鶹 Math Team Wins First Place At Yale MMATHS Competition
On Sunday, February 26, 18 鶹 students participated in the MMATHS competition, Math Majors of American Tournament High Schools, at Yale University. Competing against eight other schools, one of the three 鶹 teams at the event, won first place for overall performance. They are pictured (l-r): Sarit Greenwood, siblings Liviah Lewis and Liam Lewis, Oran Goodman, Gil Yarsky and Eitan Rosenblatt. In addition, Gil Yarsky earned second place in the individual category. The fun day at Yale included a tour of the campus by 鶹 alumna and current Yale student Caroline Waxman, and a kosher pizza lunch.
鶹 Students Experience Unforgettable Junior Freezefest
鶹 juniors had an incredible, frost-tastic time on Freezefest last week in Canada! Winter activities included dog sledding, visiting a hotel made entirely of ice, snow rafting and more. The exciting schedule included plenty of opportunity for grade-wide bonding, and plenty of Torah learning to warm up from the freezing cold weather!
CBS Sportscaster Tracy Wolfson Visits 鶹 Sports Management Classes
Yeshivat 鶹’s Sports Management program, led by former CBS Sports executive Jerry Caraccioli, had CBS Sports lead reporter Tracy Wolfson speak to students from the sports management classes, club and Cougar Nation Network club on Monday, February 27 in-person at the 鶹 School. Among the many topics Wolfson touched upon was her experience in getting started in the business, growing up as a teenager and realizing she wanted to work in sports broadcasting, going about pursuing her dream and the great stories and experiences she has had in covering Super Bowls, NCAA Tournaments and Final Fours, SEC college football, as well as many of the great athletes of our time including Tom Brady and Peyton Manning for CBS Sports.
Wolfson had to be incredibly persistent in order to reach her professional goals. Now, she says, “I get to do something I love every single day.” While Wolfson’s favorite sport is football, her first jobs often entailed working hard to learn about sports she knew nothing about—such as figure skating. One of her first sportscasting jobs was covering auto racing. “I learned it cold, even though I didn’t know the first thing about it,” she recounted. Her versatility proved to be a critical asset over time. “A lot of people say, ‘I only want to do basketball, or I only want to do football,’” said Wolfson. “You’ll get there, but you gotta do the baby steps first.”
鶹 Spanish Class Completes Chesed Trip to Cuba
Yeshivat 鶹’s sophomore Spanish class, accompanied by their teacher Alejandro Meneses and Toby Moses, returned this week from an impactful trip to Cuba. On the first day, the 鶹 group saw Havana, which included visits to the capitol and other government buildings and a walking tour of downtown Havana.
The following day, the 鶹 delegation visited the local Sefardic Center, where the students heard from a Turkish Jewish refugee whose parents came to Cuba in the early 1920s, and from the ba’al koreh of the community (who also doubles as the shochet) whose parents also came to Cuba before the revolution. They also heard from William Miller, who was born and raised in Cuba as grandson of the former Chief Rabbi of the Sefardic community, then made aliyah and now travels back and forth to help the Cuban Jewish community. Afterwards, the 鶹 group donated medicine to the Jewish community; Supplies that are plentiful and over-the-counter in America are in short supply and extremely expensive in Cuba. Visiting the markets with Cuban currency, the students had an eye-opening experience regarding the everyday, widespread poverty, hunger and lack of basic medical supplies the people there face, and how resourceful families must be to survive. The students also visited home-bound, elderly Jewish families in poor health, who were so grateful for the visitors. The group ended the day with dinner at the Ashkenazi synagogue with local Jewish students ranging in age from 13 to 21—a great way for the 鶹 students to practice their Spanish and the Cuban students their English!
The following, final day of touring began with visiting the poorest community in Havana. The students and their teachers donated lunch to the senior citizens, who gather together once a week to exercise and socialize, and who were so happy for the visit. The group then paid a visit to the Sefardic cemetery—the only active Jewish cemetery in Cuba at this time—and visited the kever of the great-grandfather of 鶹 Principal Rabbi Ciner, as well as the memorial kever of Holocaust survivors who died in Cuba. The day ended with a scenic driving tour of the parts of Havana that they hadn’t seen. All in all, the trip was an eye-opening experience, and showed the group how helpful trips such as this one are to the local community.
鶹 Sophomore Delegation Goes On Vienna Student Exchange
A group of Yeshivat 鶹 students recently returned from their student exchange trip to Vienna. Their time in the Austrian capital, which was a hub of Jewish cultural and religious life prior to the Holocaust, was preceded by a visit with students from a Jewish Viennese school. The 鶹 delegation visited stunning synagogues, fascinating museums and fantastic restaurants, all while creating cherished memories with the ZPC Viennese students. Students toured various synagogues, including the Judenplatz medieval synagogue, saw the Mauthausen concentration camp, visited the Vienna Library and immersed themselves in the Mozart experience. They also got to enjoy a beautiful Shabbat together.
Radziner Rebbe Visits Yeshivat 鶹 Chasidut Class
“Rav Aharon Karliner would always encourage to ‘machshiv an uvdah,’ celebrate every ‘little’ thing that you do—because in truth everything has the seeds of greatness.” The Radziner Rebbe, shlita, delivered inspiration and chizzuk to Rabbi Michael Bashist’s 12th grade Chassidut elective last week. The students had the opportunity to hear messages of the Baal Shem Tov and his chassidim, as well as ask the questions to the Radziner Rebbe.
鶹 Cougars Win Big in the Playoffs
Congratulations to the 鶹 girls varsity volleyball and varsity basketball teams on their semi-final wins, and the boys varsity basketball team on their quarter-final win this past week! Go Cougars go!
Night Seder in the 鶹 Beit Midrash
Yashar koach to the many students who stay after school each week to learn lishma!
Update from the Yeshivat 鶹 Medical Sciences Track
Sophomore students in Medical Sciences learned about fracture management and how to make/apply a splint!
鶹 CouGears Win ‘Motivate’ Award at League Championship
Team 15762 of the 鶹 CouGears won the Motivate award at the league championship last Sunday. They went into the finals as one of only four alliance captains, finishing seventh overall. The team played extremely well all day, engineering skillfully on-the-fly as needed to solve the kind of challenges that are brought out only in high-stakes competition. “Various coaches, refs, judges and students all gave compliments to our team for being a ‘great team’ full of wonderful kids who were ‘so kind,’” reported 鶹 Robotics coach Travis Merritt.
The Motivate award which the team won is given to the one team who embraces values such as respect, teamwork, friendly competition, students centered learning, giving back to the community and motivating youth to learn about STEM. The team was led by Jude Shankman as senior captain. Mikaela Sosland continued to grow the CouGears’ presence beyond 鶹, organizing regular bi-monthly meetings with local yeshiva middle schools and making contacts with engineering professionals both locally and abroad.
Now that the league championship is over, students and faculty alike will be able to stop by 鶹’s newly constructed robotics field room to check out the Engineering Journal and Portfolio of work, which has been documented carefully throughout by 鶹 senior and CouGears member David Smigel.