Two projects won first place in their respective categories. “Left Turn Assist” by Avery Moskowitz, Marc Dweck and Jacob Fenster won first place in the Transportation and Automotive category. The device calculates the speed of oncoming traffic, informing drivers when it is safe to make a left turn. Meanwhile, “Solar Seeker” by Alon Stein, Dan Turok and Steven Stein won first place in the Environmental Engineering category as well as a “best room pitch” award. The “Solar Seeker” is a solar panel designed to track the sun’s movement in order to capture the largest quantity of solar energy to convert to electricity.

Three projects won second place awards. “The Gyro Tray” by Jude Shankman, Oran S. Goodman and Benjamin Wolf won second in the Engineering for Older Adults category for its ability to help patients with Parkinson’s. “Hearo” by Eliana Wolf, Liana Goldberger and Josh Davis, which helps deaf people drive safely by alerting them to siren sounds, won second in the Engineering for Mobility category. Finally, “Pet Life” by Rae Herschmann, Rebecca Haberman and Eliana Weinstein won second in the Engineering for Pets category for a device that serves as a diagnostic for monitoring a pet’s vital signs. In addition, “The Auto—Rocket” by Gedaliah Dimbert won third place in the Aeronautical Engineering category. The invention in an arduino fitted with a gyroscope which senses a rocket’s altitude during flight and helps correct it if it veers off course.

Other impressive �鶹���� projects won “best room pitch” awards. “Brainy Board” by Max Stober, Henry Yellin and Kovi Ressler, won this award for creating a chess board that instructs kids how to play chess (the board tells them the allowable squares for each piece moved). “SeatBelt Secure” by Barbara Sasson, Etan Mincer and Jeffrey Jacobs won “best pitch” for a project that detects whether a child has been properly secured in their car seat.

Students gained a tremendous amount of engineering and coding knowledge over the course of developing their projects. Jacob Fenster, Avery Moskowitz and Marc Dweck spoke about how the project taught them how to integrate microcontrollers besides Arduino, the challenges of setting up the AI to integrate with the rest of the project, and the problem solving skills that were essential to making their “Left Turn Assist” function optimally.

“There’s so much to be gained from seeing other projects and bringing them on the road,” said �鶹���� Engineering Program Director Rifkie Silverman. “Our students have worked so hard and can be so proud of the sophisticated, fantastic projects they came with.”

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Over the course of this past year, my classmates and I have been studying different areas of medical sciences. Along with learning about different disease processes, our teachers, Dr. Karen Goodman and Dr. Avigayil Elkin, set up different case-based simulations that my peers and I would have to assess, diagnose and initiate treatment.

When our teachers came to class with a duffle bag, we knew that our class was going to be an interesting one. Inside this bag was a full size manikin that we would continue to use throughout the year for our experiential learning. We would start class by assigning roles such as patient, family of the patient, doctors and nurses. Just like in a real emergency, the “doctors” would start by checking the ABCs: airway, breathing and circulation. After that was done, the “doctors” would dive deeper into the case in order to identify the source of the patient’s problem, and work as a team to carry out the evaluation and management. We had many opportunities to learn about disease processes, and medical procedures followed by simulated cases and hands-on training related to what we had learned.

After engaging in this type of learning throughout the year, we went on a trip to the EMS training center in Paramus where Mr. Infield, our school EMT, is an instructor. There, we saw many different types of manikins that are used to train volunteer EMTs. While the manikin we use at school is a basic model that we adapt for our learning purposes, the EMS training center had more complex manikins. For example we saw a pregnant manikin who could deliver a baby, teaching EMTs skills they may need in their clinical practice. We had an opportunity to give CPR to a manikin that gave automated feedback on how well we were doing our chest compressions. Lastly, to end off the trip, we were able to step inside a real ambulance and see how they are used to save lives every day.

At the training center, we had hands-on exposure to manikins with a higher level of realism and feedback, giving us a chance to see how simulation and innovation in medicine is used in training medical professionals. Having spent the year participating in simulations of real life emergencies with our medical science elective at �鶹����, it was amazing to see how a similar approach to medical simulation is used in real life training of EMTs.

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“At �鶹���� Night Seder special attention is given to ensure that everyone who wants a chavrusa finds one,” said Spivack, who will be attending Yeshivat Har Etzion in the fall. “Looking around the beis medrash makes me feel a part of something truly special. Whether it’s the warm chevra at Night Seder that learn together or Chidon, there is a feeling of community and belonging to Talmud Torah at �鶹���� that pulls you in and kept me motivated to come back again and again to be a part of it.”

Vogel’s appreciation for this learning community was reflected in a daf that particularly stood out to him. “I’d have to say that my favorite thing I’ve learned was on daf zayin of Taanis,” he recalls. “It talks about the power of chavrusa learning and how when people learn together they sharpen each other’s skills. It’s especially powerful because I learned it in Night Seder in a chavrusa where I see the benefits of chavrusa learning firsthand.”

Senior Josh Knoll emphasized the role that other students have played in his growth. “The students at �鶹���� have made a huge impact on my Torah learning experience,” he said “They have challenged me and inspired me and I know these friendships will last a lifetime. I’ve also had the amazing opportunity to learn Gemara and Chumash every Thursday night at Night Seder b’chavruta. Learning closely with a learning partner has helped me dive deeper into what we are learning and gaining another person’s perspective has opened my eyes to other ways of thinking.”

Knoll, who will be attending Yeshivat HaKotel in the fall, served this year as co-captain of the Chidon HaTanach club alongside fellow senior Rosenfeld, who will attend Migdal Oz. “When I was given the opportunity to co-lead the Chidon HaTanach Club, I was thrilled,” he recounted. “I love studying and preparing for the Chidon competition, and I was super excited to have the opportunity to really share my love of Torah and Chidon with other students.”

Rosenfeld notes that her favorite text to study has been Shmuel Bet. “I learned it with multiple people at once, and each person I learned it with had different insights, nuanced close-readings and sophisticated analysis that made me read the same pesukim in completely new ways,” she said. “While learning Shmuel Bet in this way, I truly appreciated that there are shivim panim leTorah.”

“When someone else is excited about the same thing you are, you can’t help but become more excited,” said sophomore Ilan Romm, who came third place in the Dr. Shimshon Isseroff Chidon HaTanach USA national finals this year. “When you become more excited, so does the other person, so an infinite cycle of excitement is created. Learning with friends as part of Chidon and Night Seder not only pushes yourself and your chaburah to learn more, but makes you wish to share this surplus of excitement and learning with everyone else outside of these clubs.”

The value of community is one echoed across the beit midrash. “The community at �鶹���� has been so supportive, and I really think it’s a testament to the school as well as specifically talented and dedicated teachers that the Torah-learning community has become so robust,” said junior Maya Tratt, who came in seventh place in this year’s International Chidon HaTanach for Youth and is poised to lead �鶹����’s Chidon Club next year.

In addition, the students emphasized unequivocally how important �鶹����’s faculty has been to their growth in Torah. “I think one of the highlights of �鶹���� is the ability to have an intimate and close connection to the rebbeim and the other Torah faculty,” said Hahn, who will be attending Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh (KBY) in the fall. “The things I’ve learned from my rebbeim over the past four years of being in �鶹���� have greatly impacted how I learn, approach my learning and act toward people in the real world. For example, this year, I had Rabbi [Noah] Gardenswartz for shiur, and I learned many skills from him, but one of the most important things I learned from him was mesorah. Hearing how he talks about the Tannaim, Amoraim and Rishonim makes them not just words on a page but real, living, breathing people in the classroom with you and who you are having a dialogue with.”

“The most meaningful part of my Torah learning at �鶹���� has been the relationships I have cultivated with my rebbeim and teachers during their classes,” Knoll agreed. “The Torah learning opportunity that I look forward to most every week is Rabbi [Joshua] Wald’s Thursday night Mishmar. In addition, Rabbi [Yair] Shahak and Rabbi [Asher] Bush have played a huge role in helping us prepare for and organize Chidon HaTanach related events. They have gone out of their way to make sure that we have as much study material as possible and that all the logistics are taken care of. They have been our biggest supporters.”

Rabbi Shahak, who won the 2016 International Chidon HaTanach for Adults, coaches �鶹����’s Chidon HaTanach Club, giving students study strategies, comprehensive questions, maps, mnemonic devices and pasuk-by-pasuk breakdowns of difficult Chidon material.

“Personally I would not have been able to accomplish whatever I managed without the help of Rabbi Shahak as well as a cohort of immensely wonderful friends and teachers who were always supporting me,” said Tratt.

In the case of junior Yosef Feldman, who will serve as head of Night Seder and captain of the boys Torah Bowl team next year, his lunchtime chavruta is someone extra special: his own father, �鶹���� faculty member Rabbi Jonathan Feldman. The two learn together every lunchtime. “I appreciate the fact that the beis medrash is open all day, allowing me to learn during my free time,” said Yosef. “At Yeshivat �鶹����, there are numerous rebbeim available in the beis to assist you with any shailos related to Halacha, studies or life.”

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�鶹���� Visits New Rambam Exhibit at YU Museum

Over the past two weeks, select �鶹���� classes visited the YU Museum with �鶹���� history faculty member Dr. David Sclar, who gave them a tour of the museum’s brand new Rambam exhibit. The tour was a one-of-the-kind opportunity; Sclar himself curated the exhibit, which is titled “The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries” and will be on view through the summer. The exhibit features some exceedingly rare objects, including books in Rambam’s own hand.

�鶹���� Takes Field Trip to YIVO Archives

Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History (CJH), which features libraries, archives and exhibits, hosts five major Jewish research institutions under the same roof: the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. On May 18, �鶹���� sophomores in Dr. Yaelle Frohlich’s history classes took a field trip to YIVO, home of 24 million Jewish archival documents from around the world, with a special focus on East European Jewish history. These students got to be YIVO’s pilot group for new and exciting programming geared toward high schoolers. Students experienced first hand what it is like to do archival research, exploring some of the incredible youth autobiographies from the 1930s held in YIVO’s archives all while under the guidance of YIVO’s expert staff of archivists, librarians and historians.

“It was an amazing opportunity to learn about our history,” said Ahava Bak ’25. “The direct primary sources tell us so much on events and life all throughout Jewish history.”

For some students, it was also a chance to learn about the richness of East European Jewish life before the Holocaust. “While YIVO has plenty of material from the time of the Shoah, there is so much more,” said Kimberly Guttman ’25. “YIVO’s history is rich, and I very much enjoyed learning there.”

�鶹���� Hosts Engineering Symposium

On May 15, �鶹���� held its annual Engineering Symposium, dedicated by the Maurice and Hester Lowenthal Foundation in memory of Mitzi and Edward Traurig z”l. The evening featured a keynote presentation by �鶹���� alumnus Yoni Cooper ‘13, who shared his journey from �鶹���� to his becoming an Amazon engineer. Earlier in the evening, advanced elective students got to have dinner and a Q&A with Cooper in the campus’s new engineering lab. Following the keynote address, engineering students showcased their capstone innovations and Arduino games. Projects ranged from the seriously safety-oriented (e.g. “Stove Safety System” by Meirah Klayn and Nava Sandler, which automatically turns off a left-on stove) to the playful (e.g. “Brainy Board” by Max Stober, Henry Yellin and Kovi Ressler, which is a chess board that teaches children how to play the game).

Also on display at the Engineering Symposium were projects by �鶹����’s Hackathon and CIJE Tank teams, Robotics Program, Girls Who Code, Fab Lab student creators and more. In addition, the event included the live annual Robotics CouGear Cup, where robotics teams compete to win the in-house �鶹���� robotics championship cup. Thanks goes to Rifkie Silverman, Travis Merritt and Michael Preston for their incredible instruction and mentorship throughout the year.

Evening of the Arts Held at �鶹����

�鶹���� held its annual Evening of the Arts this past Monday, May 22. The first half of the event featured musical performances by �鶹����’s Jazz Ensemble, Performance Ensemble and the Cougar Chorus. Then, attendees got to do a gallery walk and take in the outstanding artistic creations—from paintings and fashion design to paper sculptures, glass art and Judaica woodworking projects—by students in �鶹����’s Art Track, Artist Beit Midrash, Art Club and other courses within the schools Visual Arts department with Ahuva Winslow and Mira Levy.

�鶹���� Student Entrepreneurs Showcase Innovations

On Tuesday, May 23 the end-of-year academic celebrations continued. �鶹����’s annual Entrepreneurship Demo Day featured business pitches and startup ideas developed in the Entrepreneurship Track with �鶹����’s Entrepreneurship Program Director Christian Balevski. The event was broken up into two halves. First, the audience got to go around and view all the groups’ projects. Then, 10 teams gave a three-minute pitch for their business ideas, with an audience vote at the end. Many of the projects were innovative, integrating new technologies like AI–for instance, “Parma-Cam,” an iPad system to detect medication errors, and “EduKaty,” which uses technological tools to target girls’ education inequality in sub-Saharan Africa.

�鶹���� Presents Research Symposium

�鶹����’s Research Symposium on May 23 featured presentations by seniors in the Research Seminar elective with Dr. David Sclar as well as those doing a directed study, under the purview of Nina Cohen. This year’s research projects included: “Death in Children’s Films” (by Bracha Israel), “Dwight Morrow High School: A Story of Race and Money” (by Noah Stifelman), “Innovator or Evil Mutilator: Walter Freeman and the History of Lobotomy” (by Jillian Leifer) and dozens more. Projects were presented in the form of papers, podcasts, video essays and websites.

�鶹���� Senior Trip

When this year’s �鶹���� seniors were sophomores, covid upended the traditional 10th grade �鶹���� trip to Virginia Beach. However, this past weekend, �鶹����’s graduating class got to make up for lost time, and experience the grade-wide getaway they missed. The senior trip proved to be an incredible weekend of bonding as a grade, with fun activities, Torah learning and more. It was the perfect weekend for the Class of 2023 to spend together before bidding one another good luck on the way to their different yeshivot, seminaries and colleges.

�鶹���� Art Students Win International Jewish Photography Competition

Earlier this month, �鶹���� received the exciting news that the photos of four students have been selected out of hundreds of entries as winners in the 2022-2023 Jewish Lens Competition at ANU-Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. The photos of Naomi Elkin ‘23 and Adi Beniluz ‘23 (“Endless Prayers”) and Daniela Hahn ‘25 and Gaby Zlatin ‘25 (“Milk and Honey”) will be displayed alongside all winning entries in the Jewish Lens gallery at ANU. They will also eventually be featured in the museum’s online gallery. In addition, Naomi and Adi’s photo was also selected as the top photo for all English-speaking countries.

�鶹���� Introduces New Golf Team

Now that there is a new yeshiva Golf League, students at �鶹���� are excited to have formed their own team, founded by senior James Forman. Last Thursday, the �鶹���� golf team won against Ramaz in a second playoff hole at River Vale Country Club. “The best part of the club is being able to interact on the course with kids from other schools,” said team member David Rosen ‘24.

Medical Sciences Track Covers Injury Prevention

Sophomores in the Medical Sciences Track with Dr. Karen Goodman and Dr. Avigayil Elkin have been learning about injury prevention. After learning about fire safety and burn management, the class did a simulation of a patient who had jumped from a building that was on fire, sustaining injuries and burns. Management of the injury included a simulated escharotomy for a circumferential burn.

New Nursing Club Comes to �鶹����

Students from the Nursing Club, led by co-founders Noa Grinstein and Emma Salomon, recently attended the annual Orthodox Jewish Nurses Association (OJNA) conference in Midtown Manhattan. The conference featured a variety of presentations on nursing topics such as “Milk Sharing in the Orthodox Jewish Community” and a panel discussion on the “Wide Spectrum of Nursing Roles.” During breaks, the students made the most of their time by networking with nurses from diverse fields, such as medical/surgery, oncology, labor and delivery and aesthetics. In addition to gaining valuable knowledge, the students generously volunteered their time to help with conference set up and clean up.

Chess Culture at �鶹����

Yeshivat �鶹����’s chess team made it to the finals last week, after a year of chess’s popularity explosion among the student body. During any free period, one is sure to find a game in progress in the library, student lounge or cafeteria. This year, two �鶹����-wide chess tournaments were organized by senior Jacob Feit—sophomore Ethan Feder, who plays competitively, emerged victorious both times—with hundreds of students attending and waiting with baited breath for every exchange, blunder and en passant.

Lunch N’ Learn for the �鶹���� Community

Rabbi Yosef Weinberger delivered a pre-Shavuot Lunch n’ Learn shiur this week to the broader �鶹���� community, on the topic of Moshe Rabbeinu and Jewish leadership over the generations.

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�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.

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The Open House showcased the unique array of academic options that make �鶹���� so special, along with an exciting club fair displaying �鶹����’s more than 125 co-curricular activities. The program also gave students and parents an opportunity to experience various �鶹���� classes. One of the things that makes �鶹���� the yeshiva it is, is that—in addition to the many different and rigorous courses available in each discipline—�鶹���� offers many different academic levels for Judaics and general studies courses. This allows for an unparalleled level of schedule customization for each student. �鶹����’s academic tracking, 11 specialty academic tracks, and the warmth of the school environment are all geared toward setting up students for success and personal growth, making this large school feel small.

�鶹���� looks forward to the rest of admissions season and welcoming next year’s new class!

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The moment is a time for reflection among the students and faculty who have proudly witnessed and spearheaded the growth of �鶹���� Robotics over the past four years. “Robotics has gone from being an after-school club to being a full program and full-fledged academic team,” said �鶹����’s robotics faculty advisor and science and engineering teacher Travis Merritt.

Currently, �鶹���� Robotics contains seven teams and three programs: LEGO Mindstorms, for basic building and coding skills; CIJE-VEX, which incorporates more complex, mechanical functions while building off of their coding skills learned in LEGO Mindstorms; and FTC, which is an international competition, involving both state and private schools and offering cross-collaboration opportunities. (For instance, �鶹����’s FTC team had a collaboration with Pascack Valley Pioneers, another strong team.)

Isabelle Bersson ‘22, one of the administrative officers on the varsity FTC team, has experienced this growth of the program firsthand. “My freshman year I joined a small group of like-minded people (mostly boys) to build and code LEGO mindstorm every Monday evening,” she said. “Then the program shifted from the mindstorm to the CEIJ Vex model where we got a chance to compete and go head to head with other schools. During this time the very first FTC team was forming. Over my four years here I have seen more girls join the team, and the focus turned from just a small after school club to a competition team that placed in states last year. We have grown and been able to take the older more experienced coders and builders and use them as resources for the other JV teams, creating our own little self sufficient network of knowledge.”

Four years ago there were 20 students in the program; today there are 60, who put in a combined hundreds of hours each week. The teams are also utilizing more complex technologies than even two years ago. For example, thanks to current FTC captain Eitan Weinberg ‘22, the team is designing their robot in CAD software before building it.

Students have observed their own skills improve over time. “I first became involved in robotics at �鶹���� towards the end of my freshman year. I instantly fell in love with the club and enjoyed being part of the community of like-minded individuals it built for me. My skills as a builder, coder and administrative leader have greatly developed throughout my four years, culminating in my position as senior captain on FTC this year,” said Eliana Bane ‘22.

Jude Shankman ‘23, who sees robotics as his future career path, emphasized the role of creativity and collaboration within the field. “The best part of the robotics program is the freedom in how you reach goals,” he said. “You’re not given instructions for what robot you should build. You have to come up with that with your team and apply yourselves to the best of your collective abilities to succeed. Nothing is more satisfying than working for weeks on a component for your robot and seeing it work perfectly in tandem with one of your partners’ components. Collaboration is at the heart of the program.”

In addition, �鶹���� robotics students are known for reaching out to help teach kids at local elementary and middle schools, and will be hosting other high schools to prepare for another of the upcoming tournaments.

It’s also just a whole lot of fun.

“Within �鶹����, robotics has been a great way to socialize and meet new people,” said David Smigel ‘22, one of VEX’s two coding captains. “It allows you to work as a team and accomplish great things along with other kids, growing closer as you do so. Meets are also a great time to meet or see students from other schools who have unique perspectives on the subject.”

As for the future? “The way I see it, after three years of �鶹���� robotics, the program is constantly evolving,” observed Smigel. “The structure is constantly changing to more efficiently teach students different kinds of problem solving and robotics skills in accordance with their own ability.”

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