Volume 32 Issue 5

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The Lion’s Tale

Volume 32 Issue 5

June 5, 2015

Why I teach pg. 10-11

If you can read this,thank a teacher we love teachers and The best teachers are those who show you where to look but dont tell you what you should see. They teach vital life lessons tha t h e i n f l u e n c e tha nku ofagoodteacher nku you c a n n e v e r b e for ave erased LIO PLA N NN ER 2

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the lion’s tale

opinion the

the lion’s tale

Staff editorial

lion’s tale editors editors-in-chief

malka himelhoch, carol silber managing editor, copy

yonatan greenberg managing editor, design

alysse weinberg managing editor, web

joshua paretzky opinion

jonah shrock multimedia

uri schwartz copy

cole cooper news

miriam minsk, arielle weinstein chadashot

ariella kulp, mark reichel features

talia horowitz, hannah nechin entertainment

mijal altmann, gaby pilarski in-depth

jonathan foldi, margalit zimand sports

aaron schonfeld, jeremy schooler & joel vardon photo

dahlia lehman ads manager

michael berkowitz

A different approach to change

Over the past few years, The Lion’s Tale has covered a number of the changes that have been implemented by the school.

One common trend among these changes is the reaction that they produce within student body. We’ve notice that every time the school changes a policy, the student body seems to have an instinctive reaction -- to reject and dismiss the change quickly, sometimes, without legitimate reason.

Usually, after a while, everyone stops complaining. Perhaps this happens because they simply become accustomed to the change.

Although change is often painful, the discomfort is usually rooted in the diversion from the norm.

Or, maybe it’s because the change was not a terrible one. In this case, maybe the instinctive, knee-jerk reaction that often

Goodbye column

senior reporter reporters josh abramowitz, jared bauman, daniel baumstein, bennett bramson, talia denicoff, jonas drogin, ari feuer, izzy friedland, noah green, gabe krantz, aaron liss, lexi marks, aaron robinson, mira rodney, natan schoenbaum, joey shoyer, isaac silber, gabi swagel, rina torchinsky, ilana winter, liran zimand claire burke

adviser emerita susan zuckerman The Lion’s Tale Editorial and Ethics Policy As the student newspaper of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, The Lion’s Tale is a forum for student opinion and expression. All content is determined by students. 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.

Signed columns reflect the opinion of the writer; staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of The Lion’s Tale editorial board. The Lion’s Tale staff welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns, all of which must be signed. The staff reserves the right to refuse any material and may edit letters or columns for length, clarity, libel, obscenity and/or disruptiveness.

Submissions may be emailed to jdslionstale@gmail.com, mailed to The Lion’s Tale, or brought to room 328.

The Lion’s Tale is funded by The Simon Hirshman Endowment for the Upper School Newspaper and The Kuttner-Levenson Endowment for the Upper School Cultural Arts and Student Publications, and community advertisement. The Lion’s Tale reserves the right to refuse advertisement for any reason.

The staff will adhere to the ethics policies of The Society of Professional Journalists and the National Scholastic Press Association. The adviser will be held to the Journalism Education Association’s Adviser Code of Ethics.

change from last year’s 90 a day -according to Dean of Students Roz Landy.

And yet, when it’s time for minyan, groans and complaints from the student body still preside. So perhaps there is still an underlying issue with minyan that was not resolved by the decrease in tardiness.

Last spring, a Lion’s Tale editorial explained that the issue of minyan revolves around its content, not its timing. And even though currently, more students are in school during minyan, the content of minyan is the same as it’s been in past years -- the same content that made no one excited to go to minyan, and that has triggered and continues to trigger massive absences from a huge portion of the student body.

Next time there is a change

in school policy, we encourage students and faculty to react, but in a different way. Rather than seeing the change as purely negative, we encourage everyone to learn about the policy, figure out why it was made, and what its goals are. And if the goal of the change ignores the root of the problem, we encourage individuals to speak out. Or, if it sounds good initially, but once it’s practiced, it turns out to be negative, speak out then, too.

You may find that, more often than not, change can be good.

BYOD was met with opposition, but many would argue that the introduction of computers to classrooms has greatly expanded learning opportunities. But what’s for certain is that complaining without reason is never effective.

-The Lion’s Tale

A note from Ms. Burke

naomi cohen-shields

staff adviser

occurs in response to these types of changes should be re-evaluated, and our community should trust the educational professionals who made the decisions.

Or, maybe it’s because the change did not address the root of the problem. Maybe it’s because the change moved the problem, but did not fix it.

When it was announced last year, the minyan schedule change was met with general opposition and negativity from the student body for a combination of the three reasons above. But now, after an entire school year with this policy, complaints seem to have died down.

The goal of the minyan change has certainly been reached. Now that minyan comes after first period, tardies have been cut down to about 5-10 per day -- a whopping

by claire burke staff adviser

2+years of teaching experience and master’s degree required, the job post said.

As I clicked “Upload” on my resume, which included credentials for neither, I figured that would be the end of it.

The next day, I got a call. A short Indianapolis to Baltimore plane ride later, I found myself teaching a model lesson to a raucous group of students that, for whatever reason, happened to include Ms. Ball. A few days after that, I had a new job. At the end of the summer, I packed up my entire life, drove 600 miles from my home

in Indiana, and became a part of the JDS community.

I look back and wonder what I was thinking, but I’m thankful every day that I took the chance.

I’m not going to lie: At times, it was scary. It was hard. I’ve cried.

I’ve had sleepless nights. I’ve wondered when they’re finally going to figure out that I’m really just a dumb kid impersonating an adult and kick me out once and for all. I’ve done more than my fair share of stress eating.

But at the same time all the crazy stuff was happening, even more great stuff was happening.

I’ve laughed daily. I’ve made great friends. I’ve learned more than I could have imagined.

They’ve paid me to teach kids how amazing the First Amendment is.

I’ve built something.

What I didn’t know four years ago was that I was about to become a part of one of the most unique and special communities I could imagine. So with this column that the editors so kindly asked me to write, I’d like to thank everyone who has helped make my life pretty great these past four years.

To the administrative team:

Thank you for supporting me, giving me the room and guidance to grow, giving me your trust, and most of all, giving me this job and opportunity at all. You were truly taking a chance on an unknown kid, and I can’t tell you how happy I am that you did.

To the JDS faculty and staff, especially the English department: Thank you for letting me eat all the food that’s in your office, listening to me when I needed to complain, planning classes with (and for) me, and just generally being the best co-workers ever. Most of all, thank you for being my friends.

To the journalism parents: Thank you for sharing your students with me! Thanks for sending them across the country to conventions with me, letting them stay at school to all hours of the night, for standing by them when the going gets tough. You’re the only ones, other than me, who know just how much work they put into the publications, and we couldn’t do it all without your endless trust and support.

Finally, to all my students and staffers, past and present: Thank you for being the very best students

a teacher could hope for. You are the reason I come to school every day, you’re the reason I keep doing my job, you’re the reason I’ve loved JDS so much. You’re smart, funny, fun, hard-working, focused, silly, kind, mature (but still immature, weirdly), strong, and just generally awesome. Your dedication to and investment in the work we’ve done together never ceases to amaze me.

I hope you realize just how special every one of you has been in my life. I’ll never forget you, and I’m proud to call my students, staffers and friends.

When I walk out of the building for the last time in a couple weeks, I know I’ll cry. It breaks my heart to say goodbye to JDS and everyone here. A very wise friend once said that we should all be so lucky to feel deeply sad when we leave something behind, for only then do we know how much it really meant. She was right (as she is about most things), and that’s exactly how I feel today on this last day of school. Thank you, everyone, for making my experience here so wonderful. It has meant the world to me.

Have an opinion about anything in this edition of The Lion’s Tale?

Find the article on our website, and add your opinion in the comments section. Or visit www.lionstale.org/opinion and submit a letter to the editor.

opinion

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Guest column

The complexity of classroom engagement

by eytan apter guest columnist In the March 31 edition of The Lion’s Tale, Margalit Zimand and Naomi Cohen-Shields elaborated on the issues of student participation and the quantifying of participation in the form of points. While I agree with many of the problems, I disagree with the call to action that they proposed, which included having teachers ask different questions, having teachers encourage more meaningful participation and asking students to essentially participate more (or as they wrote, “participate in a manner fitting the style of class that they signed up for”). From my view, increasing talk time, even if

meaningful, is not the solution to the problem.

I think that we need to take a look at two words that are often used synonymously but actually reflect two ideas: engagement and participation. As a teacher, I expect student engagement, which admittedly is difficult to qualify and even harder to quantify, but something that is necessary in today’s classrooms.

Are students actively listening to the presentations, whether teacher or student directed? Are students processing the information? Are students going beyond the assigned task to analyze the content? Are students questioning the material, whether internally or orally, and are students evaluating the lessons that are taught? While it is difficult to assess to what degree an individual student is engaged, teachers monitor different observable behaviors that correlate to engagement such as taking notes, remaining in the classroom, avoiding unnecessary bathroom and water breaks, making eye contact with the various speakers, and of course, participating.

Participation, which may

correlate to engagement, is something different. Participation includes responding to posed questions, offering ideas, asking questions and commenting on others’ remarks. But participation is not synonymous with engagement.

Is a student who merely answers factual questions always engaged in the learning? Does offering ideas indicate engagement in the entirety of the lesson? I would argue that there are many who can participate in a discussion and make their voices heard without really being engaged in the lesson.

The problem for educators and students is when engagement and participation are blurred into one concept. It is difficult to assess engagement, but that should not lead a teacher to believe that participation is the sole requisite for engagement. And likewise, students need to understand that teachers expect engagement.

Student actions, not just their spoken words, need to reflect the proper engagement. So the solutions posed by both writers, both of whom I regard highly, are not reasonable.

For the teachers, engagement

should be properly explained and assessed in different ways. While I would love to believe that I could look into a student’s eyes and know if he or she is engaged (and yes, I do have that power), I need to be able to assess engagement with observable behaviors. Teachers need to clearly outline those behaviors and be willing to accept various forms of engagement (which could be the notes one takes, the questions a student asks after class, the emails a student generates following a class, the eye contact one makes or the posts one makes to Today’s Meet).

Participation can of course be one of those observable behaviors, but it cannot be the sole determining factor of engagement.

And likewise, students need to change their behaviors in the classroom. Students need to pose questions whether during or after classes, make eye contact with others, avoid distractions of computers, and of course, remain in the classroom as best as they can.

Maybe the best solution is for teachers and students to have an open conversation about what engagement in the classroom looks

like so that issues, such as the writers explained, can be avoided. I truly believe that when engagement is defined in class, and it may be different for each class, the confusion about Class Engagement (n.) grades will diminish. In an ideal world, engagement would not need to be quantified with points, but there is a reality: students have the choice. And while teachers need to make classes engaging (which I would argue all do), students get to decide whether they want to engage or not. Given the fact that students do not always get to choose their courses, teachers need to use some sort of point system to quantify engagement. In the ideal world, students would naturally be engaged, but in reality, points may motivate more to be engaged (or to at least display the observable behaviors that show engagement).

I thank Margalit and Naomi for opening the discussion to the community, and I hope to be able to work with students and teachers alike help better qualify and possibly quantify student engagement in class.

Staff column

Stop turning a blind eye to local news

by carol silber editor-in-chief Since we live in a first-world country, in a wealthy and well-off community, we often fall victim to a trap. We are quick to assume that our environment is flawless and that global issues, while present, are not local. So I wasn’t surprised when, about a month ago, our school erupted with concerned

chatter about the earthquake in Nepal, and yet seemed silent regarding the death (in police custody) of Freddie Gray, and the subsequent protests, riots, and officer arrests that occurred just 45 minutes away from our school.

During Kabbalat Shabbat in April, we came together as a school to learn about Nepal’s culture and heritage, and to raise awareness for the tragic earthquake in Nepal.

But it’s not enough to only come together to talk about foreign tragedies. There is a flaming issue — a controversial, nuanced, and complex conversation going on all across the country right now. And we, the JDS community, seem to have ignored it.

The earthquake in Nepal was horrific, and should not be underemphasized. I admire my teachers

who led class discussions about the natural disaster and commend our school community for its generous collective donation to help the victims. But I am disturbed and concerned that we spent so much time talking about something that happened more than 7,000 miles away while we seemed to ignore what was happening practically in our own backyards.

To be fair, we did talk about what happened in Baltimore in my Hebrew class, and I’ve heard from some fellow students that they had conversations about Baltimore in their Hebrew classes as well. But such a pressing issue needs to be discussed for more than 60 minutes in most students’ second language.

Baltimore and Nepal are in no way comparable. A natural disaster and the complex issue of

alleged police brutality are two very different types of events. But both present a challenge to us as diligent citizens: Do we sit back passively, or do we take action? Whether that means donating to a relief fund that gives medical aid in the Himalayas or starting a dialogue about race relations in America, anything is better than passive silence and a complete lack of involvement.

Our time in middle and high school is unique for many reasons, but perhaps the most thrilling reason is that we teenagers are at the age where we are passionate and curious. Sadly that passion and curiosity hits a dead end when we are uninformed. Our community has a responsibility to educate ourselves about what is going on locally and globally. The recent events in Baltimore, while local,

have repercussions that are sure to echo throughout the country, and perhaps throughout the world.

It’s time for us to stop shying away from what’s right in front of us, and address the current events that involve our own fellow citizens, albeit citizens who live, look and worship differently than most of us.

I encourage everyone in the JDS community to keep this in mind over summer break. Enjoy the rest and relaxation, but be cognizant of what is going on in the world around you — even if those events are more local than is comfortable.

And when we come back to school in the fall, I hope that all of us can find opportunities to engage in current events, apply them to ourselves and our experiences, and be careful to not let local events slip by without our attention.

04

news

the lion’s tale

the lion’s tale

JPDS to open middle school in 2018 miriam minsk news editor

Of the last 67 new seventh grade students to come to CESJDS, 41 originally attended JPDS

The Jewish Primary Day School (JPDS) is the only Jewish day school in Washington, D.C.. Founded in 1988, JPDS currently runs from prekindergarten through sixth grade.

On Monday, April 27, the JPDS administration announced that, with the help of a $20 million donation, it will be adding a seventh and eighth grade in the fall of 2018, allowing JPDS students to stay at the school for another two years.

According to JPDS Head of School Naomi Reem, the middle school will “enable current families to continue day school education” and will also provide students who did not attend a Jewish day school in elementary school with more opportunities to attend a Jewish middle school.

She also noted that the addition of a middle school will make JPDS’s graduation years more “in-line” with other schools in the area. JPDS has not yet publicly announced any specific plans regarding their middle school, but it will likely be smaller than CESJDS’s middle school.

Director of Admissions Miriam Stein recognizes that JDS may lose some middle school students to the new middle school, which could be especially uncomfortable given JDS’s recent campaign to attract new students. JDS’s strategic plan, which was released this year, specifically mentioned increased enrollment as a goal for the school’s future.

In the past three years, 41 students came to JDS from JPDS for seventh grade, and with the new JPDS middle school, it is unlikely that so many JPDS students will

continue to come to JDS for middle school. Nevertheless, JDS admissions is not doing any additional marketing in response to JPDS’s announcement.

“There’s a certain understanding between schools that you don’t poach students,” Stein said. “It’s not cool to try to take students from another Jewish day school especially but also just independent schools in general.”

Stein does not expect that JPDS graduates will disappear from the Upper School entirely; their transition point may just come in ninth grade instead of seventh grade.

Given the positive feedback that Stein receives from JPDS families

“

that of JPDS. Rose, who has a sister in sixth grade, thinks that the JPDS curriculum has recently become more serious, but is still worried.

“If they have a middle school they really need to communicate with JDS and other middle schools so they can really make something that will be easy to transition with,” Rose said.

Middle School Principal Rebecca Weisman hopes that the addition of the JPDS middle school will allow for closer collaboration between JDS and JPDS. “I think it will give us a great opportunity to ‘play in the sandbox’ with another middle school,” Weisman said.

Weisman added that the addition of the JPDS middle school will provide JDS with more local opportunities such as “shabbat friendly competitions, some field trips together and special programming.”

While the opening of the middle school adds another option for Jewish day school education, Bramson is concerned that JPDS students will be less likely to move to JDS in ninth grade. She hopes that JDS and JPDS “work together to ensure that a maximum number of students have a maximum number of years in Jewish day school.”

The new JPDS middle school will be named the Moses Family Middle School, and the the elementary school will be renamed the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School of the Nation’s Capital in honor of the donation.

There’s a certain understanding between schools that you don’t poach students.”

• DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS MIRIAM STEIN whose children switch to the Upper School, she predicts that JDS will still be a top choice for graduating JPDS students.

“Every fall we make calls to new families to the Upper School and the Upper School families from JPDS are just thrilled,” Stein said.

Long time JDS and JPDS parent Nanci Bramson predicts that the JPDS middle school will likely have fewer classes with more students per class and more hands on learning than JDS. JPDS alumna and current junior Maayan Rose came to JDS in seventh grade and worries that JPDS students coming to JDS in ninth grade will struggle to adjust to JDS’s curriculum, which according to her, is more rigorous than

news

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Hoffman becomes Director of Jewish Life isaac silber reporter Current Jewish Text teacher and incoming Director of Jewish Life Stephanie Hoffman will do everything she can in the next few months to “develop a thriving, engaging program,” for Jewish life at school.

In her new position, Hoffman will be responsible for all the Jewish programming outside of the classroom, such as shabbatons, minyan and Israel-related activities.

She believes that out-of-class programming is vital to a Jewish school. According to Hoffman, having programs outside of the classroom allows students to engage in academic aspects of Judaism in a different way than they are explored in class.

Sophomore Maya Arber’s

favorite Jewish life programs are the Hanukkah assemblies, but she hopes that Hoffman will enhance school-wide programs for other Jewish holidays, especially because many students don’t celebrate Jewish holidays at home.

“If they don’t experience it at school, then they’re not experiencing it anywhere else,” Arber said.

Miriam Stein was the most recent Director of Jewish life, but the spot was left open during this past school year when Stein became Director of Admissions. As a result of Hoffman’s move to fill that opening, she will teach only one JTP class, leaving a void in the JTP department that will be filled by hiring a new teacher.

Before teaching at CESJDS, Hoffman served as the Director of Jewish Life for the Frankel Jewish Academy, a community Jewish day

school in Michigan that is similar to JDS but smaller. She also worked at a Jewish summer camp for five years.

“This is something that’s kind of in my wheelhouse,” Hoffman said. “This is something that’s exciting to me, that I’ve done a lot with before.”

Hoffman had an introduction to her new job this year when she coordinated the eighth grade and junior shabbatons. She said that the most successful part of both shabbatons was the Torah L’shma program, where teachers chose what they wanted to teach, and students chose which topic they were interested in learning about.

Hoffman felt that the students and teachers were very interested in this program because the topics taught were rarely explored during class time. But despite her satisfac-

tion with the shabbatons, Hoffman sees room for improvement, which she hopes to work on as Director of Jewish Life.

One change that Arber hopes to see is that the shabbatons will become less forceful with regard to Shabbat observances.

On shabbatons “the school pushes really hard to make everybody Orthodox,” Arber said. “It allows for the whole entire grade to get the feel of what being Orthodox is, but in another way, it pushes people away from what they actually observe at home.”

Arber cited a shabbaton in which students were told not to buy food from vending machines. In Arber’s opinion, such instructions are against the idea of pluralism.

Some, however, view the more traditional observance of Shabbat that is practiced on the shabbaton

as an important part of teaching students how to live and engage with traditional Jewish practice, which Hoffman views as very important.

Sophomore Avital Krifcher, who identifies as Modern Orthodox, is often frustrated when her classmates question the practicality of being observant. She hopes that in coming years there will be more programs that explain how to “be a modern observant Jew and still be a modern teenager.”

“The school needs to teach not just what Judaism was in history, but how Judaism can become a meaningful part of everyday life,” Krifcher said.

...And the presidential race begins

Students and teachers reflect on 2016 election jared bauman reporter

P

hones ring, signs are posted, Facebook teems with articles and political pundits rant. Though they may be a full year away, the 2016 presidential elections are in full swing.

Ever since senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex) announced his candidacy at Liberty University in late March, it seems that people cannot stop talking about the upcoming elections. Within the past two months, more than 10 candidates have announced presidential runs, ranging from libertarians to socialists, and more candidates are still expected to announce their candidacies.

Some people support the seemingly premature coverage of next years elections, saying that scandals and controversies, such as the Clinton Foundation donation scandal, show how important it is for the American people to have time to learn as much as possible about the candidates before they choose their future leader.

On the other hand, some, like sophomore Joseph Gelula, are less interested in the race and have not been following election news and updates closely. Gelula feels that being politically informed is not important.

“It is not necessarily a virtue to strive for,” Gelula said. “To each his own; if you’re interested in politics, if it’s something that interests you, then that’s great.”

Gelula believes that people’s upbringing has an immense effect on their level of political enthusiasm, attributing his disinterest in political affairs to his parents.

Gelula was raised in a home where the political world was rarely discussed and his parents never examined multiple sources when the time came to choose a candidate.

Gelula feels that this has affected his level of participation in the political process.

Another source of concern is that youth choose their political beliefs based on what their parents believe as opposed to their own inquiries.

“Studies have shown that the number one factor for how people

vote is the voting preferences of their parents,” history teacher Carl Atwood said. “It’s generational, almost like religion - you grow up in a certain political background just as you grow up in a certain religious background or cultural background, and it becomes part of a person’s identity at a very early age.”

Atwood believes that it is important to explore other views before ultimately choosing one’s own path.

As a student, Atwood underwent numerous political metamorphoses before he settled with his current opinions.

“I don’t think anyone should feel guilty about switching political sides, or anything like that,” Atwood said. “There was a three year period of my life, when I was in high school, where I would decide I was the opposite political affiliation as my parents, but then come back around later on.”

Though many people feel that

Americans vote solely off their parents’ list of preferred candidates, alumnus Cole Aronson (‘14) is not especially worried about this.

“The important thing to understand is that nobody gets their political views reasonably,” Aronson said. “When you’re a small child, you experience things that become

“

The important thing to understand is that nobody gets their political views reasonably.” •Cole aronson formative.”

For Aronson, a formative event was a paper he had to write about the Affordable Care Act, which had just been passed, for history teacher Michael Connell’s history class.

Aronson, who had not previously interacted with the political world, credits the research he conducted with establishing his current level of political involvement.

“I remember reading the legislation, and I got this urge,” Aronson said. “It wasn’t anything complex.”

Though there are many theories as to how children get their political beliefs, the science is quite inconclusive, and several contradictory studies have been published.

A 2013 study published by the British Journal of Political Science found that the more parents impose their values on children, the higher the chance there is that those children will think differently later in life.

On the contrary, a 2004 Gallup Youth Survey that asked teens and pre-teens to describe their political beliefs found that 71 percent of those surveyed held beliefs that were “about the same” as those of their parents.

Atwood strongly believes that political beliefs are important in defining identity.

“I think it’s more of a reaffirmation later in life,” Atwood said. “A reaffirmation of ‘this is what I want’ -- as long as the person is thinking about it and making a choice with reasons.”

06

the lion’s tale

news

the lion’s tale

news

Katherine Brandwood arielle weinstein news editor After two years of teaching at CESJDS, English teacher Katherine Brandwood is moving to Philadelphia, where her fiancé will begin medical school this coming fall. Brandwood, who will be teaching at a small school outside the city, started her teaching career at JDS and believes that what she has gained since its beginning has been irreplaceable.

“When I came in last year, it was my first year teaching, and I think I’ve learned so much in the last two years from my colleagues in the department,” Brandwood said. “They have been incredibly supportive and I can’t even quantify what I’ve learned from them. It’s unbelievable, and my students teach me things every single day. It’s been really a valuable experience.”

This year at JDS, Brandwood taught seventh grade and eleventh grade English. She has enjoyed the contrast between the two courses and witnessing students’ development over time.

“I think it’s been really fun to teach students who are right at the beginning of their Upper School careers and students who are finishing up

Etan Weiss arielle weinstein news editor Jewish Text Department Chair Etan Weiss has been teaching at CESJDS since the current seniors were third-graders, but after nine years, Weiss is looking forward to the greater professional experience he will gain as the principal at a Jewish school in Minneapolis.

While Weiss acknowledges the community that he is losing, he prefers to view his departure in a positive light.

“I don’t see myself as leaving JDS, I see myself as entering a new opportunity,” Weiss said. “I’ve accepted a position in Minneapolis that is the next logical step in my career

trajectory. The position is designed in order to also offer support and growth in those areas in which I would like to challenge myself.”

Weiss began his teaching career at JDS and remembers his first year at the school fondly. He appreciates the measures his department took at the time to help him adjust to a new environment.

“They gave me very specific courses, and very few of them, to try to get them under my belt,” Weiss said. “As time went by, I was able to work with the administration and my department chair to grow in the ways that I wanted to grow. I’ve had a great experience in terms of the courses I’ve taught.”

While Weiss is excited to move on, he is

nervous to see how his new job will compare to his experiences at JDS. From his students to the Jewish Text department, which he claims has “hands down the best middle school and high school Judaics staff that there is in the world,” Weiss has treasured the opportunity to become a part of the JDS community.

“It’s an amazing group of colleagues to work with, and that’s actually one of my biggest fears, is knowing that I’m leaving the preeminent Jewish Day School, the best group of teachers doing this in the world, and [will have] to try and build that in a new place,” Weiss said. “I’m sure everyone there is going to be fantastic, but they’re not JDS.”

Emily Horwitz

William Kaplan isaac silber reporter The friendly, familiar face, young sense of fashion and energetic smile will be missing from CESJDS next year.

After four years of teaching at JDS, math teacher William Kaplan will be moving back to his hometown of Los Angeles. There, Kaplan will teach high school math at the Milken Community High School, a pluralistic Jewish day school that he described as very similar to JDS. One of Kaplan’s main reasons for returning home is to be closer to his family.

After graduating from Berkeley University, Kaplan moved to the D.C. area to work for Avodah, a Jewish volunteer organization. With Avodah, he spent two years teaching for a public charter school in Southeast D.C., and then got hired as a math teacher at JDS. Although he originally intended to stay on the East Coast for a year, one year became two, and eventually he ended up staying for six years. However, he said that he had always planned to move back to L.A. “I love D.C., I love the school, so every year, I kept pushing it off,” Kaplan said.

Other than being a math teacher, Kaplan served as the assistant coach for the girls varsity soccer team and the grade advisor for the Class of 2015. His role outside the classroom has contributed to his status as a beloved teacher

because it’s been interesting to me to see where they start out and where they need to end up in terms of their skills,” Brandwood said.

Despite her short time at the school, Brandwood feels that the English curriculum of JDS is special and distinct from others.

“We have a really unique program here, especially in writing, and I’m going to miss that because I think it’s really different from what you’re going to find at a lot of other high schools,” Brandwood said.

Even more than the classes, however, Brandwood is sad to leave the JDS community. Above all else, she will miss the people.

“I have so many wonderful memories, and some of them are academic, but a lot of them really are just the connections I’ve made with people here,” Brandwood said.

at JDS. He is known to periodically stop in the hallways to say hello or give high-fives to passing students.

Freshman Brooke Cohen said she is very sad that Kaplan is leaving.

“He is a great teacher and he made my first year at JDS really great,” Cohen said. “I’m gonna miss him as a person in the halls just to say hi to, or talk to if I have a problem.”

Kaplan loved the community feel of JDS, which is likely why he is engaged so much with students in and out of the classroom.

“Whether I’m at a place where that [sense of community] already exists or I need to instill that, it’s something that I definitely value now.”

Kaplan said.

He also noted that he enjoyed the “collegial atmosphere” within the math department, where everyone was very friendly with each other and always willing to help one another.

At Siyum in January, Kaplan spoke to the senior class about going forward, mixing life lessons with references from “Back to the Future.” He said that giving the speech was one of his favorite moments at JDS. “It felt like a nice wrap-up to my experience here,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan will surely be missed, in the classroom, and the soccer field, but likely most of all, in the hallways.

isaac silber reporter

Where are they going?

Four teachers leave the JD S community Charles E. Smith Jewish Day Sc hool Sunny . 75 F 3:45 PM

William Kaplan Los Angeles

Etan Weiss Minneapolis

Directions

Katherine Brandwood Philadelphia

Save

Emily Horwitz Bethesda

After 40 years of teaching and 22 years in the classrooms of CESJDS, Romance Language Department Chair and Spanish teacher Emily Horwitz has decided to set down the whiteboard markers and grading pens and call it a career.

Horwitz will not be returning to JDS next school year and will start her retirement after a long career teaching Spanish. Horwitz first came to CESJDS when her kids attended the school, and has taught Spanish ever since.

Horwitz, now a grandmother, cited her personal life as the main reason she decided to retire. She wants to spend more time traveling, especially to see her granddaughter and her mother, who has not been doing well over the last few years.

Horwitz cherishes the relationships she has created with teachers at JDS, many whom have since left the school,

as well as former students. Although she has been the Romance Language Department Chair for six years, which requires a lot of administrative work, her favorite part of working at JDS has been teaching students in the classroom.

At the National Spanish Honors Society induction in May, many of her former students surprised her by coming to the ceremony and speaking about how much they appreciated her as their Spanish teacher. Spanish teachers Debi Kijak and Silvia Kurlat-Ares arranged this surprise as a tribute to Horwitz before she retires.

“I have really enjoyed being a parent and a teacher in this school for many years,” Horwitz said. “I will miss the students and the environment at JDS. I will come back to visit and sub and see people in the future.”

A new department chair has not yet been named.

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the lion’s tale

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SOCIAL DIVIDE

The effects of class levels on students’ social lives izzy friedland reporter Earlier this year, as junior Mayan Beroukhim’s grade filed onto yellow buses for a field trip, she noticed two things.

She first realized that without fail, students clustered into their usual pockets of friendship. These pockets were ushered along in a crowd, bumping and sliding onto the buses. Friend groups stuck together and flowed naturally towards one bus or the other.

The second thing that Beroukhim noticed was that the students on each bus seemed to have only one thing in common: the level of most of their classes.

“There was not an advanced person on the ECP bus, and not a single ECP person on the advanced bus,” Beroukhim said.

This bothered her. She had seen this social rift manifesting in other places in the grade as well, particularly since the beginning of junior year. This year, her grade has fragmented into more and more cliques, with students bragging about their SAT scores and making generalizations about students in different levels. According to Beroukhim, the ECP students feel resentful of “intimidating” advanced students, who in turn look down on them.

Sophomore Abby Mintz, however, does not think that these divisions are as pro-

nounced as Beroukhim makes them seem, and pointed out that these divisions are often much more a function of practicality and convenience rather than of any prejudice or choice.

Although Mintz noticed social divisions growing as her grade entered high school, she is of the belief that they were just a result of having less time to spend with students who were not in the same classes, rather than the result of students “actively choosing” to distinguish between students of different class levels.

Mintz’s schedule is structured around her math class, which is offered during only one period. She therefore found herself sharing a lot of classes with other students in that math class, because their schedules are also structured around that single time slot.

This affected Mintz on a very personal level, after recently finding herself drifting apart from friends she had in middle school whom she no longer many classes with.

Beroukhim has had a similar experience.

“Because it’s so divided and so cliquey, I’m not close with these girls I used to be friends with,” she said. “I don’t talk to them as much and it really bothers me.”

When she was planning to play laser tag with some friends, Beroukhim had the

idea to “make the circle broader” by inviting not just her friends, but every girl in the eleventh grade.

Ironically, Beroukhim said, the teamon-team shootout eased a lot of competitive tension, grouping students who had never interacted in a friendly battle.

However, this newfound unity did not last for very long. Back at school, students still gravitated to their cliques in the hallways.

“One laser tag session isn’t going to make people become best friends,” Beroukhim said.

Nonetheless, she called it a “good effort” and hoped that the school would eventually add more programs similar to shabbatons and end-of-year field trips that allow students to bond over the course of the school year.

It is important to note that the divide is not a binary and that plenty of students are enrolled in a mix of ECP and advanced classes. But according to one such student, junior Eli Davis, the rift is still apparent even if he himself is not affected by it.

Davis called his grade “one of the cliquiest grades in the school,” saying that while his placement didn’t affect who he interacted with, it has impacted formation of friend groups in his grade.

Beroukhim hopes that her grade might

pull together over the Israel trip during senior year. Despite her own laser tag bonding failing in the long run, she believes that it would have worked well to tie the grade together in conjunction with other, similar activities.

“Maybe if the school took more initiative to reach out and make these events that everyone can come to and that would involve everyone in the grade, it could also be less cliquey,” Beroukhim said.

Junior Yoav Margolis admitted that, as a student in primarily advanced classes, he used to look down on students in ECP classes, believing them to “have it easy.”

That is, until ninth grade, when he spoke to his classmate who was in many ECP classes about his classes and gained a fresh perspective.

“I realized that I was wrong to think that they had it easy,” Margolis said. “They were doing very similar work to us.”

Two years later, the two are still friends, and Margolis understands that their experiences at JDS are very similar.

“We’re all reading pretty much the same books, doing pretty much the same work,” Margolis said. “And it’s hard. It’s hard whether you’re in advanced or in ECP.”

Should the world be at your fingertips?

Re-evaluating summer volunteer programs

arielle weinstein news editor Building homes in Thailand, purifying water in Costa Rica, teaching children in India, even working with kangaroos in Australia. While some see these as adventurous community service opportunities, others view them as no more than glorified vacations and doubt that they actually concentrate on the people they are meant to serve.

Many students participate in volunteer programs that allow them to travel to foreign places, but recently there has been discussion as to whether or not these excursions are truly being taken with the best intentions in mind. The controversy seems to lie in the fine line between “volunteerism” and “voluntourism.”

Junior Bronya Letchman has been on two of these trips. Two years ago she traveled to Ghana, and just last summer she worked in Cambodia, where she focused on construc-

tion and teaching. Letchman fondly recalled one day in which she interacted with local children, teaching them English while they taught her their native language. Even though her program had its moments, Letchman is not interested in returning to another one.

“The reason that I’m not doing it again is because I felt like I wasn’t that helpful to the community,” Lechtman said. “I’m not a trained teacher, I’m not a trained construction worker, so there wasn’t much I could do.”

Since she lacked professional skill, Lechtman believes that her actions may not have had a lasting impact on the people she served.

“I didn’t feel helpful because we built walls, but we built really sloppy walls,” Lechtman said. “We taught classes, but I’m not a certified teacher. I think I taught them things, but I didn’t do a very good job doing it. I just think that teenagers going to an impoverished country isn’t always the most

helpful thing.”

Like Lechtman, junior Ariela Diamond does not support these trips . A major part of her opposition to the programs stems from their expensive cost. She wonders why it is necessary to travel abroad when there is plenty of local volunteer work to be done at home.

“You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars just to go away for a week or two to some country that you’ve never been to,” Diamond said. “It’s buying your community service hours, and you can do it differently.”

While she recognizes that the volunteer work must be highly valued by the people it helps, Diamond is concerned that students have more self-centered motivations for joining the trips. Not only do these programs help fulfill community service hour requirements, but many believe they act as strong resume-builders and make a college applicant look unique.

“I’m sure that they do a lot of good work

when they’re there ... but I think that it’s more for the person who’s spending the money to go on the trip than for the person who’s receiving the service work,” Diamond said.

Despite the criticism, sophomore Jonah Eisen is considering joining a service trip with Rustic Pathways, one of the most popular providers of global volunteer adventures.

“What I would want to do ideally is a community service trip where you interact with the native people there, fix up buildings and infrastructure, teach kids, all that kind of stuff,” Eisen said.

Eisen still believes the programs are important, but understands that some students may take part in the trips solely for the credit.

“There definitely is some truth in that, and it’s kind of sad, but … I think the main focus is helping other people while going to a different environment and community,” Eisen said.

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the lion’s tale

in-depth

the lion’s tale

in-depth

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The pathway to teaching Why our teachers come to school every day

isaac silber and mira rodney reporters They could make much more money as doctors, lawyers or engineers. They could even make more money teaching at public schools.

Yet each day, the teachers of CESJDS are drawn back to school for the sense of community, their love for teaching, and the ability to make a difference.

How they got here While it may seem like some teachers were born in the school and never left, they actually took many different routes to get here.

After college, English teacher Melissa Fisanich originally worked for a few law firms, but decided that it was not a career she wanted to pursue because everyone around her was very unhappy. She spoke to one of her professors from college and chose to return to school to become a teacher, getting a Master’s degree in teaching at Johns Hopkins University. After graduating, she taught at an underprivileged, inner-city school as a student teacher.

“The middle school I was teaching at was a really really rough school and I really liked it,”

Fisanich said. “It was sort of demoralizing too, but I was pretty good at teaching that population.”

Despite enjoying her job, she was unable to secure a permanent position, so she looked for teaching jobs at other schools in the area, both public and private.

Finally, a former college roommate of hers helped her find a job at JDS and the administration quickly accepted her. However, she still felt guilty about working at a private school, since she felt that her calling was to help underprivileged youth.

“I talked it over with my mom and she said, ‘Just because students are socially-economically advantaged doesn’t mean that they don’t need you.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, that is so smart, that is such good mom advice,’” Fisanich said.

“Just because students have more money and because they can afford a private school doesn’t

job was to train high school students in how to work at the store. It was this part of his job that made him realize his passion for teaching others, so he decided to mean they don’t need a really good teacher.”

Jewish Text Department Chair Etan Weiss similarly did not originally plan to teach.

When Weiss was in college, he worked as a manager at a Brookstone store where part of his

teach parttime at a nearby Hebrew School.

“I noticed that it was also not only the methodology of teaching but the content, teaching Judaics, was something I was really very passionate about,” Weiss said.

Weiss decided to attend the Davidson School at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he got a Master’s in education, before coming to JDS in 2006.

Challenges Even though Fisanich says she’s “in it to win it,” teaching can be tough for her, especially when it comes to grading.

“Every time I grade something and I give it back, I know there are a certain number of students who are disappointed in their grade,” Fisanich said. “And they feel like I am making a comment on their intelligence. Really, it’s not that.

I am making a comment on how well they did on one assignment, and not on them as a person or a student.”

And finding time to even grade in the first place has been an obstacle for Fisanich, who struggles to balance her role as a teacher with her role as a mother. To make sure she leaves time for her family, Fisanich does “mom stuff” from the time she gets home until 9 p.m. She often gets stressed, and worries that she won’t finish everything, since she is pressed for time on weekends as well, spreading her time between her kids’ karate matches, music recitals, and band concerts.

From working on his curriculum to grading assessments,

Weiss is also extremely busy during the school year as he tries to find time to focus on individual students and colleagues, yet also on himself.

“To be a really fantastic teacher, you need time, not only time for teaching, but also time to think about the needs of individuals students and individual growth patterns,” Weiss said. “You need time to meet with colleagues and need time to be self-reflective … there is never enough time for all of that.”

For math teacher John Watkins-Chow, teaching is most frustrating when the students are not interested in the material.

“Sometimes I feel like a salesman who’s got a product that nobody wants,” Watkins-Chow said. “As math teachers we think, ‘Oh this is really cool, this is neat-o!’

And a lot of students are like, ‘Ugh, come on.’”

But even then, WatkinsChow does his best to convey the importance of the topic he so adores.

“No other planet has a Tanakh curriculum like ours, there is no other world out there that has the

works of Shakespeare,” Watkins Chow said.

But math is different.

“Every single alien child out there is learning that three to the power of two is nine, and I think that is kind of remarkable,” Watkins-Chow said.

Relationships Many JDS students have close friendships with their teachers, as demonstrated through Starbucks outings and FaceTime study sessions. These types of bonds are enabled by the relatively small student-to-teacher ratios present at JDS compared to those of public schools nationwide. The difference between the two is quite large in this regard, as the rates are 8:1 and 14:1, respectively.

Even though Fisanich was initially opposed to teaching at a private school, she has since realized the many benefits of being able to teach at one. She said that being able to work with individual students more directly is immensely helpful, but also loves the ability to make her own curriculum.

Instead of being forced to

teach to a test like she might be at a public school, she is able to talk about topics she might not be allowed to mention otherwise. She believes that having the freedom to discuss every aspect of literature is of the utmost importance in understanding its content.

“How do you teach Beowulf, if you can’t talk about Christianity?

“

become best friends due to the fact that she has children of her own.

“I am a mom, and students definitely do not want to be friends with your mom — that’s weird,” Fisanich said. “The street runs both ways for me too. I don’t particularly want to be best friends with my students, but I do really enjoy spending time with my students and getting to know them.”

The relatively small size of the community also allows for strong friendships between teachers themselves.

For science teacher Kelly Grosskurth, these friendships are exemplified in the science department through their special traditions and customs, like birthday celebrations.

“We all bring in food and celebrate and that’s cool,” Grosskurth said.

But while their internal

Every single alien child out there is learning that three to the power of two is nine and I think that is kind of remarkable.”

• Math teacher john watkns-chow

How do you teach The Canterbury Tales if you can’t talk about that stuff?” Fisanich said.

Fisanich has also found that being able to teach the same students over the course of their middle and high school careers is something she values greatly. Being able to watch students develop as writers has helped her create close relationships with some of her students, yet she is hesitant to

friendships are a hallmark of the science department, Grosskurth said that it is harder for the science teachers to develop friendships with other faculty members due to the science department’s isolated location in the school. Therefore, she looks forward to professional days, when she can “re-engage with some of the teachers [she] hasn’t caught up with in a while.”

In the math department, the teachers are united by their passion for math, according to WatkinsChow. He pointed out that since 3 of the 7 teachers did not major in math in college, it is clear that they teach math because they love the subject.

“If you look at the degrees we have earned, the teachers in the math department are there because they love doing math,” Watkins-Chow said. “I feel lucky to be working with people like that.

That is the reason why I come back every day.”

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the lion’s tale

Adjusting to America Israeli students acclimate to the social environment at JDS

Physics, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Study Hall, Study Hall, Ceramics, Study Hall. Many JDS students would marvel at the appeal of this schedule, but this is just a typical C-day for senior Roee Carmeli.

The seemingly open schedule is due to an accomodation that the JDS administration has made, with the intention of providing Carmeli with time to prepare for the Bagrut exams -- standardized tests that Israeli high schoolers take in order to complete high school.

But figuring out how to study for the Bagrut exams

while attending an American high school is just one of the many challenges that Carmeli, and Israeli students like him, face as JDS students. One of the biggest challenges for these students is overcoming the language barrier in order to become friends with their American peers. And while Carmeli had made friends in his own grade, he did not go on the Israel trip, so during the second semester, he remained a lone senior at JDS. The fact that his grade left for Israel has “had its good sides”, according to Carmeli, like meeting new people from different grades.

“But also hurts a bit because it takes time to make new friends,” Carmeli said. “[By] the time I actually made friends in my grade, they graduated and went to Israel.”

Israeli students have always made up a small part of the JDS community, and this year was no

exception. The 27 Israeli students at the Upper School make up almost five percent of the student body.

Most of these students’ parents are associated with the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, which pays tuition to JDS on behalf of its workers’ children.

For the past 37 years, Dean of Students Roz Landy has played a large role in integrating Israeli students to the JDS environment, which is often a challenge given the disparity between American and Israeli high school environments.

“The expectations in our school are very difficult for Israelis as we tend to be much stricter than they are in Israel,” Landy said.

“There are far more rules and regulations, and that often throws them for a loop.”

ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) assistant Becky Silberman agrees with Landy that the strictness of JDS comes as a shock and a challenge to Israeli students.

“For example, when we

had our first fire drill, they were all shocked at how everyone was so quiet,” Silberman said. “They were saying, ‘In Israel when there’s a fire you just run out, why do we have to be quiet?’”

However, Silberman suggests that the academic disparity, and not the societal differences, poses the largest challenge for JDS students who come from Israel. The ESOL department works to help combat this challenge, by offering an English course that a majority of first-year Israeli students participate in.

Additionally, the department is also tasked with making sure all Israeli students feel socially comfortable in the school.

From her experience in this area, Silberman has noticed the tendency of Israeli students to stick to other Israeli students -- a trend that often poses a challenge to integration, but not necessarily to the level of comfort of the students.

Rather than seeing the matter of integration that Silberman points out as a challenge, sophomore Avital Krifcher admires the connection that Israeli

students have with one another, and deems this connection important to their individual experiences.

“It’s amazing how between grades, Israelis will be friends,” Krifcher said. “I think that [those friendships are] a touch of home, a touch of speaking Hebrew and not worrying if someone understands you, or being able to say Israeli curse words and not have to explain them to people. There’s that close bond of all of these people going through the same experience.”

Most of the Israeli students participate in Tzofim -- a youth group in America for Israeli teenagers that replicates the Tzofim youth group in Israel.

For freshman Dolev Nimni, who has lived in America for four years but will return to Israel this summer, participating in Tzofim has made it much easier for her to be away from her Israeli community.

“From the beginning, [I] wanted anything that had any connection to Judaism, and to remind [myself] a bit of Israel and a bit of my home,” Nimni said. “[Tzofim] made it much easier. It’s one big community and I call them my second family here. They remind me of my friends in Israel.”

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Sunflower Bakery Opens New Branch Sunflower Cafe creates fresh opportunities for individuals with disabilities izzy friedland reporter

dahlia lehman photo editor

entertainment

Walking into the Sunflower Cafe feels like walking into heaven, partly because the walls, floor, and ceiling are all the same shade of cloudy white, and partly because you can smell cookies.

The cafe opened for the first time a few weeks ago in North Bethesda and is the brand-new branch of Gaithersburg’s Sunflower Bakery, a kosher business that employs mentally and physically disabled individuals.

Sunflower’s mission is especially important given how hard it is for people with disabilities to get jobs. According to the Sunflower website, 60 percent of those with disabilities living in Maryland are unemployed, and other studies have found similar numbers nationwide.

Sunflower Bakery, and the new Sunflower Cafe, attempt to alter these figures.

Laura Wexler, co-founder of Sunflower, explained that the Sunflower Bakery is meant to provide opportunities for those with disabilities in order to enable them to provide for themselves.

By doing this, Wexler said, the bakery is able to fulfill what Maimonides called the first and most holy level of charity: helping others help themselves. Wexler called the Jewish value an “underpinning” of the bakery’s mission.

“Everyone deserves, and needs, the chance to become the best at what they’re doing,” Wexler said. “We also need to

enable communities to be whole, and for a community to be whole, people with disabilities are part of that community, so they need to be whole as well.”

Extensive training at the Sunflower Bakery Pastry Arts Training program prepares employees for work.

This training includes teaching proper hygienic behavior, instruction on how to use basic equipment, and most importantly, plenty of on-the-job experience as employees interact with customers and fellow employees.

Later stages of the training also include an internship at one of Sunflower’s partner bakeries: JennyCakes in Kensington, Stella’s Bakery in Rockville, and the Safeway in the Metro D.C. area.

If trainees can hold an internship for a long period of time, they graduate from the program, with references and resumes that allow them to get a job they are familiar with.

Wexler explained that having a schedule for the work day, participating in a productive environment and earning a salary is monumental for many who live with disabilities.

“It’s been life-changing for some of these people,” Wexler said. “I mean really, really life-changing ... For a lot of them, it’s been the first time that they’ve had a bank account, a checking account where they have to manage and take care of their own money.”

In 2009, when Wexler and her co-founder Sara Milner started running their combination business and community interest

project, they had no idea how far they would be able to take it.

Both of them wanted to do something that benefited disabled individuals in their community, yet that was able to sustain itself and grow larger.

The pair chose to start a bakery— despite the fact that neither of them had any experience in professional baking—because the repetitive, routine motions that go into baking a pastry are very learnable, even for those with motor skill disorders or other developmental disabilities.

They started by distributing free cookies at various synagogues during Saturday kiddush in order to build awareness. They operated out of the Beth Sholom kitchen, hired a professional pastry chef and tested their goods by producing honey-cakes en masse for Rosh Hashana.

Reception was positive, and by Thanksgiving of that year, Sunflower Bakery was selling its goods.

The bakery’s success was almost too explosive. By January, the operation had become too demanding for Beth Sholom’s kitchen. Sunflower Bakery moved to an actual bakery in Gaithersburg— where it still is today, at 8507 Ziggy Lane.

That was in 2009 and early 2010. In five and a half years, business has boomed.

Wexler emphasized the community’s role in allowing Sunflower to flourish, calling both the Jewish and non-Jewish communities “amazing” in their support.

Volunteers and leaders of the Jewish community helped distribute Sunflower’s goods when it was starting out. It was members of the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes, an organization that provides group housing for individuals with disabilities, who helped spread the word to potential trainees about Sunflower.

“We know from speaking with [students], with graduates and people in the program, their families, their support communities, that it’s so important to so many lives,” Wexler said.

Kelsey Pitta, the manager of the new Sunflower Cafe, said that working for Sunflower changed her life as well. She was working as a pastry chef before she came to Sunflower. At Sunflower, Pitta’s job involves helping to train students with cafe duties such as barista work.

Pitta said she enjoyed working with the students and getting to know different trainees, and added that working with them “helped [her] grow” as well.

“This is kind of my dream job, to help train adults with disabilities in a restaurant atmosphere and expand the job market for them,” Pitta said.

Wexler has no plans to slow down the business, and hopes to eventually ship Sunflower goods throughout the country.

“It’s the best feeling, and it’s what keeps us going,” Wexler said. “It’s really the kind of thing that makes you want to continue doing it, and wake up in the morning and work harder and try to do more.”

the lion’s tale

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the lion’s tale

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sara heckelman reporter

Almost every CESJDS student attends college after they graduate.

However, each year, a small number of graduates decide to partake in a gap year first.

One of those individuals is Tali Weiss (‘15). Beginning in the fall of 2015, Weiss will be participating in the Young Judaea gap year program in Israel, which includes a combination of Hebrew and Jewish learning, Israel touring, community service involvement and independent living in Israel.

Weiss deliberately chose to do a gap year that would give her the chance to become a part of Israeli society. She hopes her year in Israel will provide her with a unique opportunity, one that she may never have the chance to experience again.

“College is generally known as the ‘best four years of your life,’ so I think a lot of teens put that pressure on themselves -- to go straight to college -- because they want to be a part of that experience as soon as possible,” Weiss wrote in an email. “College will still be there a year later and there aren’t many times in our lives that we can just take a year off.”

Of the 107 members of the Class of 2014, 13 students took gap years, the largest number for any

class in JDS history.

Yael Krifcher (‘14) is currently spending the year in Israel at Mechinat Beit Yisrael, a student-led pre-army organization based on the principles of pluralism. The program, although designed for young Israelis preparing to join the army, is also open to American students, regardless of whether or not they intend to enlist in the I.D.F. as well.

When she chose to go on the program, she hoped that a gap year would provide time for personal development.

On her program, Krifcher participated in weekly student-organized community service trips.

She devoted five hours each week to teaching English to sixth graders at a local school and four hours to a “Big Sister Little Sister” program.

Her “little sister” comes from a troubled family but Krifcher has been able to build a strong relationship with her nevertheless.

“Her excitement when I agree to play with her on my own time makes the challenges of this type of work worth it,” Krifcher said.

In addition to the value of participation in community service programs, Krifcher points to a smoother and more enjoyable transition to college that gap years provide as reason for her decision.

After gaining necessary “streetsmart skills,” she thinks she will be at an advantage compared to other freshmen who did not take a gap year.

“I think I’m going into college a year more confident, worldly, and experienced,” Krifcher said. “My experiences this year are going to affect which friends I choose, which classes I

take, and where I decide to invest my time. I feel prepared and excited for the next step; I’m looking forward to using what I’ve learned this year to enrich my college experience.”

Junior Manny Ozur-Bass plans on going on Nativ, a gap year affiliated with the Conservative movement that a number of JDS graduates have attended. He hopes the program will allow him to immerse himself in Israeli culture and apply the lessons taught in his classes to an even larger extent than what the senior Israel trip might provide.

“Three months in Israel is not enough time to really solidify that connection,” Ozur-Bass said.

Earlier this year, Director of College Admissions Susan Rexford coordinated the school’s first gap year fair. For the fair, 24 groups of representatives from several types of Jewish gap year programs around the world shared their information with the area’s Jewish teens. In addition to educating the public about gap years, Rexford hoped to engage the larger Jewish community with the fair, which was attended by Jewish students from Hebrew Academy, JDS, and other high schools from all over the Greater Washington area.

Rexford noted that although both JDS and Hebrew Academy students were interested in gap year programs in Israel, Hebrew Academy students tended to be more interested in Yeshiva programs, and JDS students were more attracted to programs focusing on travel and volunteering.

chadashot

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Teen programs at synagogues foster connections for students joey shoyer reporter

For many Jewish teens, time at synagogue is spent seeing friends, eating lunch, and taking the occasional nap during services. Some teens, however, use that time to connect to the community, and they often are able to do that through shul-sponsored programs.

One such program is the Shabbat Crew at Ohr Kodesh Congregation, which employs teenagers to look after young children ages one to 12 while their parents are in prayer services. The parents can avoid a good deal of distraction in the morning, and as for the children, Director of Lifelong Learning Rabbi Risa Weinstein says it’s a formative experience.

“Teenagers are the heart and soul of the Shabbat Crew program,” Weinstein wrote in an email interview. “As I watch the teens care for and teach the young children, I am reassured that our families, our community, and the larger Jewish community are all doing a good job raising these teens into responsible, loving, and kind

adults.”

The teens also benefit, according to Weinstein, as the program provides a way for them to further connect to Judaism.

Another route for teens looking to get involved in their community and synagogue is bar and bat mitzvah tutoring.

Freshman Daniel Weiss, who attends Adas Israel Synagogue in D.C., does just that, tutoring predominantly public school-educated fourth and fifth grade students who do not have much background in Jewish education.

“It’s something that I really don’t mind doing, and I like the kids,” Weiss said. “It’s kind of a fun learning experience.”

But, Weiss admits, he is not as enthusiastic as most people assume, and the job is sometimes more challenging than he would hope.

“I mean, on some days I just don’t feel like going, but it’s not like I have a choice,” Weiss said. “[The kids] are just restless, and they can’t really sit for that long, and that’s frustrating sometimes. One day the kids hit me with a slice of pizza and put rice down my shirt.”

One the other hand, Weiss said, he appreciates the opportunity it provides for him to connect with the younger kids in his synagogue, and he is glad he has been pushed to participate.

Before leaving for Israel, senior Emma Hoffman helped develop a youth program at her synagogue, Beth Sholom, similar to the Shabbat Crew program at Ohr Kodesh Congregation.

“As a child, I had attended youth groups. And while I enjoyed them immensely, I knew they needed improvement,” Hoffman said. “When I heard they were revamping the program, I was more than willing to help out, especially because I knew what kind of effect it could have on the kids in the community.”

The program’s goal, according to Hoffman, was to give children ages seven to 13 a place to be while their parents prayed on Shabbat mornings.

“It began with a big tefillah group first, and smaller age groups [were incorporated] afterwards where the children played games and learned,” Hoffman said.

In addition, Beth Sholom has a teen minyan every Shabbat morning.

“They have the option to go to a minyan either with their parents or teen minyan,” Hoffman said. “[Teen minyan] is almost completely teen organized and run and takes place almost every week of the school year.”

According to Weinstein, whether they are running programs or participating in them, one thing is certain: teens shape the character of the community and lend new ideas to it as well.

“Teens are a vital part of the Jewish community,” Weinstein wrote. “They bring fresh ideas to discussions and energy to activities. Our synagogue is enriched by having teens participate. Without their voices and their energy, we would be diminished as a community.

The synagogue is also a place where teens get to ‘live out the Judaism’ they learn about in school, whether it is day school or in religious school. In school, teens learn about ideas. In synagogue, they can put these ideas into action.”

How Israel’s economy impacted one teacher carol silber editor-in-chief In 2009, thousands of Israelis took to the streets for the “Cottage Cheese protests,” which started out as a reaction to the high cost of cottage cheese, but represented the larger issue of exorbitant living costs in Israel. But years later, no meaningful change had occurred; at least not for Jewish Text teacher Osnat Eldar and her family, who moved to America last summer when the financial burden became impossible to live with.

Eldar, her husband, and her three kids — now ages 5, 8 and 10 — lived in a kibbutz in the north of Israel before they moved to Maryland last summer. Although living on a kibbutz is much cheaper than living in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, it was still hard for the Eldars keep up. At one point, Eldar and her family could not pay their rent and went to live with Eldar’s mother for six months.

Eldar considers herself lucky

to have had help from her community and her family because she knows that other young families do not have the same privilege. Regardless, help was not always what she and her husband wanted.

“We are grown ups, and we did not want to have to have help every month,” Eldar said.

No matter how hard they worked, they continued to struggle.

At one point, Eldar worked two jobs and her husband worked three. But it wasn’t enough — not even for the basics.

“I’m not talking about having fun and getting out, and traveling to Europe every year — I’m talking about basic life, like eating, and providing good education for our kids,” Eldar said. “I’m talking about clothing for them, electricity, and whatever utilities you have to pay for.”

Eldar said that their economic situation did not impact her family’s dynamic, because she and her husband never let their kids know

that they couldn’t afford much. But slowly, as the situation worsened, it was hard to hide their reality.

When Passover came around, and the family could not afford to buy enough food for a full Seder, it was clear that something had shifted.

“We would go to the supermarket, buy regular stuff, and pay half of that month’s salary just for those things,” Eldar said. “It’s not because the salaries are low, it’s because everything is so expensive.”

Eldar recognizes that her and her family’s cost of living would have gone down if they had lived in a West Bank settlement, but she and her husband were ideologically opposed to living there. So they persevered until it reached a breaking point.

One day, Eldar and her husband were sitting in the kitchen, calculating their budget. Even with their five salaries and the money they had saved in their bank account, they were in debt and did not see a way out.

“We sat and we looked at each other, and we said, ‘We are 37 and 38 years old, and we can’t survive.

We are just going to deteriorate. We will lose everything,’” Eldar said.

Hoping that living in America would be more affordable, they decided to leave Israel.

“We felt that we needed a change. We felt that we needed to go and live somewhere where when we go to the supermarket, we are not crossing stuff off the list because we can’t afford it.”

So far, it’s worked.

“Here, we can live,” she said.

“We are both teachers, and we can live.”

But it’s not the same.

“There is a connection to Israel that you can’t even explain. So even though here life is really comfortable, the connection is different.

It’s not even about the family or the friends, it’s something mystic. It’s our home, it’s our land — well, part of it,” she said, chuckling.

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the lion’s tale

sports

the lion’s tale

Sports fanatics: bennett bramson reporter Most people have something they could never dream of living without. For sophomore Mollie Griminger, that something is sports.

Griminger, a self proclaimed sports fanatic, enjoys any sport she can think of. From baseball to the Arena Football League, Griminger is a fan of it all.

She’s been a fan for as long as she can remember, but her loyalties have shifted as she has grown up.

Born in New York, Griminger started out as a fan of New York teams only.

But when she moved to D.C., she added the D.C. teams to her list. In fact, rooting for these teams aided her transition to her new school and community.

“It was kind of like my way to connect with everybody else, to go to Nationals games and stuff,” Griminger said. “It helped me become more involved with the area.”

Griminger is so devoted to her teams that one year when she was at camp, she asked her counselor to print out baseball box scores every week so she could stay

more than just your everyday fans updated. Nor is she a wavering fan; she displays this level of dedication through both successful seasons and rough ones.

“Even in bad seasons, you always have things that are exciting, and have little victories here and there, and there’s always next year too,” Griminger said.

Her love for sports is visible in her bedroom, where she keeps all of her sports memorabilia. She used to have one shelf for all of it, but that got overcrowded quickly, so now she has two shelves: one for baseball-specific items, and one for items Courtesy of Matthew Landy from other sports.

Freshman Matthew Landy, a life-long sports fan, relates to Griminger’s obsession. Since he attended his first sports event, a Washington Redskins game, when he was three years old, he has been hooked.

Since then, he has been to countless sports events and has collected a large number of jerseys, signatures, and other pieces of sports memorabilia. Like Griminger, Landy always asks his counselors to keep him updated on his teams while he is at camp. But for Landy, sports are more than just an obsession.

“I might lose my mind if I didn’t have sports,” Landy said.

“It’s stressful sometimes to watch, but it’s also kind of calming and gives me a break from everything else.”

P.E. teacher Brian Westerman also finds sentimental value in rooting for certain sports team, serving as one of his strongest

connections to his family. His father was originally from New York, but then moved to D.C., changes which have influenced Westerman’s preferences. Today, his favorites are the Washington Redskins and the New York Yankees.

“All I’ve bled since the time I was born is burgundy and gold,” Westerman said. “Yankees, same thing, My dad’s a die hard Yankees fan and I am as well.”

And as a P.E. teacher, Westerman’s dedication to sports has truly been an identity builder.

“I don’t know where I would be [without sports] because sports helped mold me into the person I am today,” Westerman said.

Photo: Freshman Matthew Landy puts the “N-a-t-s” in “fanatics.”

photo by Dahlia Lehman

Junior Daphne Lerner prepares to catch a pitch from junior Allie Wolff.

Golf: Finished with a 2-3 record, with 8th grader Cameron Diamond finishing 3rd in the PVAC tournament.

Tennis: The Lions finished with a 4-4 record in league play, and a doubles team, made up of two eighth-graders, lost in the championship

Track and Field: Girls team finished third in the league. Seven JDS students won individual events and 7 JDS Track records were set.

Volleyball: Their season ended with a loss to Paul VI in the playoffs, but with a 9- 6 record.

Softball: The team went 4-4, but lost to Burke in the PVAC quarterfinals.

17

Q&A With Mark Lerner From Rockville to Southeast D.C., a resounding impact compiled by aaron schonfeld, jeremy schooler, and joel vardon sports editors As a lifelong Washingtonian, current majority owner of the Nationals and parent of two CESJDS alumni, Mark Lerner has been around the block a few times. He spent some time telling the Lion’s Tale about the journey: Lion’s Tale: What are your thoughts on philanthropy in relation to the Washington Jewish community and the D.C. community as a whole?

to give back to the community in which they live. That was a part of our family responsibility. But, we have been very conscious of our very special opportunity to give back since our involvement with the Nationals. Baseball, sports in general, means so much to families.

It touches so many in so many ways - through the very hands-on work of our players and community relations staff, or the deeper contributions of the Washington Nationals

“

difference in the lives of children, veterans and their families, and other members of the regional D.C. community. Our family foundation (The Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Foundation) has also long-supported many local Jewish organizations because we’ve always believed that philanthropy is not only a responsibility, but an honor and a pleasure.

LT: What were your motivations to bring baseball back to Washington D.C.?

we’re proud to have been a part of bringing the national pastime back to the nation’s capital.” • Mark Lerner

Mark Lerner: When our family first assumed ownership we promised three things: to build a winner on the field, to provide exciting family entertainment to Nationals Park, and to make a significant contribution to the communities in the greater Washington, D.C. area. I was brought up believing that everyone has a responsibility

Dream Foundation directed by my sister Marla Lerner Tanenbaum, we believe we can and should make a difference every single day. Whether the team on the field is winning or not, we know we can make a

Spring Sports Upd at e: Baseball: They went 5-4, and upset the #2 seed Field School in the playoffs, before losing in the championship to undefeated Sandy Spring Friends School.

sports

ML: My father grew up watching the Washington Senators and so when MLB decided that baseball would return to the nation’s capital after a 33 year absence, we as a family could not pass up the opportunity to bid on the team. We were so honored to be selected as stewards of the Washington Nationals and we’re proud to have been a part of bringing the national pastime back to the nation’s capital. One thing that is very gratifying for our family is that there is now a generation of young baseball fans in D.C. who’ve never known life without a hometown team. That’s important to us. We love this game, and It has been a wonderful decade for myself and my family, being able to be such a large part of bringing baseball back to our hometown.

LT: What are your thoughts on your legacy in Washington?

photo courtesy of the Washington Nationals Mark Lerner speaks with President Barack Obama at a Washington Nationals game.

ML: It feels like just yesterday that Livan Hernandez threw that historic first pitch to welcome the national pastime back to the nation’s capital! So much has happened in the past decade - including opening the gates to Nationals Park, building a farm system that is second to none, making some key

photo courtesy of the Washington Nationals Debra, Mark, and Marla Lerner pose at Nationals Park. The Lerners’ parents, Annette and Theodore, are the Upper School campus’s namesakes.

strategic signings, and of course, claiming two NL East Titles in three years. We’ve built a dedicated fan base, which, in my opinion, is the best in the Majors. One of our main goals over the last 10 years, and especially since we opened Nationals Park in 2008, was to not only build our team, but also the community around it. We have worked hard to establish footholds in and around the D.C., Maryland and Virginia region. And I think that’s happened - our team is one of the best and brightest in the Major Leagues, our ballpark is a true gem, and our city has wonderfully embraced our neighborhood in the Capitol Riverfront District. The development we’ve seen in the area has been remarkable, and I think will be one of our legacies.

LT: What are your thoughts on the impact of JDS? ML: My sons Jonathan (‘03) and

Jacob (‘06) both attended JDS, so the school is very important to me and my wife Judy. Both our sons had wonderful experiences and, although it’s been several years since they graduated, we still feel very close to the JDS community.

JDS helped them develop and grow both academically and socially and their JDS experience helped prepare them for college and beyond. I served on the Board of Directors and was co-chair of the Building Committee that developed the lower and upper school campuses and really enjoyed being part of the growth of this wonderful institution. I really can’t say enough good things about the school, the administration and the larger JDS community.

18

the lion’s tale

features

A

community rejects

that

lege route has served several JDS students well.

Among these students is Shirel Altmann (‘14), a JDS graduate who chose to live at home and attend Montgomery College for her first year as an undergraduate.

Altmann believes that community college can be a viable option for JDS students, but does not get the attention it deserves at JDS because of students’ preconceptions.

“I think it has to do with the fact that a lot of the parents of JDS kids went to prestigious universities, so they’re kind of expected to do the same as their parents,” Altmann said.

Altmann said that her parents were one of the largest reasons she went to Montgomery College. They did not want her to leave the house for college at such a young age because they grew up in Latin America and attended college from home, which is widely practiced in that region.

According to Altmann, they were not “culturally ready” for her to leave home.

Another factor for Altmann was the major price difference between community colleges and fouryear colleges. According to each school’s website, total tuition and fees for 12 credit hours during the 2014-2015 school year at University of Maryland cost more than twice as much as they do at Montgomery College.

Although she was able to enjoy the lower price of community college for her freshman year, Altmann will say goodbye to this financial benefit very soon.

Next year, Altmann will transfer to the University of Maryland through the Maryland Transfer Advantage Program, which allows students at four Maryland community colleges, including Montgomery College, to directly transfer to the University of Maryland as long as they complete their designated program with a minimum grade point average.

Director of College Guidance Susan Rexford notes that most JDS students

community

college

Discussing the stigma of community college in the CESJDS kehillah dahlia lehman photo editor One hundred percent is representative of completion. One hundred percent is representative of success. One hundred percent is representative of applying full effort. But when 100 percent is the acceptance rate of a prospective college, CESJDS students perceive it in a different light.

According to a study conducted by Columbia University in 2013, almost half of all undergraduate students in the United States are enrolled in community college. That same year, only 2.2 percent of the JDS graduating class joined them.

But despite its rarity, the community col-

the lion’s tale

who choose community college end up transferring to four-year universities through such programs.

“Whether you start [at Maryland] as a freshman and finish in four years, whether you start through their Freshman Connection ... or whether you start at community college and then transfer to the University of Maryland, your degree reads ‘you graduated from the University of Maryland,’ so it’s just one of many routes to take to get to your ultimate goal,” Rexford said.

Ian Kolmeister (‘09) chose community college to pursue his interest in audio production after his guidance counselor told him that Montgomery College had a good audio production program. Unfortunately, they did not have the program Kolmeister sought, and at the same time, Kolmeister’s interests evolved, so he decided to become a paramedic. For this reason, Kolmeister transferred to Prince George’s Community College, received his paramedic license, and then transferred to Towson University.

Community college served as a good route for both Altmann and Kolmeister; however, both graduates recognize a stigma that is attached to community college among JDS students.

“When a good majority of the graduating class from JDS goes straight to a four year, not doing so may mark an alumni as being a ‘failure,’” Kolmeister wrote in an email.

Junior Evie Kraner agrees that JDS students view community college in a negative light because of its lack of prestige. Kraner recognizes the challenge that this stigma poses for JDS students who are interested in attending community college, recounting a situation earlier this year when a senior who wanted to attend Montgomery College complained that “she was being looked down upon for wanting to attend community college even though she could get just as good of an education.”

Despite their agreement that community college is not the “ideal” college experience socially, Altmann and Kolmeister still recall their overall experiences as positive. Altmann was specifically pleased with the economic diversity of her friends at Montgomery College.

“I have a lot of friends that completely financially support themselves, which is not the case at JDS at all,” Altmann said. “So it’s definitely taught me a lot, and I don’t regret it at all.”

features

Evaluating the legitimacy of a 24/7 community malka himelhoch and carol silber editors-in-chief On May 11, Dean of Students Roz Landy called the freshman class to the Feith Beit Midrash to tell the students that the administration had been informed of behaviors that students were engaging in: drinking alcohol, using drugs, cyberbullying, and sexting.

Over the next few days, the school took several measures to address the reported incidents.

First, Landy emailed all of the ninth grade parents. Second, involved students were called to the guidance office. Third, Landy called grade meetings for sophomores and juniors to discuss the concerns she had already shared with the freshmen.

In the email to parents, Landy stressed the importance of what she dubbed a 24/7 community.

“Some students are currently making poor decisions, their friends are worried about them, and we want to partner with you so that we all recognize these issues and provide the support necessary to help our students move forward in a healthy way,” Landy wrote.

However, freshman Avi Abrams noted that while some of the behaviors did cease after the administration’s intervention, he felt that it was inappropriate for students to be punished for something that happened outside of school.

“The school does not have the right to issue punishment for any activity that is held outside school property besides sending a warning to the parent of that student — not to the grade as a whole,” Abrams said.

While in most situations public school students retain their constitutional rights while at school, there is more grey area at private schools like JDS. Therefore, dealing with disciplinary policies is more complicated, and is often up to the discretion of the administration.

Nevertheless, other freshmen agreed with Abrams, and added that Landy’s meeting with the students perpetuated the issues at hand, as the ninth grade hallway buzzed with chatter and gossip regarding the behaviors and those involved in the weeks following the meeting.

The concern about privacy invasion was not isolated to the freshmen. As the other grades got called into meetings and word of the incidents spread, some members of the upper grades, like junior Yoav Margolis, began to feel unsettled as well.

Margolis, who has personally experienced administrative intervention before, felt especially concerned about the recent meetings.

Earlier this year when he was informed that the administration had viewed his Facebook page, he felt violated, and worried about how the faculty percieved him.

“What you do online shouldn’t always be correlated with how you’re viewed or how you’re treated in school,” Margolis said.

Guidance counselor Rachel Soifer disagrees.

“You have to be the same person everywhere you go, and keep in mind what your values are,” Soifer said. “You have to remember that you represent yourself and your community all the time.”

But Margolis feels that his

online presence does not have to match his personality at school. At the same time, he wants to be taken seriously by the JDS faculty, and since he found out that some had viewed his Facebook page, he has refrained from posting things he used to feel comfortable with.

“Sometimes it’s just subconscious — before posting something I’ll think, ‘Odds are the school can see this, so maybe I don’t want to post this,’” Margolis said.

According to Landy, this self-restraint is the entire purpose of the 24/7 community.

“Adolescents need to learn that there are consequences to their actions,” Landy said. “We are a 24/7 school; we believe it is our responsibility to protect your children, to help them grow and be safe and healthy. We believe that this is our job.”

She agrees that it’s a “slippery slope,” as Margolis put it, but she feels that there is no other option.

According to Landy, a number of years ago, the police were called to the home of a JDS student in response to complaints regarding a party. When the police arrived, the students were drinking alcohol, and since they were underage, the police gave them citations. A few days later, the police came to JDS to meet with both the students and administration.

“It was a very difficult situation,” Landy recalled. “Once the police involved us, we realized we had no choice but to be involved.”

This realization triggered the addition of the 24/7 community to JDS policies, and Landy believes that it is of utmost importance.

“What kind of person would

I be I if I just ignored dangerous, destructive behavior? I either care about you 24/7 or I shouldn’t be in the education business,” she said.

“So we made a decision then and there that students are as important to us outside of school hours and outside of this building as you are inside.”

Originally, the 24/7 policy centered around a stricter focus on illicit behaviors that students engaged in outside of school, such as the consumption of alcohol and drugs. But with the rise of everyday technology, the policy expanded to looking into alleged incidents on social media as well.

Currently, the policy in the student handbook reads: “Conduct which reflects poorly upon students on the school may be grounds for disciplinary action, whether or not such conduct occurred on campus or using the School’s network or equipment.

This includes using these communication tools to make derogatory remarks about other members of the community or the use of inappropriate language or innuendo.”

However, Landy clarified that the school responds to reported incidents, but “does not go looking” for them.

“Obviously with all this sexting stuff, we do look into it, because there are some students who feel it is their responsibility to report dangerous behavior to their counselors,” Landy said.

She added that the school takes reported incidents extremely seriously because the consequences can be dire for those involved.

19

20

entertainment

summerreading the lion’s tale

Required reading looms over summer vacation liran zimand and emily cohen reporters On June 12, as students put down their pencils after their last exam, they think about sleeping in, going to camp and swimming at the beach. It’s easy to forget the burden that lies ahead: the hours of required summer reading.

According to English Department Chair Thomas Worden, CESJDS assigns summer reading for many reasons. One of them is simply to keep students reading over the break.

“English is like any other sport,” Worden said. “You need to keep people in the practice in order to be good.”

And according to Worden, simply reading any book is not sufficient.

“We would like to keep people engaged with literature that we consider to be truly literature,” Worden said. “Our summer reading is pretty carefully selected in order to build and articulate the curriculum for that year.”

The English teachers do this by picking books that will “set up a year conceptually and thematically,” Worden said.

The book selection and the program as a whole have changed a lot over the years. In the past, students were required to write journal entries about the summer reading books as they read. The outcome of this was that teachers’ desks would be piled with entries that teachers knew many students

had haphazardly thrown together the night before. To lessen the workload for the students, and to ensure it wasn’t all done the night before, the requirement was refined to just reading.

Despite having less summer work than previous JDS students, freshman Stav Elazar-Mittelman would still prefer to get rid of the summer reading requirement.

Since he reads in the summer anyway, Elazar-Mittelman likes to choose books for himself and decided to just read a Sparknotes summary of one of his summer reading books to allow him to do more pleasure reading.

“I like the opportunity to read the books I can’t read in the middle of the year because of all the school work I have,” ElazarMittelman said.

Worden recognizes that Elazar-Mittelman’s decision to not read his summer reading book is fairly common.

“I think some people are just too busy to really deal with it and that is their reality,” Worden said.

“While I would love everybody to read thoughtfully and deliberately and think about what is in those books, I know that that is not always possible for everybody, and I have to take what I can get.”

Even with some students not reading the books, Worden is committed to continuing the program.

“My stance on it is that if people don’t read the books, they don’t read the books,” Worden said. “They may get a dinger on a

quiz or a 20 point presentation at the beginning of the year. I want to err on the side of challenging people. You deserve that and we deserve that.”

Seventh-grader Aviva Datlof agrees with Worden and enjoys summer reading because it is “fun” and “prepares you for the grade above.”

In the summers before tenth and eleventh grades, students are also required to read history books, the goal of which is to “give a summer reading that allows the students to understand a little bit of the history but also how history is approached,” according to history teacher Eytan Apter.

He, like other teachers, gives assignments on the first week of school to ensure that students actually did their summer reading.

In addition to the summer reading required by English and history classes, in the past students have been expected to read a book club book, which can be chosen from a list of options recommended by students. This past year, though students were asked to read a book for book club, high schoolers never had an in-school discussion of the books, and it is unclear if book club reading will be required this summer.

“It would be nice if people would just read a book and come talk about it, but that is a lot for just one club period,” Worden said.

Teacher Recommendations for Fun Summer Reading FOR ALL AUDIENCES The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey

Suggested by Ms. Savopoulos

Brown Girl Dreaming by Deckle Edge

Suggested by Ms. Savopoulos

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Suggested by Ms.Ball

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Suggested by Ms. Savopoulos

FOR OLDER AUDIENCES Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

Suggested by Ms.Ball

Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Suggested by Ms. Savopoulos

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

Suggested by Mr. Kaplan

80% 55%

* *

Of students did the English summer reading last summer Of students did the history summer reading last summer *Of surveyed students