC—

additional reporting by ethansteinberg

The beginning of the fall season doesn’t mean many new faces for the girls varsity soc-cer team. The team has 14 players returning this year, including four eighth-graders and four freshman.

“I think the eighth-graders are really good,” sophomore Sara Bender-Bier said. “They are a good addition to the team, and it’s not about age, it’s about talent. We are really good with passing and making plays.”

The team has played one game so far, a scrimmage against Saint John’s Catholic Prep, in which CESJDS lost 4-3.

“I think we played very well as a team and we did well con-sidering their team is really good,” eighth-grader Megan Orbach said.

This is Orbach’s first year on the team.

“It’s hard, but it’s really fun, and it im-proves your skills,” she said. “We can see how the older players play and learn from them.”

The team prides itself on good handling skills.

“Our strength would be ball control,” Coach Jay Matula said.

Matula feels that positive team communi-cation during is another strength of the team.

“We’ve done well in understanding each other positionally,” Matula said. “They under-stood each other during the scrimmage, and they put their positional knowledge together, and that’s why we scored goals.”

Matula is confident in the talent level of the athletes this season.

“I think were stronger than we were last

year because we have young athletes chal-lenging for positions,” Matula added. “I think the quality is there.”

Matula has his hopes set on bringing home multiple banners this season.

“Our goal is to improve every game and challenge for a banner, both regular season and tournament,” Matula said.

Junior Debi Smith believes the addition of the younger players is a positive for the team.

“They make us better and give us good competition,” Smith said.

Freshman Isabella Zissman agrees.“I think we look really good, even with

eighth-graders,” Zissman said. “It’s a strong team working to-gether. The eighth-graders are all re-ally good. We have good teamwork.”

Zissman is one of two new goalies on the team. The transition from mid-dle school to varsity has been hard on her.

“We have to play as a team and not work alone,” she said. “It’s a team sport.”

Smith believes that teamwork is what will lead to

success on the field and will help build strong relationships off the field.

“I think we have a strong team and we have the strongest defense I’ve seen in a while,” Smith said. “We also have great chem-istry, and we are all excited to start the sea-son. We are really close, close enough to give constructive criticism allowing us to grow as a team and become better players individually.”

—GVS—

Banners on players’ mindsWith 14 players returning this season, players, coach hope to “challenge” for a banner this season matthalpern reporter

Senior Paige Siegel bends over backwards to complete a pass during a preseason scrimmage. This is her first year as captain and third year on varsity.

photo by Alex Zissman

Mix of hard work, confidence, focus all factors in team’s predicted success

sportsoctober 3, 2011 15

This fall, the girls varsity volleyball team plans to channel its energy towards improv-ing player communication on the court.

The team consists of four seniors, one junior, one sophomore and two freshmen. Junior Molly Schneider, has her own definition of what working together on the

court really means.“Our main goal is to work together on the court,” Schneider said. “This means that

we call every ball, let our teammates know when the ball is in or out and hustle on each play.”

Their head coach is Lower School physical education teacher, Patrick Dudash. He has his own list of goals for the team.

“Our team goals include improving team chemistry, winning the matches against the teams were are ‘supposed’ to beat and, of course, making a run at the championship,” Dudash said.

Due to the holidays, the team will only be able to practice nine times throughout the season.

Lack of practice means younger players such as freshman Rebecca Cohen will have to adjust much more quickly.

“I haven’t been on varsity for very long,” Cohen said. “I just started this season. It’s a very big step from going to a middle school volleyball level to a varsity level.”

Dudash is worried but optimisic about the underclassmen play on varsity.“We will be starting one sophomore and two freshmen,” Dudash said. “Learning how

fast-paced a varsity match [is] will be a big challenge for our younger players, but so far the coaching staff is impressed with their progress.”

The players on the team enjoy the different aspects of the sport.“My favorite thing about playing volleyball is the community that our team has

built,” Schneider said. “I am always excited to go to practice every day and learn new skills. We work so hard at practice to perfect our serves, and it feels amazing when the serve is finally good.”

Sophomore Claire Mendelson has also set a goal for the season.“My big goal for the team for the season is to work on team dynamics and our com-

munication on the court,” Mendelson said.

Dudash is looking forward to the new season.“The coaching staff is excited to see the potential talent of the younger players, and

we have a great core of experienced upperclassmen,” Dudash said. “We have 10 fresh-men on JV and varsity, so some would say that we are ‘rebuilding,’ but we believe in all of our athletes’ talent to carry us. Our seniors have exceeded our expectations so far and continue to be fantastic leaders on and off the court.”

The girls varsity volleyball team has an upcoming game on Oct. 4 at Grace Brethren at 5:15 p.m. and another game at McLean at 5:15 p.m. on Oct. 5.

emilyshoyer senior reporter

photo by Alex ZissmanSenior Talia Byck jumps high, preparing to spike the ball down during a win against Grace Brethren. Senior

Yarden Arber and sophomore Yael Krifcher look on and wait for the delivery.

Limited practice time means communication is key to successful season

—GVV—

The boys varsity soccer team found themselves in a tight spot at the beginning of this season, having had 16 seniors graduate last season and very few veterans returning. Junior and captain Sam Swire, predicted that, “We’ll win one or two, but I don’t think it’ll be one of our best seasons, compared to last years, years before that.”

The squad won its first match and started the season 2-2.

The team sees this season as a good building block for next season.

“People are a little shaky on how good we’re going to be, just because we don’t have the seniors that are a big part of the team,” freshman Alec Schrager said. “But next year, we’re going to be really good. And the year after that, we’re going to be good also.”

Head Coach Steven Forestieri has been cautiously optimistic.

“I think we’re going to be a lot better than what people would expect us to be, with how young the actual team is,” he said. “Losing 16 seniors, a lot of those [young-er] guys will see a lot of playing time . . . We have an eighth grader on the varsity team. We have two seventh graders that might be in the running for playing time on varsity as well.”

After a few weeks, Forestieri saw young players take leadership roles.

“A lot underclassmen are having to step up and fill the roles as leaders on the team,” he said. “Everybody, so far, has accepted the challenge and is working really hard and doing so.”

The squad returns to the field this season after losing in the semifinal game last year.

“Last year we had a great season,” Forestieri said. “We had a very talented team. We obviously wanted to win the championship, and we had talent on the team to actually do that. Basically, we were satisfied with our performance. There was a lot of competition and the team last year, a lot of the teams were very very good and the guys played great. We had a good time together. We had a pretty close team, and everyone really enjoyed their

soccer experience.” This year’s team has only one senior, Noah Zweben,

who is on varsity for the first time.“He just came out this year and he’s actually doing

quite well,” Forestieri said. “I think he’s going to be able to contribute to our team this year as a senior and will see some playing time. He had a very good tryout.”

Schrager and eighth-grader Barak Amige are both playing at the varsity level this season.

“It’s fine,” Schrager said. “It’s weird, though, because there are two eighth graders and a seventh grader, so it’s not like you’re the youngest, but you’re not the oldest, either.”

Rain washed away the team’s opportunity to play or have official practices the first week of the season.

“I think the rain has definitely hurt the team,” junior

and captain Ethan Walfish said. “We had two games postponed this week, no practices. I held two captain’s practices, which were all right. They went well, a little fool-ing around. But other than that, I think we should be — a couple more practices, and we’ll be ready.”

Despite the obstacles, the boys varsity soccer team has stayed competitive.

“We’re still a competitive team in the league,” Forest-ieri said. “I think that we’re absolutely capable of winning in a match play against any other team in the league. It just is a matter of how well we’re going to play that day and if we can play to our potential.”

In multi ple photos superimposed upon one another, seventh-grader Reuben Winston gets tri pped up during the first half of a game early in the season. As a seventh-grader on varsity, he has five seasons of soccer left to develop as a player.

16 seniors depart, underclassmen given chance to shine

photos by Yossi Vogel, photo illustration by Josh Singer

—BVS—

jacobdorn assistant copy editor

A concussion can bring any athlete’s career to a startling halt in only a few sec-onds. With nearly four million sports-re-lated concussions occurring in the United States every year, imPACT, a new software the CESJDS athletic department recently acquired in a lottery drawing, will help improve concussion safety and testing ef-ficiency.

“[Athletic trainer Jessica] Matula en-tered the school into a contest to win [the] software, which was sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods,” head wrestling coach Jor-dan Lipp said.

ImPACT is a concussion baseline test-ing software developed by imPACT Appli-cations Inc., a company based out of Pitts-burgh, Pa.

After Matula reached out to a handful of other faculty members, JDS had even greater chances of winning the contest.

“[Matula] said it wouldn’t hurt the school’s chances of being selected if we had more entries, so that’s when she reached out to 20 or 30 members of the faculty and asked them to sign up as well,” Lipp said.

Lipp received an email a few weeks later stating that JDS had won the contest

and would receive the imPACT software completely free.

“I thought it was great,” he said. “I think concussion baseline testing is really vital to any athletic program.”

Baseline concussion testing is the most modern technology used to assess concus-sions and head injuries.

The software allows a trainer to input data into a database after performing a variety of “baseline” or initial tests. The information col-lected from these control tests will be used for comparision during a post-injury test where a concussion is suspected.

The entire testing procedure lasts 45 minutes and can be done with up to 15 athletes at a time. Matula said the data col-lected from the tests is confidential, mak-ing her the only one able to perform the tests and record the data.

“I’ll be the one that’s administrating the test,” Matula said. “It’s a computerized test, a video game-type test that they’re going to be doing individually. I just need to make sure that it’s a quiet environment for them to do so.”

The test covers verbal and visual mem-ory, processing speed and reaction time.

“You register each person individu-ally, and they sit in front of a computer,” Matula said. “It’s a computerized-type test and tests recognition of numbers, designs, words. It’s basically how your brain works, and it’s just a baseline test for how fast

can you recognize some of those things.”

“It’s another step for-ward for the athletic de-partment,” Athletic Director Michael Riley said. “We’re doing a precautionary thing. In case of head inju-ries, we’ll have a baseline

test to see where the student athlete was before a head injury.”

This fall, only varsity athletes will par-ticipate in the testing. However, Riley has plans to branch out testing in the future.

“We’re going to attempt at some point to get it to the middle school athletes as well, but what we’re going to do this year is focus on the varsity athletes, at least for this fall,” Riley said.

ImPACT arrived at JDS just in the nick of time, as Riley said more than three stu-dents had sports-related concussions last year.

Freshman Joel Halpern sustained a concussion in middle school during a soc-cer game.

“I remember I went for a header in a soccer game, and some kid’s head fell back onto mine,” Halpern said. “I fell onto the ground and got a minor concussion. I had to stop playing and my head hurt for a while after that.”

Freshman Ben Weinberger received a concussion in seventh grade during bas-ketball tryouts.

“It will make concussion testing much more efficient and much more reliable,” Weinberger said.

Both Halpern and Weinberger are grateful for this new technology.

“It’s good because now we can tell whether it’s a minor or major concussion and how much precaution needs to be taken,” Halpern said.

After sustaining two concussions, one while playing basketball and the other af-ter an accident on the treadmill, junior Jake Mintz is also appreciative of the new soft-ware.

“I think it’s much more convenient,” Mintz said. “I feel like it’s good to have ad-ditional safety measures, especially for con-cussions, because that’s something that can keep coming back over an athlete’s career.”

Some symptoms of a concussion are headaches, nausea, fatigue and confusion, usually directly after an injury, but can be felt up to a few weeks later

A concussion is caused by a

blow to the head or body

that causes the brain to

rattle inside the skull

rapidly

Ten percent of American athletes participating in a contact sport sustain concussions yearly

“I fell onto the ground and got a minor concussion. I had to stop playing and my head hurt for a while after that.”

—Joel Halpern

High school athletes

who sustain one con-

cussion are three

times more likely to

sustain a second

joshsinger sports editor

Baseline concussion testing software to make significant

imPACT on student-athletes’’’’

page 16 • october 3, 2011sp rts

Information from ”Practice Parameter,” American Academy of Neurology Concussion Severity, March 1997 and http://www.concussiontreatment.com/concussionfacts.html

Grades of a

ConcussionGrade 1: Transient confusion No loss of consciousness Concussion symptoms show in less than 15 minutes

Grade 2: Transient confusion No loss of consciousness concussion symptoms show after 15 minutes

Grade 3: Any loss of consciousness, brief or prolonged

3

oct. 6

JDS wins concussion testing system in lottery drawing

additional reporting by alexanderflum

4:00 p.m. GVT @ Oakcrest

4:15 p.m. GMSV vs. Brookewood

5:00 p.m. BJVS vs. Hebrew Acad-emy

UPCOMING GAMES

4:30 p.m. GVS vs. WIS

5:00 p.m. BVS @ WIS BJVS @ Burke

5:15 p.m. GVV @ McLean

oct. 54:15 p.m. GMS vs. McLean BMS @ McLean GVT vs. Grace Brethren 4:30 p.m. BVS vs. SSFS

5:15 p.m. GVV @ Grace Brethren

oct. 4

WHATWATCH4

2

photo

by Al

ex Zi

ssman