Volume 33 Issue 5

the lion’s tale

The Lion’s Tale

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Volume 33 Issue 5

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June 1, 2016

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CESJDS

BEYOND THE BODY

DEVELOPING A NEW FRAME OF MIND ON MENTAL HEALTH, pg. 08-09 Reviewing the hiring process, pg.03

Sixth grade joins Upper School, pg.07

Combating conformity, pg.13

the lion’s tale

02 news

Spotlight illuminates CESJDS’ 50 years gabe krantz and isaac silber contributing editor and news editor After nearly two years of planning, CESJDS held the Spotlight celebration on Thursday, May 26 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. The event was the culmination of the 50th anniversary celebrations for JDS. Over 1,000 people were in attendance, including current and former JDS faculty, alumni and current parents.

The event purposefully had a $50 ticket price to make it more accessible. Director of Development Sharon Metro Roll, who was in charge of planning the event, said the quantity and quickness of RSVPs was unforeseen.

“In the back of our minds we thought that people would RSVP later and therefore we honestly did not know how many would RSVP,” Metro Roll said.

All of the tickets, which went on sale in the middle of March, sold out in around five weeks. There were so many RSVPs that the registration had to be closed and a wait-list formed so that she could manage the guest list. The original ceiling for attendees was 800, but due to the demand the number was raised to 1,000.

The planning for the year-long

50th anniversary celebrations has been going on since August 2014. In addition to being the final celebration of the year, Spotlight hosted the launch of the 50th anniversary endowment campaign.

Metro Roll believes that the campaign will be a force for good in the school community.

“The endowment campaign is raising money to sustain and help grow the programs in this school, focusing on academic excellence, Judaic life in the school community and accessibility,” Metro Roll said.

As part of the major focus on the evolution of the school, Metro Roll wanted the celebration to be very interactive. There were four different Spotlight areas at the event that people walked around and explored. Each area focused on one aspect of JDS’ history, including athletics, arts, JDS’ connection with Israel and the overall school community.

Due to the emphasis on interactiveness, Spotlight was purposefully designed to not be a typical gala with many speakers.

“We know our JDS community is very tight-knit and many people will not have seen each other for a long time and we want people to have the opportunity to interact and socialize and not have to be sitting down at a table and listening to peo-

ple speak,” Metro Roll said.

Attendees were treated to live music from a band, as well as a performance from Shir Madness, JDS’ a capella choir.

Another aspect of the celebration was a visual arts area with a photo booth, a green screen and a large scale “live paint project” where individuals helped to create a mural that will be hung at one of the JDS campuses.

After an address by Head of School Rabbi Mitchel Malkus, guests watched a documentary created by Metro Roll and other JDS staff members about the history of the school.

Jewish Text teacher Paul Blank, who has worked at JDS for 24 years, said he was most excited to go to the celebration to reconnect with former faculty and students. “[The celebration] comes at a very auspicious time because I think the school is the best it has ever been,” Blank said.

Blank believes that he has really become part of the JDS community, and that the communal feeling is very important to him. “[JDS] has been an integral part of my life,” Blank said. “In many ways, it has been my life.”

Blank is not alone in his feelings towards the role JDS has played in the lives of many. Jennifer Mendelson, one of the 50th anniversary

photo courtesy of imagelink.com Preparations for Spotlight at the Ronald Reagan Building before guests arrive.

chairs who played a role in helping plan the Spotlight event as well as the other 50th anniversary celebrations, felt as though it was her responsibility to volunteer when Metro Roll asked her to help organize the event.

“I really view involvement as a privilege and responsibility,” Mendelson said. “I really care about the future of the Jewish community and I truly believe that the fact that JDS is a great school bodes very well for the future of our Jewish community.”

Mendelson said that she looks at the 50th anniversary celebrations

as a way to not only reflect on the past 50 years but also to create a brighter future.

“Over 50 years ago, people created a fabric for our school community,” Mendelson said. “We are so thankful for, and need to honor, those who came before us so that the people who come after us can depend on the decisions we made and continue to make the effort we put into building the school.”

Juniors participate in ‘Inside College Admissions’ program jonathan foldi managing editor, copy On May 18, the junior class participated in the second-ever Inside College Admissions program, organized by the College Guidance department. The program was led by admissions officers from 15 different colleges from across the country.

The college representatives spoke to the juniors and their parents about what to look for during the admissions process. There were three separate sessions: a panel discussion with the juniors and their parents, a mock admissions program and two concurrent panels, one for parents and one for students.

Director of College Guidance

Sue Rexford said that the purpose of the panels was to let students hear directly from colleges about the admissions process. Rexford thought that this new perspective was what made the program so successful last year, and she has heard from over a dozen students that they thought it went very well this year too.

“We could have stood up there and given the same program, but because it’s from college people, it has more [validity,]” Rexford said.

In the second activity, groups of five to six students and their parents worked with one of the college representatives on a mock application review. In the exercise, students and parents were presented with three different student applications

to a fictitious university and had to choose one applicant to accept, one to wait-list and one to deny.

Junior Avital Krifcher found part of the mock application session very stressful because when she saw that she had similar test scores to one of the applicants, the college process felt much more real for her.

Despite this stress, she thought that seeing the opposite side of the college process was a very helpful point of view.

“I didn’t realize how in-depth an actual Common Application is because we got a 20-page packet and I [hadn’t] realized how much information there was,” Krifcher said.

One part of the application that stood out to Krifcher was the

personal statement, as the junior class had just finished a unit in English class devoted to writing their own statements in preparation for the college process. Because she already knew the basics of writing a personal statement, that part of the mock application was easier for her to evaluate.

Junior Aaron Weiss also believes that reviewing the sample applications was a beneficial experience, because he saw firsthand how admissions officers look through applications. Weiss had originally thought that officers spent around 30 minutes on each application and was surprised that it is actually closer to ten minutes per applicant.

Despite the limited amount of

time that admissions officers spend on each student, Weiss did not feel that this new information raised his anxiety for the college process.

During his mock session, he and two students in his group shifted away from the activity and began discussing their future application process. Instead of feeling a greater sense of competition between each other, even though they had just been comparing students, they felt a greater sense of camaraderie with one another.

“We’re not gonna really talk about how we want to beat our friends or something,” Weiss said. “I think we’re just all in this together.”

the lion’s tale

news

03

BACKGR UND Hidden in the

Firing of Lower School employee raises concerns about hiring process isaac silber and rani zimand news editor and copy editor Lower School Math and Science Coordinator Hannah Viana was fired after CESJDS was notified that Viana lost her teacher’s license because of alleged inappropriate conduct with a student at her former school, Jordan Elementary School in Chicago. Head of School Rabbi Mitchel Malkus emailed the JDS community on April 5 about her dismissal.

According to a CBS Chicago article published on June 25, 2015, Viana was accused of multiple incidents of inappropriate contact with students, including one in which she “kissed a student while she sat on his lap.” The article states that “a CPS [Chicago Public Schools] investigative memorandum found credible evidence” for these accusations.

This ultimately led to her resignation after CPS filed for her dismissal.

Viana denied the allegations.

Viana was placed on CPS’ “do not hire” list and her teacher’s license was suspended for two years, but she was never convicted.

Maryland is one of many states that does not require teachers at independent or private schools to have a teacher’s license. Malkus said that JDS does not require teachers to have teacher’s licenses because JDS looks for teachers to have a “higher level of credential,” such as a masters or doctorate degree in their subject. Because JDS does not require teacher’s licenses, the school never asked Viana if she had one, and thus was unaware that her license had been revoked.

Viana was hired before the 2014-2015 school year, following the

same method as any teacher applying for a job at JDS. The hiring process for all employees at JDS includes a background check.

“Anyone who works in the school receives the same background check because when you work in a school environment with children and students, you need to be checked even if you’re not working directly [with children],” Malkus said.

JDS uses a fingerprint-supported technology that is linked to the FBI in order to check the backgrounds of employees prior to hiring them. All prospective teachers are fingerprinted by a separate company and put into a database. The only people who have access to the background investigations on employees are the members of the JDS Human Resources department. This technology also alerts the school if employees are involved in any criminal activity while they are working at JDS, and even after they no longer work at the school.

Director of Human Resources Lori Belke, who has been working at JDS for 14 years, said that it is very rare for anything to come up through this investigative service.

It is also JDS protocol that the staff in charge of hiring a new employee has to check three references, such as former employers, before hiring.

Belke and Human Resources Associate Harlene Stanchfield are responsible for reading and conducting background checks on prospective teachers.

According to Belke, Viana passed the background check and her references were checked without finding any problems. Because

Viana was never prosecuted, her alleged past inappropriate contact did not come up in the background check.

Belke also thinks that this information did not come up when CBS Chicago contacted JDS while writing their article due to the nature of the reporter’s questions, but she is unsure because she was not in the office that day. JDS did not comment on the matter to CBS Chicago because of school policy to not publicly comment on teachers’ personal matters. The Lion’s Tale contacted the reporter from CBS Chicago, but she declined to be interviewed for this article.

Belke also noted that even if JDS had googled Viana’s name when

er, it is usually because of a performance issue. The actual firing comes after many conversations with the employee, telling them how they need to improve. If there is no improvement, the employee is fired.

This was not the case with Viana.

“In the case of Ms. Viana ... we immediately knew that our students would feel uncomfortable, our parents, our community would feel uncomfortable,” Belke said. “There was nothing that could be improved in this situation so we had to take more of an aggressive approach to go ahead and relieve her of her responsibilities.”

In an email to parents notifying them of Viana’s firing, Malkus stated that no complaint had been made

“

We’re going to go through a full review of both the background checks and the hiring process that we have, in addition to the monitoring process.”

• Head of School rabbi Mitchel Malkus they were considering her employment, nothing would have come up because the article was published after Viana was hired.

“We don’t, as a practice today anyhow, go searching on any random day for an employee, unless someone gives us pause or a cause of concern; that’s not part of our practice today,” Belke said. “We rely on our fingerprint-supported background investigation process to notify us if there is subsequent activity, but in this case it wasn’t a criminal [action].”

When JDS has to fire a teach-

about Viana’s behavior while at JDS. Belke said that JDS was unaware of Viana’s alleged misconduct until a parent notified Lower School Principal Matthew Bellas about the CBS Chicago article. Bellas declined to comment on the hiring and firing of Viana.

“It came to our attention that there was this article on the internet about what had transpired,” Belke said. “When it was brought to our attention, that was our first knowledge of that activity.”

In light of Viana’s firing, Malkus said that JDS has already started and

will continue to look at and modify its hiring practices in order to avoid this type of situation in the future.

“We’re going to go through a full review of both the background checks and the hiring process that we have, in addition to the monitoring process,” Malkus said.

Currently on its teacher application, JDS does not ask if a teacher has a teacher’s license, but Belke thinks that this question might be added to the application. This would let JDS ask the subsequent question: “Has your license ever been suspended or revoked?”

“I don’t know what the final adjustment or changes in our hiring practices will be, but I do think we will be making some,” Belke said.

Because of the incident, JDS has been in contact with other independent schools in the area about their policies regarding hiring and background checking. JDS has also recently learned that many states have a “do not hire” database or other websites that have lists of teachers whose licenses have been revoked. Belke said that while it is likely that JDS will use these databases in the future, she believes the school was very effective in dealing with the incident.

“In light of this particular situation, I truly feel that the school acted swiftly, quickly and in a transparent way by communicating with the community [about] what had taken place, and [the] prompt and immediate action of removing Ms. Viana from her position and access to the building,” Belke said.

the lion’s tale

04 news

addie bard reporter

On the campaign trail

Alumnus creates TV ads for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton

photo courtesy of ashley weech Daniel Maughan (‘06) makes TV advertisements for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

After graduating from CESJDS, alumnus Daniel Maughan (‘06) went into the field of political campaign advertising, and is currently working on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

In 2008, Maughan started interning with GMMB when the company was working for Barack Obama’s election campaign. GMMB is a company that helps politicians and other companies devise strategies to push their messages. In 2012, Maughan returned to GMMB for Obama’s reelection campaign.

When Maughan learned that GMMB was working on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, he wanted to join.

“I think it’s time for our country to have a female president,” Maughan said. “I think she is the right person for the job. I think she’s qualified. I think she’s not perfect on a lot of things, but who is? She is the best to lead this country and continue Obama’s legacy.”

On the campaign, Maughan’s job is to create any form of paid media, including TV advertisements and online videos. Once the strategists have scripted the media, Maughan converts the scripts into advertisements. He does anything from filming the advertisements themselves to making sure that all aspects of the advertisement are li-

censed before being aired.

In 2016 alone, 120 TV advertisements that Maughan helped make have aired. Many of these advertisements have the same general content, but at the end they are tagged differently according to the particular audience the ad will appeal to on different airing dates. So far, Maughan has been enjoying the fast pace of this job.

“You always have to be on your toes which I really like,” Maughan said. “What we do is really interesting and seen by a lot of people ... I think it’s a unique position to be in, being able to truly try to affect so many people with a message.”

While Maughan plans to continue working for the Clinton campaign for as long as the circumstances allow, he does not describe himself as someone who would always be working on election campaigns. After the campaign, Maughan plans on moving to New York and hopes to work in a field which he finds as meaningful as the Clinton campaign.

“It has been really gratifying and rewarding for me personally to be working on this,” Maughan said.

“I want to find something back in New York that I really care about.”

Campaign specialist leads super PAC for Marco Rubio Jon Lerner, father of sixth-grader Shevi Lerner, sophomore Lena Lerner and alumnus Eli Lerner (‘16), recently concluded his work with Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign.

Throughout his career, Lerner has been involved with dozens of election campaigns and has worked on polling and advertisement production. While working on Rubio’s campaign, Lerner was the media consultant and pollster for Rubio’s super Political Action Committee (PAC).

A super PAC is an organization that promotes a candidate, but is prohibited from working directly with the candidate.

There are two main organizations working on behalf of the candidate: the candidate’s campaign and the super PAC. The Rubio super PAC, which Lerner helped run, was called Conservative Solutions PAC. He found Rubio and his campaign motivating.

“Marco Rubio is a very inspiring guy, [and a] very good candidate, so it was very enjoyable working on his

behalf,” Lerner said.

After Rubio dropped out of the race, Lerner started working with organizations that were opposed to Donald Trump’s candidacy. Now that Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Lerner will not be working in the general election, or supporting Trump.

Throughout his many years working on election campaigns, Lerner has had the experience of working on President Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004 and Tim Pawlenty’s presidential election campaign

in 2012. From his experiences, Lerner has learned about the amount of work and strategy that goes into the process.

“Campaigns are a lot of fun, too,” Lerner said. “Working on behalf of candidates or causes that you believe in, or working against candidates or causes that you want to see defeated for the good of the country can be very inspiring. It’s hard work, but it’s fun work.”

photo courtesy of Campaigns & Elections/MCT Jon Lerner helped lead a super PAC for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, prior to Rubio dropping out of the race.

Foreign policy expert advises, fundraises for Rubio

photo courtesy of paul foldi Bonnie Glick poses with her former employer, Marco Rubio. Rubio suspended his campaign on March 15.

Bonnie Glick, junior Jonathan Foldi’s mother, was listed as a delegate on the Maryland election ballot for Marco Rubio while he was in the race.

While working on the Rubio campaign, Glick was employed as a foreign policy advisor as well as a bundler, someone who agrees to raise money for the candidate’s election campaign. After Rubio dropped out, Glick continued her job as a foreign policy advisor to Ted Cruz and was a donor to the campaign prior to Cruz leaving the race.

In her experience with Rubio, Cruz and other presidential campaigns, including Mitt Romney’s

and John McCain’s, Glick has come to a new understanding of how important the elections are.

“I’ve learned that you don’t always win but you never stop trying to win,” Glick said. “The stakes are very high.”

Glick sees great importance in this upcoming election for two reasons. The first is that she thinks the economy is in need of a boost in the form of a rationalized tax code, which will lead businesses to make more jobs. The second is that Glick is a strong supporter of Israel, and believes the Obama administration has abandoned Israel and that the Republican party has Israel’s best

interests in mind.

Foreign policy is not something new to Glick, as she has 25 years of experience working in the field. After spending 13 years as an American diplomat, she spent the next 12 years working with Latin American companies and businesses. She used this experience in her work for election campaigns when writing policy recommendation papers for candidates. Glick has also hosted fundraisers and raised money from other donors, specifically when working on the Rubio campaign.

“The best part of working on an election campaign is rallying a group of like-minded people to take

positions and to help a candidate formulate a position on issues that you believe are critically important to the future of your country,” Glick said.

Editor’s Note: Bonnie Glick is the mother of Jonathan Foldi, a member of The Lion’s Tale staff. Due to her unique position as an one of Marco Rubio’s employees, The Lion’s Tale Editorial Board decided it was important to include her in this article. Jonathan Foldi was not involved in the writing of this article.

the lion’s tale

features

05

Before they were teachers A former jack-of-all-trades and a historical interpreter share their experiences prior to teaching emily cohen and rani zimand contributing editor and copy editor

photo by ilan cohen

Building the foundation The first thing English teacher Avery Downing wanted to be when he grew up was a Native American.

After receiving the disappointing news from his parents that he could not do that, he went on to work in a variety of professions before beginning teaching at CESJDS in 2013.

Downing got his first job in high school as a caterer for b’nai mitzvah celebrations. Although he did not enjoy being a caterer, Downing thought it was a valuable experience that taught him how to work with other people.

While getting his master’s degree at the University of Maryland in Secondary English Education, Downing worked for three years at a record shop near his campus. The interview process for working at the record store was listing the last five songs he had listened to and talking about why he liked them.

“It was that nice mix of being really pretentious about musical taste but being open to learning new things,” Downing said. “That really attracted me to it.”

Working in a record store was

something Downing had always wanted to do. Having a passion for music, he felt it was a great job for him.

“Just being obsessed with music and goofing around, alphabetizing albums, it sounds really boring but it was awesome,” Downing said.

“I had a great time.”

Downing also worked part time in carpentry and landscaping.

Downing got the job in his senior year of high school after his friend bought a house that needed renovating and the project took five years to complete. While it was not something he previously had a desire to do, the job taught Downing skills he hopes to use later in life when building his own house, as well as how to be more self-reliant. Downing also found seeing the finished product of his hard work to be meaningful, a feeling that he thinks is relevant to teaching.

“It’s not quite as literal in seeing what you’re shaping in front of you, like landscaping and carpentry, but it’s having some impact in the chain of events that leads to someone being who they are,” Downing said. “I find that really, really fulfilling, and I definitely want to stick with it.”

photo by samantha haas

Bringing history to life While today he comes to work in a button-up shirt and slacks, there was a time when history teacher Carl Atwood would dress as a 17th century cargo ship sailor for work.

After graduating from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a double major in history and economics, Atwood knew that he wanted a job that involved history because he considers it to be the most

“fascinating” subject. He was also interested in learning about how people interact with one another, which he was able to do at a job in Historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland’s colonial capital.

Atwood worked at a living history museum, where historical events were reenacted to give visitors the sense of going back in time.

At the museum, Atwood was a historical interpreter on the museum’s reconstructed 17th century cargo ship.

For Atwood, the position was a perfect combination of his passion for history and the unique opportunity to learn to sail a square rig ship, something he had always wanted to do.

On the ship, Atwood dressed as a cargo ship sailor. He was responsible for the development and implementation of educational programming, training and evaluating the seasonal staff, assisting in the maintenance of the ship and for guiding tours for museum visitors.

Of the approximately 50,000 visitors that came to the museum each year, about half were students on school trips. Over time, Atwood realized that his favorite part of his job was “getting people more excited about history.” Atwood especial-

ly enjoyed teaching the high school students who visited the museum, and after 2 ½ years at the museum, he decided to become a teacher to further pursue his passion.

In the classroom, Atwood applies similar methods of teaching to the ones he practiced at the museum.

While he is unable to bring many artifacts into his class, he uses many photographs of artifacts in his lessons “to help make history more real to people.”

“A reconstructed ship is the most exciting way about getting people excited about the history of shipping,” Atwood said. “There’s no tool better for teaching someone about history than the artifact itself.”

To listen to Downing and Atwood’s complete interviews, check out the features tab on lionstale.org

the lion’s tale

06 features

Causes and consequences of misbehavior on Israel trip tallia horowitz and miriam minsk editors-in-chief With their diplomas in hand, seniors may feel that a heavy weight has been lifted off of their shoulders. There are no classes to attend, homework assignments to complete or school rules to follow. But with this new freedom comes new responsibilities. In recent years, some CESJDS students have abused this freedom on their senior class trip in Israel.

The Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI) program houses JDS’ most recent alumni in Hod HaSharon on their three-month trip to Israel each spring. Because AMHSI organizes the trip and has legal responsibility for all participants during their time in Israel and Europe, the participants cannot completely act on their own terms and must follow AMHSI’s policies.

Prior to attending the program, participants’ parents are required to sign a contract stating that participants will adhere to the rules of the program and the AMHSI Code of Conduct,. The Code states that

“students are expected to behave, at all times, in a manner appropriate to their status as students at the AMHSI and guests of Israel. They are expected to abide by all policies of AMHSI as may be outlined in this and/or other documents or as necessarily established by AMHSI’s school administration.”

Coordinator of the Senior Capstone Trips and English teacher Nancy Wassner reminds students of the consequences of breaking the rules prior to their departure.

“I certainly warn participants about it every single year,” Wassner said. “What I say is ‘[your parents] are going to sign an agreement that says you’re going to stick to the rules. If you don’t stick to the rules, I can’t help you. There’s nothing I can do for you.’”

In the past, there have been several incidents in which JDS alumni have been sent home from the Israel trip. A participant was once sent home for mooning, and in 2006 there was a drug incident in which three participants were arrested and six others were expelled from AMHSI. This year, three members of the Class of 2016 were sent

home for drinking alcohol on AMHSI’s campus.

Dean of Students and Interim High School Principal Roz Landy sees the misbehavior on the Israel trip as an example of risky behavior that is common among adolescents who believe that they are invincible.

Wassner agrees, and points out two other reasons she believes JDS’ most recent alumni felt entitled to drink on their senior trip. Firstly, JDS is the only school whose participants in AMHSI’s program are official graduates of their high school, allowing them to “feel a little more free and a little more college-like.” Secondly, many JDS students are 18 years old on their trip, which is Israel’s legal drinking age.

Knowing that students do misbehave, AMHSI has specific procedures in place to confront these issues. When students come back from free weekends, and any other time that AMHSI deems it necessary, counselors use Breathalyzers to make sure that there is no alcohol in any participant’s system.

In addition to consequences for drinking, AMHSI punishes students for sexual activity, drug use, bully-

ing, cyberbullying and other illicit behavior. According to the Code of Conduct, consequences range from “social prohibition,” where parents get a notification about their student’s misbehavior and students may get temporarily grounded by their counselors, to expulsion from the program.

Alumna Elianna Bernstein (‘16) attended the Israel trip with her grade this year, and believes that even with AMHSI’s punishment, participants disobeying the rules of the Israel trip is inevitable. Bernstein recognizes that as teenagers, she and her classmates are bound to make mistakes.

“I don’t think that the kids are bad or anything because they got sent home or the circumstances of what they did,” Bernstein said.

“People just make mistakes. No one is perfect; people just happen to make mistakes.”

Bernstein does not believe that there is a way to resolve the misbehavior on the trip, and therefore thinks that instituting additional rules would be ineffective. She believes that the Israel trip is an opportunity for participants to come into

their own, and that stricter rules would take away from this experience.

“We’re all 18 now, we are all going to college, and I would feel like they are just babying us,” Bernstein said.

According to Bernstein, the dismissal of three participants from the trip served as a “wake-up call” for her grade and made participants more wary of their actions. Participants understood that they would not want to do anything to jeopardize their experience in Israel.

Wassner believes that the participants’ actions also affect current JDS students.

“I can say that having worked in other Israel programs, these things go in cycles,” Wassner said.

“Every few years, participants will break the rules and will get sent home, and then for a few years later everyone remembers ‘Oh that happened,’ and it’s a deterrent. And then eventually a few years later people forget, and do it again, and then it becomes a deterrent for the next several years.”

BBY-Go? Council president sits out Israel trip maya cohen-shields guest writer It was 7 p.m. on a Monday night, and instead of traveling around Israel with his classmates, alumnus Harris Block (‘16) was leading a meeting of BBYO D.C. Council members.

When the Class of 2016 left for their journey to Israel over three months ago, Harris did not join them. Instead, he made the decision to stay home in order to remain the president of D.C. Council BBYO, made up of over 2,000 teens. Harris has been a part of BBYO, a youth organization for Jewish teens, since eighth grade.

Staying behind was not a last-minute decision. Harris ran for president of D.C. Council last May, completely aware that if elected he would not be able to go to Israel with his class.

“It was a really tough decision,

but being the president of my [council] in BBYO was something that I had been working towards since the eighth grade and it was the first big goal I had ever set for myself,” Harris said. “So to see that come true was a really big victory for me.”

As council president, Harris was in charge of overseeing nine chapters in the D.C. Council. He checked in with each of the chapter’s presidents at least once a week to help out and ensure that everything was running smoothly. Along with those nine chapters, Harris worked with four other chapters in Northern Virginia and Baltimore providing help when needed. On May 18, when the new president and board were installed, Harris ended his role as the 2015-2016 council president.

When Harris was in the process of making his decision, the Israel trip was not the talk of the grade which made accepting his choice a

bit easier. As the Israel trip got closer and became a focus of excitement for his friends, however, not sharing that same excitement became harder for Harris.

“I didn’t start to regret [my decision] at all but it definitely [got] harder,” Harris said. “Once my friends actually left, I was devastated.”

It is not uncommon for students to stay home from the Israel trip. According to Coordinator of the Senior Capstone Trip Nancy Wassner, most of the students who stay home choose to take a gap year in Israel the following year. There are also students who decide to take advantage of internship or job opportunities. Wassner described Harris’ choice as somewhere between a gap year and an internship opportunity.

“I know that it was a really difficult decision for him to make, but I think that he made a really informed decision,” Wassner said. “Especially if the reason he is staying home

is because he is serving his Jewish community, then how can I argue with that?”

Over the past four years in BBYO, the members of Harris’ chapter have seen him grow from having many leadership roles within the chapter to later leading the D.C. Council. Even new members like freshman Jake Block (no relation), who joined a year ago, have been able to see how much Harris enjoys being council president.

“It just makes me think that BBYO clearly is a big thing [to Harris] and is more important than hanging out with your school friends and going to Israel,” Jake said.

Harris’ older brother made the same decision to stay home from the Israel trip in order to be a part of BBYO. After seeing his brother go through the same process, Harris’ family was able to understand and help him with his decision.

“He was obviously disappoint-

ed because he likes his grade but he was excited to have this position,” his sister, sophomore Becca Block, said.

BBYO is not the only interest Harris has had over the last few months. He has a job at Vineyard Vines in Westfield Montgomery Mall where he works about 30 hours a week. Harris has also set a goal to read more books for fun in his free time instead of watching TV. Harris stayed in touch with his friends in Israel with daily FaceTime calls during which he kept them up to date on his life, as well as hearing all about their adventures in Israel. Although it was difficult not having his school friends around, Harris does not regret his decision to complete this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“There aren’t many teenagers out there that can say that they were in charge of over 2,000 teens in their area,” Harris said.

the lion’s tale

features

07

Growing to new heights Sixth-graders move to Upper School campus fall of 2016 aliza rabinovitz reporter Next year, an additional 61 students will arrive at the Upper School, struggling to open their lockers and find their new classes.

At the start of the 2016-2017 school year, sixth-graders will be joining the Upper School community.

The addition of the sixth grade to the Upper School is made possible by a Headway Enrichment Grant from the Legacy Heritage Foundation that CESJDS received to redesign the middle school program and to reconfigure the Upper School campus to accommodate another grade.

Fifth-grader Remy Eidelman said that his teachers are constantly reminding him of the higher expectations that come with being a middle school student. He will not be arriving unprepared. Middle School Principal Rebecca Weisman said that the Lower School teachers have been working with the fifth and sixth-graders to help them learn independently, better organize their schedules and use technology more effectively in the classroom.

While the current fifth-graders will have to adjust to being the youngest in the Upper School, Eidelman believes that his grade will ultimately benefit from moving up earlier.

“Being in the Upper School is generally different and you probably feel more mature there, not being there with the kindergartners and [instead] being with the older kids,” Eidelman said.

“It’s going to be something new but I’m guessing it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Talia Sporkin, fifth grade

According to Eidelman, being around upperclassmen can be nerve-wracking, but the plans for next year’s separate high school and middle school spaces are designed to help alleviate that concern. The middle-schoolers’ classroom-based courses will mainly be in the 100s classrooms, apart from the high school students. Despite this physical separation, middle-schoolers will still have opportunities to interact with high-schoolers, like in Zman Koshesh, and will continue to attend classes in the gym, arts classrooms and science labs.

Seventh-grader Daphne Kaplan said that middle school students often “look up to the high-schoolers as guides,” and she hopes that the middle-schoolers can continue to do so even with the separation.

Kaplan found adjusting to the Upper School difficult because of the transition from a consistent and easy-to-follow group schedule to a more complex and individual one.

To make adapting to an individualized schedule easier, Weisman said the new middle school schedule will be “very predictable.” With the exception of electives, which will be different depending on the day but in the same overall timeslot, middle school students will have the same classes in the same order each day. According to Weisman, the changes will allow the middle school to develop an identity separate from the high school.

“It’s time for the middle school to feel like its own entity,” Weisman said. “Our students get a really great education [now], and we’re re-

ally making it pretty extraordinary.

I’m just pretty excited to be a part of it. It’s a great time to be a middle-schooler at JDS.” Sixth-grader Julia Peppe also believes that the increased distinction between middle and high school will help middle school students.

“Instead of saying, ‘Oh we’re just in the Upper School,’ now we’re in the middle level, so it’s going to ease [the transition,] and then it will eventually get harder,” Peppe said.

Although Peppe is nervous to be in the Upper School next year, she said that next year will be “full of new chances” and she looks forward to the new privileges offered in the Upper School, like the ability to choose one’s electives.

“I’m excited about the responsibilities, but I’m also a little nervous that if I forget something, then it’s all my responsibility and I’m in charge of myself,” Peppe said.

While there are many benefits to the sixth grade being in the Upper School, moving two grades to the building in one year also has its downsides. Eidelman said that his grade is missing out on being the oldest in the Lower School, which includes having privileges like being able to lead some school activities and feeling like role models to the younger students.

Peppe, however, said that the school is currently splitting a lot of the opportunities the sixth-graders normally get with the current fifth-graders. For example, this year both grades patrolled for half of a year, a respon-

“It’s all still on the same campus, but I think it’s better because maybe the new kids won’t get so scared of the twelfth graders who are super tall when they’re super short.” Remy Eidelman, fifth grade

sibility traditionally reserved for sixth-graders.

Another change for next year is that in order to accommodate two grades’ orientations in the same day, both orientations will be shorter and the beginning of the school year will be more of a transition period than in the past.

“We’ll be spending those first few weeks of school going over certain topics, certain skills or just how to do certain tasks, because it’s a lot to take in at once,” Weisman said.

Although Eidelman recognizes that it will be something to get accustomed to, he is happy to move to the Upper School next year.

“It’s kind of cool knowing that the school trusts our grade to move up to be the first [sixth grade in the Upper School],” Eidelman said.

08 in-depth

the lion’s tale

Developing a n talia denicoff and ari feuer contributing editors

Staring at his computer screen on March 28, junior Yona Levitt could not yet fathom the widespread impact that his Facebook post would have on the community around him. Levitt’s post outlined his struggle with depression, an experience that, while not typically discussed publicly, is very common in America.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 43.8 million Americans suffer from a mental health disorder. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 2.8 million Americans aged 12 to 17 have had at least “one major depressive episode” in their lives.

Recently in the CESJDS community, several students have opened up about their personal experiences with mental illness. One such student is Levitt.

In his Facebook post, Levitt revealed that earlier this school year he had been overcome with suicidal thoughts and spent time in a mental rehabilitation hospital. Levitt credits relationships with his therapist and family with helping him face his depression and starting him on the road to recovery.

Educational Support Services

Department Chair Susan Zuckerman said that it is important for students to feel comfortable sharing their stories. She added that relationships between peers can be just as meaningful as those between family members. She said that students’ relationships with one another can help lead to necessary conversations about the problems they are facing and help them be proactive about their mental health.

Zuckerman specifically cited psychiatrist Edward Hallowell, who believes that happiness is not the result of one’s academic achievement, but rather the “circles” of support and relationships they form with family, friends and coworkers.

For Zuckerman, both the student-student relationships and the student-faculty relationships at JDS contribute to these circles. The goal at JDS is for these relationships to develop into ones where teachers can sense if there is something troubling a student and know to consult that student’s counselor. That talk sets off a collaborative effort among counselors, teachers, students and parents.

High school guidance counselor Rachel Soifer is on the front line when it comes to combating mental health issues. Soifer said that if there is enough concern, she will talk to students and their parents to figure out a next step, which could include referral to a psychologist or a psychiatrist.

Soifer said that having people

graphic by beyla bass

Junior reflects on personal battle with depre yona levitt guest columnist This past fall, I battled major depression and suicidal thoughts.

For the first six weeks of my depression, I had not told anybody about my troubles, only making the depression worse and more dangerous. It is unclear to me as to why I thought this, but I was positive that I would die on Oct. 28, 2015. On the week leading up to the 28th, my de-

pressive feelings intensified to such an extreme level that I desperately wanted to die. I did not care if it would be via suicide or via natural causes, but I hoped and I knew that I would end up dead that week.

On Oct. 29, after surviving the day in which I thought I would die, I realized that there was something seriously wrong with what was happening to me and that I needed to fix it. I told my therapist that I had been battling depression

alone and had been contemplating suicide for six weeks, and it was the single greatest decision that I have ever made because it saved my life. If I had stayed quiet about my depressive feelings, I would have ended up dead within the next week because I would have let the depression take over my mind and body.

During that therapy session, I made the conscious decision to go to a mental rehabilitation hospital

in Virginia as an inpatient. In my six days there, separated from the outside world, I made leaps and bounds in my recovery. Aside from the first morning that I spent in the hospital, I did not feel suicidal or depressed for that entire week. This was happiest and safest that I had felt in what seemed like forever.

When I was discharged from the hospital, my psychologist there told me that I needed to do one activity that I loved every day for

the lion’s tale

in-depth

09

new frame of mind on mental health to talk to is one of the best ways to avert a mental health crisis.

“The most important thing in any community is that individuals feel that they can reach out for themselves or a friend to seek out support, and that a person who is going through difficulties does not feel alone without help,” Soifer said.

Soifer added that one way to help the community is by raising awareness about mental health issues, like the Presha Zman Kodesh has recently been doing. Members of the Zman Kodesh put up flyers around the school and spoke at the Kabbalat Shabbat on May 13 in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month.

According to Soifer, JDS sufficiently educates students about mental health through the curriculum of the required Human Development class. Physical Education teacher Brian Westerman explained that some of the material in the course “talks about the stigma” that people usually think of when they approach mental health issues.

Despite the class’ unit on mental health, alumna Sivan Shilo (‘16) believes that JDS needs to improve its mental health education by expanding the reach of the Human Development curriculum.

“They focus so much on drugs, alcohol and sex, but only talk about mental health for maybe a day,” Shilo said.

Shilo first got involved with mental health awareness when she

joined the organization Umttr after one of her friend’s parents took his own life. She went to a fundraising walk for suicide prevention and there met Sue Rosenstock, the co-founder of Umttr who inspired Shilo to further pursue advocacy work. Umttr is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing youth depression, bullying and suicide.

While Shilo recognizes that many students shy away from discussing mental health, she encourages them to get involved in raising awareness on the sensitive issue.

“I 100 percent think there needs to be more awareness for mental health,” Shilo said. “People are still scared to talk about mental health and suicide when it’s such a big issue.”

While many like Shilo believe that being involved in suicide prevention and advocacy for others is essential, watching over one’s own mental health is also important. According to neuropsychologist William Stixrud, two major causes of depression are sustained long-term stress and lack of sleep. Stixrud explained that issues like an excess workload, personal problems at home and sleep deprivation can all cause a release of harmful chemicals in the brain. This reaction can cause the brain to have a “bias” towards negative thoughts.

Sophomore Jonah Loshin has firsthand experience with anxiety disorders escalating into depression. Loshin, who has been diag-

nosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, came to JDS at the start of the 2015-16 school year mainly for JDS’ educational support services.

“Earlier this year, I suffered with depression which made my grades a lot worse,” Loshin said.

“Since then, I have been recovering slowly. It is due in large part to my parents, the school guidance and the Structured Study Hall teachers.”

Loshin believes that raising awareness for mental health issues is a strong method of combating the

“

It is really difficult to help people with mental health issues because nobody else except that person really understands what they are going through and how they think.”

• sophomore Jonah loshin stigma that surrounds them.

“Depression is belittled not on purpose, but society as a whole doesn’t treat mental disorders as diseases which they really are,” Loshin said. “A good way to bring awareness is to have people who are willing to talk about their difficulties with mental health explain them.

Having a real person who has gone through or is struggling with a real problem talk is better than just reading about it. It makes it a lot more

ession and recovery process at least 15 minutes. This may not seem like a big deal, but it actually played a major role in my recovery process. When I felt depressed, not even my favorite activities were enjoyable for me. By forcing myself to do the things that I loved, I fought depression and grew happier over time. The activity that I chose to do every day was music, and I have stuck with it since Nov. 3, 2015. In addition to speeding up my recovery process, by playing music

every day, whether it be by listening to music, singing, beatboxing or arranging songs, I have gained a deeper appreciation for music than I have ever had. One of the ways that I became further invested in music was by forming a band, Rhymes With Toast, with four other CESJDS students. Our first performance as a band was at Kabbalat Shabbat, where we played “New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel.

Performing in front of the entire

personal and a lot more real.”

According to Stixrud, this lack of awareness is also compounded by how uncomfortable people feel talking about mental health.

“Many of us grow up thinking that if we have a real problem with anxiety or if we aren’t happy, then it’s a flaw in our character,” Stixrud said. “Many people feel ashamed that they’re weak.”

The way to solve this problem, Stixrud said, is to acknowledge the prevalence of mental health issues.

As more people recognize that they

school was a special experience for me since it was my first time performing a solo. If I had not listened to the psychologist and did not engage with music every day, it would have taken me much longer to get to the safe place where I am today.

have a fairly common disorder, they will be more likely to seek help and be open about the illness. Stixrud also said that it is important to understand that mental health issues are often caused by physical problems, like genetics and chemical imbalances in the brain. Once people gain a better understanding of the true nature of mental illness, Stixrud believes that the stigma will dissolve.

Though Loshin does believe

that awareness of mental health issues could help society as a whole to better combat mental illness and the uncertainty around it, he thinks that assisting someone one-on-one is difficult because only a person who is struggling can understand his or her own feelings.

“It is really difficult to help people with mental health issues because nobody else except that person really understands what they are going through and how they think,” Loshin said.

While Levitt also recognizes that it is hard to understand exactly what someone with a mental health issue may be thinking, he still believes that sharing his story has helped others deal with mental health issues. Levitt offered support to anyone who needs it in his Facebook post describing his battle with depression, and people have already reached out.

“There’s also a lot of people, though not as many [as the 119 who shared the post], who told me that they’re going through something similar or that my post inspired them to reach out for help,” Levitt said. “That’s what touched me the most, that I actually inspired people to reach out for help when that was the main goal with my message.”

If you or somebody you know is struggling with mental health problems, The Lion’s Tale encourages you to call one of the following numbers: Montgomery County Crisis Center: 240-777-4000 Maryland Crisis Hotline: 1-800-422-0009 Arlington, Va. Crisislink (serving D.C.-metro area): 703-527-4077 Umttr: Text “SIGNS” to 741-741

the lion’s tale

10 sports For the school’s 50th anniversary, ten former students, coaches and administrators will be inducted into the new CESJDS Sports Hall of Fame.

One lifts. Another fences. They are ...

Lions out of the den 6. Mike Papa. Coach, Athletic Director.

1. Rachel Brandenburg. Cross Country, Track. Class of ‘01.

7. Jon Landy. Basketball. Class of ‘89.

2. Gabriel Dymond. Basketball.

Class of ‘02.

8. Jess Frisch. Basketball, Hockey (post-JDS), Soccer.

Class of ‘84.

3. Phil Papier. Coach.

9. Sam Perlin. Basketball, Soccer. Class of ‘83.

4. Aviva Jacobs. Basketball, Soccer. Class of ‘99.

10. Marshall Einhorn. Baseball, Basketball, Soccer. Class of ‘93.

5. Johanna Paretzky.

Basketball, Soccer, Track. Class of ‘99.

photos courtesy of jeffrey dimon

sara sporkin reporter CESJDS’ first sports team, the basketball team, was established in 1974. Since then, the school has had an active and ever-expanding athletics program, and now offers sports like swimming and golf.

Some students, however, take part in sports not offered by the school.

Physical Education teacher Brian Westerman said that although he thinks that JDS has a substantial athletics program, he knows that there are students who would like to participate in sports that JDS does not offer. Westerman has heard of students participating in many sports outside of school, such as horseback riding, rock climbing, gymnastics and ice skating.

Seventh-grader Talia Lloyd is one such student who participates in a sport not offered by the school: weightlifting.

Lloyd began weightlifting four years ago when her father enrolled her in a CrossFit Kids class. Lloyd excelled at Olympic weightlifting, an exercise that consists of two separate forms of weightlifting. The first is the snatch, a technique in which weightlifters lift a barbell in one continuous motion. The second is the clean and jerk, a technique in which lifters first raise the barbell to their chest before extending their arms and lifting it above their head.

Lloyd’s coach noticed that she was good at these lifts and suggested that they attend a meet at which Lloyd and her father would lift together.

“I had a lot of fun at the competition and I was like, ‘I think I want to do this’ and it kind of took off from there,” Lloyd said.

While competing, Lloyd said that she “felt a rush of energy” and realized that this was something

she wanted to continue doing.

Last year, Lloyd decided to switch coaches. After unsuccessfully trying to find a local coach, Lloyd’s father expanded the search internationally, and Lloyd eventually found new coaches in Russia.

With her new coaches, Lloyd now practices five times a week. On two days out of the five, Lloyd video calls with her coaches, and on the other days she does solo workouts in a gym in her basement.

Lloyd participated in the USA Weightlifting 2015 National Youth Championships, where she won a silver medal. Lloyd has also participated in competitions in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She is competing in this year’s National Youth Championships in Texas, and hopes to continue with her weightlifting competitions and someday compete in the Olympics. “[The Olympics are] a dream,” Lloyd said. “It’s not so much a goal right now because my goal is Nationals, but when I’m older I want to get to the Olympics.”

In order to achieve this dream, Lloyd has to balance schoolwork with her workout schedule. Lloyd plans ahead to make sure that she has time to complete all of her assignments, and also currently takes two semesters of study hall.

Like Lloyd, junior Elizabeth Warrick participates in a sport that JDS does not offer. Warrick has been fencing since the summer before fourth grade when she attended the Creative Summer at Holton-Arms School.

Warrick saw that the camp was offering fencing for the first time and decided that she wanted to try it out since it seemed like a unique approach to exercise. Fencing provides her with both mental exercise along with a physical workout.

“It’s called human chess for a

reason. Because it is, in some ways, really like chess, and that’s part of what I enjoy about it,” Warrick said.

“It’s not just involving your body, it’s also involving your mind, which is what keeps me interested in it.”

Although she did not continue fencing immediately after completing her summer camp, Warrick has been fencing locally at the Rockville Fencing Academy for the past seven years.

“I had maybe a year or so where I didn’t do fencing outside of camp because it was hard to find a place or a time that would work, but then I finally did and I continued because it was something that I really enjoyed, that I felt better doing,” Warrick said.

While Lloyd participates competitively in her out-of-school sport, Warrick does not. Because of this, Warrick has never had to miss school in order to participate in her sport, but she has had to make decisions regarding her participation in JDS extracurriculars. For example, she chose to be in the school musical over going to fencing.

Similar to Lloyd’s aspirations of continuing to compete in weightlifting events, Warrick hopes that in the future she will be able to fence competitively. Although Warrick has recently been unable to go to her group fencing lessons because she needs to prepare for the ACT, she hopes to go back to fencing after her testing is complete.

“I hope to one day compete because right now I just do it recreationally, but I have some of the material [for competing],” Warrick said. “I have an electric foil, I have the lamé [a piece of fencing gear]. I haven’t yet had the chance to, so I really hope to fence competitively once in my life.”

the lion’s tale

sports

11

POSTPONED, MAKEUP TBD 15 straight days of rain in D.C. area creates unique challenge for sports teams ben savarick reporter Five: the number of games the CESJDS varsity baseball team had to postpone or cancel during the 2016 season due to inclement weather.

They are not alone in facing this issue; every outdoor spring sports team at JDS was affected negatively in some way by the weather.

The difficulties for the varsity baseball team manifested themselves at the tail end of the season.

The team did not play a game and only had three practices from the end of Spring Break on May until the playoffs began on May 12, and even had a playoff game canceled, twice.

Despite the missed games, coaches did their best to maximize the amount of time their teams were able to play. Math teacher and middle school softball coach Andrew Goldman planned for the worst in advance.

“I front-load my practices [at the beginning of the week] so that way if one of them gets canceled for rain, we can still have three practices,” Goldman said.

This strategy allowed Goldman, with the help of Athletic Director Mike Riley, to reschedule any missed games and practices while keeping under the middle school maximum of three sports events a week.

Games are usually canceled due to inclement weather, but sometimes they are canceled for other reasons, such as coaches not being able to attend. If this happens, Riley alerts the opposition and the rest of the PVAC. “I talk to other athletic directors, and let [them] know what the problem is or they’ll let me know what the problem is,” Riley said.

“Sometimes games are canceled because students have other commitments that came up and kids aren’t at school. It could be a number of

Teeing off: rina torchinsky contributing editor Every day, freshman Cameron Diamond steps onto the putting green. He grips his club, winds up, swings and finishes with a follow-through. The white ball flies through the air.

Diamond began playing golf five years ago and has been on the CESJDS varsity golf team since seventh grade.

At their weekly PVAC matches, JDS players are chosen to play against a player from another

school. The team that wins the most holes wins the match. In addition to match play, PVAC also offers a different form of golf: stroke play tournaments. In stroke play, the school with the fewest total swings is declared the winner.

This season, the JDS team finished with a 3-1 record.

Diamond began playing because his friends golfed, and he ended up finding comfort in the sport.

“Unlike other sports, [golf] is kind of relaxing,” Diamond said.

“There’s a community involved in golf, I’ve made a lot of friends

reasons.”

Cancellations are not the only wrench in scheduling. This year in particular, all of JDS’ spring sports teams went through a scheduling predicament due to JDS’ late Spring Break. Aside from Berman Hebrew Academy, the other schools in the

win total potentially cost the team a better seed in the playoffs. The team’s season culminated in a 5-3 loss in the team’s semifinal playoff game against the Sandy Spring Friends School.

“It kind of sets you back a little bit because everyone else is getting

“

We got to have a few practices here and there but it’s definitely not as much as we would have liked.”

• freshman max rogal

PVAC had an earlier break than JDS because none of them schedule Spring Break around Passover, resulting in JDS losing almost two weeks of possible game time.

The varsity baseball team played a total of only seven games, which led to it finishing fourth in the league standings, despite a record of five wins and two losses. This lower

in a rhythm and is getting in more games so it can help them in the standings,” sophomore and varsity baseball player Matthew Landy said.

Another member of the varsity baseball team, freshman Max Rogal, said that a reason for the team’s playoff loss could have been their lack of games toward the end of the

season. They also did not have many practices and felt the consequences on the field.

“We got to have a few practices here and there, but it’s definitely not as much as we would have liked,” Rogal said.

The number of cancellations this past season forced Riley to put in substantial work to make sure that the cancellations caused minimal damage to the teams they affected. Rogal believes that the school handled the scheduling conundrum as well as they could, and did not blame the scheduling for his team’s eventual defeat.

“A few things here and there could have been improved which ultimately might have changed the event, but I think in overall what happened is what was going to happen even with practice,” Rogal said.

Sense of community drives golf team’s season through golf.”

Like Diamond, junior and team captain Alex Missner also recognizes a collective energy and sense of community on the team. Missner has been playing golf since seventh grade and has been on the team since freshman year.

“I joined [the golf team] in ninth grade because I played golf and I wanted to do a school sport,” Missner said. “I wanted to see golf in a competitive manner.”

According to varsity golf coach Brent Davis, in comparison to the other teams that he has coached, the

JDS golf team has a unique dynamic.

Diamond also pointed out that the players are family friends.

Even though the team only brings five players to each match, they carried an extra player this season. Davis thought that it would be interesting to see “how they interact with each other” on a bigger team.

Diamond echoed Davis’ opinion about the warm spirit of the team. When Diamond scored the team’s best score of the season, he noted that his friends on the team were there to support him.

In addition to Diamond’s

achievement, Davis has seen a lot of improvement in the team’s performance even though the team finished the season in fourth place out of five teams.

Next year, the team will be losing three juniors, leaving only three returning players. Missner thinks that even if there are no new players, there will still be a team.

“It’s a fun sport to play for school,” Missner said. “It’s not crazy competitive, [and] you don’t need to be that good. If you just want to learn the sport, you can come out.”

the lion’s tale

12 opinion the

lion’s tale editors editors-in-chief

talia horowitz, miriam minsk managing editor, copy

jonathan foldi design editor

ariella kulp copy editor

rani zimand opinion editor

Facing

the stigma together through social media

gabe krantz news editors

talia denicoff, isaac silber features editors

izzy friedland, aaron schonfeld & rina torchinsky style editors

emily cohen, joey shoyer in-depth editors

dahlia lehman, arielle weinstein sports editors

bennett bramson, ari feuer & joel vardon photo editor

noy dahan social media, video editor

noah green editorial cartoonists

beyla bass, ben shrock photographers

ilan cohen, caroline weinstein cover photo by ariella kulp

reporters josh abramowitz, addie bard, ilan cohen, amelia davidson, devira friedman, shira godin, danny ingber, jessie lehman, aliza rabinovitz, aaron robinson, ben savarick, kate sosland, sara sporkin

staff adviser jessica nassau

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 public 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.

Some material courtesy of American Society of News Editors/ TNS Campus School Newspaper Service. All other contents copyright of The Lion’s Tale. All rights reserved.

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.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so we might expect to find our various social media feeds filled with information and posts on mental health. Unfortunately, a quick scroll through Twitter or Facebook will show just the opposite: an uncanny silence regarding mental health and the seriousness of the issue.

Despite all of the issues we constantly discuss and debate on social media, mental health manages to avoid the attention it desperately needs. Social media serves many purposes and is used in many different ways, which is why the lack of coverage on mental health is so shocking.

There are many mental disorders and illnesses that have the potential to make functioning on a day-to-day basis nearly impossible for those who have severe cases.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), roughly ten million Americans have a serious mental illness, and of those ten million, 50 percent have had a chronic mental illness by age 14.

A major problem that these people face is the stigma that surrounds mental illness. NAMI explains that the stigma leads to fear, mistrust, violence and discrimination against those with mental illness.

The stigma not only prevents us from taking positive steps forward, but actually sets those with mental illness backwards.

According to NAMI, nearly two thirds of those with mental illness do not seek treatment due to “lack of knowledge, fear of disclosure, rejection of friends, and discrimination.” This statistic is particularly alarming because of the high number of people who do not get treated, which includes young people. NAMI reported that nearly one in every five kids aged 13-18 live with a mental health illness, while nearly 17 percent of students seriously considered attempting suicide in the past 12 months.

The probability that close to one-fifth of our community has had suicidal thoughts is why we need to

work to eliminate the stigma.

It is particularly crucial that we, as students, work to better understand mental illness and the effects it has. NAMI cites awareness through advocacy and education as the best way to eradicate the stigma. If we decide to turn a blind eye towards mental illness, the staggering number of teens who experience mental illness and commit suicide will only worsen.

One person who did not turn a blind eye towards mental illness was junior Yona Levitt, who posted on Facebook about his battle with depression.

In an age where social media does not realistically depict people’s lives, Levitt’s post was unique.

According to a Huffington post column written by CEO of RKG Marketing Solutions Kay Green, “the social media effect creates a false sense of self and self-esteem through the use of likes, fans, comments, posts, etc.

For many social media users, it is an esteem booster, which explains why so many people spend so much time on social media. It provides many individuals with a false sense of self and an inflated sense of who they really are.”

What Levitt did defied this standard and went against the “norms of social media.” This makes the positive feedback and responses that he got for his post that much more surprising.

Levitt said that there was so much positive feedback and people even reached out to him due to similar experiences.

“My post has been reshared

Stop feeling sorry for yourself and just walk already

You just need to have a different mindset.

cartoon by ben shrock

cartoon by ben shrock

around 119 times, more than I thought I’d ever get,” Levitt said.

“That’s really what I wanted to happen for that post: that I can spread my story with more people because even within the first ten minutes, so many people reached out to me saying that they had gone through something similar and that they know how tough it is. They’re thankful that I did spread my story because there are stories that are similar about mental health and I think that they’re thankful that I did it.”

According to the Center for Mental Health Studies, it is important to “talk about how mental illness touches us all in some way directly or through a friend, family member or colleague. Stories of lived experience are the best way to help eradicate stigma.”

While not everyone has the same story as Levitt, the idea of posting about mental health on social media to create awareness should not seem foreign. Not only did Levitt’s post reach the feeds of thousands of people, but it impacted the lives of a number of people who read the post and relate to it.

For those of us have who have not gone through similar experiences as Levitt, we need to be open to those who have by sharing their experiences and feelings. It is an important part of the process of educating ourselves and achieving a better understanding of what mental health really is.

In the case of mental illness, social media needs to be better recognized as a platform to share feelings and create awareness.

While there is no problem with having a discussion in person about this issue, social media is very accessible and reaches a large amount of people.

In a world where over 2.3 billion people use social media, we need to use it as a driving force to raise awareness. Without increased awareness, the stigma towards mental health will not disappear.

Without sensible discussions, the level of awareness needed to spark a real change will not be achieved.

-The Lion’s Tale

the lion’s tale

opinion

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The problem with Maryland’s new drunk driving law

gabe krantz opinion editor It is no secret that many people drive after consuming alcohol, but the new Alex and Calvin’s law does not help solve this major problem.

Especially given the grave circumstances in which it was inspired, it fails to address a main cause of teen drunk driving: the adults who supply the alcohol.

Drunk driving is an especially prevalent problem among high-schoolers. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 1,052 teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 died due to drunk driving in 2014.

Teenagers often make the decision to be passengers in a car driven by someone who is intoxicated. This was the case with Alex Murk and Calvin Li, two seniors at

Thomas Wootton High School in Rockville who were killed in a car crash on June 25, 2015 after leaving a party.

In this case, as in many others, teenagers were not the only responsible parties for the crash: the adult who provided the party’s alcohol was as well. We expect the adults, more than the teens themselves, to be the responsible ones and make decisions that will uphold the safety of not only the teens, but also those who the drunk drivers could potentially harm.

This was not the case with the Wootton crash. Police determined that Kenneth Saltzman, the 49-year-old father of the party host, let the underage teenagers drink at the house and did not prevent the attendees from driving despite that fact. He received the maximum penalty for the offense, which normally would be a positive thing except for the fact that the penalty for allowing underage teens to drink and then drive, resulting in the deaths of two and the devastation of countless others, was a $5,000 fine ($2,500 for each count).

This was essentially nothing more than a slap on the wrist for a wealthy Potomac lawyer, especially considering the consequences of his actions.

Luckily, I was not the only one to see how ludicrously lenient the

punishment was. The families of both Murk and Li called on lawmakers to toughen punishments for parents who knowingly allow for alcohol to be served at parties.

Subsequently, Montgomery County Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo proposed a law which raised the fine to $5,000 for the first offense and potentially up to a year in jail for adults who provide alcohol for underage individuals or knowingly let them drink. A second offence would carry a fine of up to $7,500 and up to two years in prison.

The promising law, which was called Alex and Calvin’s law, was not only a major improvement over the law currently in place, but would also be a huge improvement in terms of decreasing drunk driving and the number of teen deaths.

It was not even a groundbreaking proposal as 26 states already have prison terms for adults who host underage drinkers. According to Maryland lawmakers, states with strong laws against hosting underage drinking have seen significant drops in drunk driving deaths among teens.

Unfortunately, the version that passed in the State Senate was not the bill that was originally proposed. There were two major changes the State Senate made to the bill prior to being passed.

The first change stipulates that the adult can only be charged if they “knowingly” allow an underage individual to drive after drinking. The second change was the lowering of the fine from the proposed $5,000 to the original $2,500.

In my eyes, this bill was severely weakened by the changes that were made. I did not, and still do not, understand how this law is supposed to be properly enforced.

It will be extremely difficult to prove that the adult “knowingly” let the individual drive despite being intoxicated. This word offers so many loopholes and seemingly makes prosecuting individuals for their role in the crime almost impossible. The bill offers no explanation of the word or how to prove that and adult “knowingly” allowed drunk teens to drive.

It is this part of the bill that I cannot wrap my head around due to its vagueness which may or may not be intentional. There will not always be two teens who come forward and say the parent joked with them about alcohol. This thankfully happened to be the case with Saltzman, but expecting this on a consistent basis is unrealistic.

A tougher law, like the initial Alex and Calvin’s law, would curtail the epidemic of drunk driving.

The facts show that strict under-

age drinking laws, like Alex and Calvin’s law, lower drunk-driving deaths and injuries among teens.

Due to the power and ability they have, lawmakers need to take this issue more seriously. No significant change to the current, lenient laws means no change in the status quo of over 245,000 teens that are injured or die each year in drunk-driving crashes. This staggering number will only continue to increase if the status quo does not change. The weakening of the law sends a discouraging message not only to me, but to the families of Murk, Li and other victims of drunk driving.

We need a change and this is not it. A step in the right direction indicates a positive change, and the debilitated Alex and Calvin’s law shows just the opposite.

The weakening of the bill by the lawmakers shows me that we need to further educate those in our community about the dangers of drunk driving and the importance of having stricter laws. Even though it may take another tragic accident to create a significant change, we need to work hard to take responsibility for ourselves and others to make sure this does not happen.

Cutting out conformity through fashion

talia cohen guest columnist Walking through the halls of CESJDS are hundreds of individuals, and yet at first glimpse they all mix together. There is a sea of Lululemon leggings, maroon Brandy Melville T-shirts and white low-top Converse shoes. This does not inherently look like a problem,

but it becomes one when teens feel like the only way to fit in is to lose their individuality.

Clothing is seen as a way to express who we are. Every morning, we put on an outfit that physically represents us for the rest of the day.

Many teens, however, waste the opportunity to express individuality and instead choose to blend in.

Preppy, athletic, hipster or lazy students at JDS all are known for their particular style, and it can sometimes feel like these labels cannot be changed. High school is a time to find ourselves, yet we are unable to because we are too focused on fitting a mold. A student who wears a T-shirt and jeans every day can’t walk into school with a new outgoing dress from Urban Outfitters without being “attacked” with glances, and questioned on what the occasion is.

One of WebMd’s goals is to educate teens and parents about the effects peer pressure can have on our lives. Professor of psychology at Temple University Laurence Steinberg feels that in some ways peer pressure is inevitable.

“All of us want to please our friends, so we’re inclined to act in ways they approve,” Steinberg said in a WebMd feature. “It is hard to resist because we all like being accepted.”

Wanting to be accepted or to fit in is commonly seen in teenage behavior, and this feeling is what causes teens to want to conform to society. When teens feel that they can truly express themselves, however, the outcomes can be amazing.

One example of this is Tavi Gevinson, a teen fashion vlogger, who proves what not being afraid to express ourselves through our

clothing can do. Gevinson started her blog “Style Rookie” when she was only 12 years old, and although she had little support when she first started, she has since been recognized as one of “The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014” by Time magazine. She has used her success to move into pop culture where she is now a singer and actress on Broadway.

Unfortunately, it is not easy for everyone, especially teens, to follow Gevinson’s lead. As they begin high school, teens tend to contemplate the question “does individualism help or hurt us?” We want to be important and yet we are scared to stand out. When you blindly follow a crowd of people, however, you begin to adapt to their fashion, taste and opinions.

According to University of Madison-Wisconsin psychology pro-

fessor Richard Davidson, advisory is what allows us to find passion in the things we do.

“Individuality ... provides color to our everyday life and infuses our interpersonal relationships with meaning,” Davidson said.

I am a strong believer in the importance of acting as a leader, and to do this we must understand who we are as individuals. What you wear is important because it is the first step toward being your own person. If we graduate from high school without a strong individual identity, there is no way we will be successful.

If we aren’t confident about who we are, we will never be able to have the courage to stand up for our beliefs. Learning this lesson in high school will make us more successful as we enter the real world.

the lion’s tale

14 style

Rolling out new furniture jessie lehman reporter As CESJDS reaches its 50th year anniversary, the administration decided to roll out some new furniture for the 2016-2017 school year.

The Upper School has had the same furniture since the campus was created in 2000. Since then, the condition of the chairs and tables has deteriorated, and as the school had been planning to undergo other construction renovations, the administration thought it was a good time to get new furniture.

According to Chief Financial Officer Julie Hoover, not only is the upcoming school year a good time for changes because of other changes in schedule and structure, but the school also has a bigger capital budget to update the furniture. A capital budget is a certain amount of money the school sets aside for renovations in the facility itself to use wherever needed.

There were five test items brought into the school the week of April 11 for the teachers to try out.

The entire faculty received an email telling them to select which desks and chairs they liked best for middle-school classrooms, high-school classrooms or both.

According to Hoover, the type of environment that would work best for a high-school class, is not necessarily the type of environment that works best in a middle-school class. Since that is the case, some of the items may only be for middle-school classes, while other pieces of furniture may be just for highschool classes.

The school has worked with many different vendors, including Steelcase, Safco Products and Smith System, to see which furniture works best for other schools.

JDS uses this information to create the best learning environment for a modern learning experience.

“What we wanted to do first is see what kind of options everyone liked for a modern classroom,” Hoover said. “Things have changed; it’s the 21st century.”

The administration wants to slowly introduce the new furniture into classrooms in order to ensure a smooth transition. According to Hoover, a slow transition is beneficial because the school does not want to overwhelm students. Additionally, JDS wants to see if the furniture has a positive impact on the students, as the school does not want to replace all of the furniture and later discover that it is having a negative impact on students.

“We will let teachers and students have classes with [the furniture] in this coming school year and then if that works out well, we will get a couple more classrooms full and gradually just replace all the tables and chairs,” Hoover said.

The items tested out included a

few table options and chair options.

All items are for students, except for one standing desk that is only for teachers.

The two desk options are the AlphaBetter Desk, a standing desk with a swinging foot bar at the bottom, and the Diamond Open Front Desk, similar but smaller than the current trapezoid desks. The Diamond Desk is designed so that it can be used for one student, or it can be configured to different shapes and be used for many students One of the two chair options that the JDS administration chose to try out is the Noodle Chair, a basic chair that slightly tilts in all directions to help build a stronger core while still being stable and providing back support. The other option is the Node Chair, a spinning chair with a movable desk and storage compartment under the seat.

The Verb Classroom Table, which did not have a sample avail-

able, is a standard rectangular desk with attachments that can be used as white board or dividers.

The only option for a teacher desk is the Pocket Mobile Rolling Podium, a standing desk that is easy to move around and has storage space.

Even though the majority of the furniture is for students, mainly teachers got to test them out. After trying the samples out, 30 percent of the staff provided feedback on the options.

“We have to pick something that works well for the majority of classes,” Hoover said.

Staff favorites of these items will be slowly introduced in a few classrooms next year and then at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, the administrators will evaluate how the community reacts to it and take further action.

photos by caroline weinstein Freshman Noah Kramer, Jewish Text teacher Rabbi Derek Rosenbaum and junior Samantha Haas try out new furniture.

“This desk, I really like. It would fit very well in Structured Study Hall. You can still do your work while standing up, but the moving bar at the bottom especially helps with kids with ADD or ADHD, because you can do things while you’re working which will be nice.” ~ freshman Noah Kramer on the AlphaBetter Desk

“I’m a fan of having some kind of standing desk for teachers because I like to be in the back of the room and see what the kids are doing ... This feels like it moves easily. It’s sturdy, and it has a little storage. This I like for teachers.”

“I like that chair because it actually helped my posture a lot. It’s nice because it keeps your whole back straight and you kind of feel forced to pull your back up. It’s also much more comfortable than the chairs we have now.”

~ Jewish Text teacher Rabbi Derek Rosenbaum on the Pocket Mobile Moving Podium

~ junior Samantha Haas on the Noodle Chair

the lion’s tale

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photo by noy dahan Sophomores Justin Marks and Jenny Belson perform a song at Kabbalat Shabbat.

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Kabbalat Shabbat hand-crafted

Putting together school-wide assemblies that make a statement kate sosland reporter Every Friday morning, students pour into the gym for Kabbalat Shabbat. What they do not see, however, is the preparation that goes on behind the scenes.

At the very beginning of the year, Director of Jewish Life Stephanie Hoffman, the coordinator of Kabbalat Shabbat, formulated a calendar marked with every Friday of school which included the parsha and any significant event in school that week. This informational calendar influences who speaks and what people talk about or perform. Kabbalat Shabbat begins with a D’var Torah, which is commentary on that week’s parsha, and is followed by a musical performance.

The spots for performing or giving a D’var Torah are usually assigned to students and faculty who approach either Hoffman or Director of Arts Education David Solomon.

In some cases, however, Hoffman or

Solomon will ask students or faculty members if they would like to give a D’var Torah or perform if there are openings in the schedule.

Once someone agrees to speak or perform at Kabbalat Shabbat, they receive an email from Hoffman with specific guidelines, one of which is the 3 ½ minute time limit for a speech or performance. Additionally, she notifies people giving a D’var Torah to include one Jewish commentary in their speech to help support their argument.

Sophomores Lois Richman and Hannah Wandersman were approached by Hoffman earlier this year to give a D’var Torah on April 8. The parsha of the week, Parshat Tazria, discusses a skin disease that is formed due to gossip, and they used the lessons of the parsha as a lens to bring attention to the ongoing issue of slander.

“Instead of just speaking to your class or your grade, it’s a way that everyone can hear it, everyone is listening,” Richman said. It’s a

great way to get your message out.”

As each Kabbalat Shabbat approaches, Hoffman and Solomon have a lot to do. Hoffman reviews each D’var Torah about a week in advance, and works with the speaker to edit and refine their speech while Solomon approves each musical act. Each Friday morning is the final rehearsal for the participants.

Solomon enjoys coordinating the performances at Kabbalat Shabbat because he likes to witness students exhibiting their passions.

“When kids get up and perform for their peers, they are rock stars,” Solomon said. “It’s something that everybody looks forward to and I love that sense of community when it happens.”

Freshman Talia Shemony is an example of a student who shows her love for singing during Kabbalat Shabbat. She has performed at Kabbalat Shabbat three times and made her debut on Dec. 13, 2013 when she dedicated a song she wrote to Gilad Nissim (‘12), a former CESJDS

student who died of a brain aneurysm.

“I try to put a lot of emotions into performances, an especially when it is for somenoy dah hoto by nie Hoffp one who has passed away,” pha Life Ste Jewish Shemony said. f o habbat. r S to t Direc abbala K t a s According to Solomon, k ea man sp performers prepare for their act mainly on their own. Shemony prepared by practicing the music room during lunch and clubs to performance. Many of her students practice, as well as singing at home. wanted her to perform and show her Not only students, but also skills. teachers, exhibit their talents during Students have a lot of impact Kabbalat Shabbat. Science teacher as Kabbalat Shabbat comes together Rachel Gill has been dancing since every week. Even though Hoffman is middle school, and was approached a main part of organizing, she feels

by Solomon to perform an Irish step that it is essentially guided by studance. dents.

Gill was in an Irish step dance “We see our students’ interests group for 17 years in her hometown come out,” Hoffman said. “It’s not of Gettysburg, Pa., and now is cur- just because we are talking about rently looking for a new group to [students], it’s because they are acjoin in Maryland. Gill made use of tually doing it, and there is somethe choreography skills she learned thing really special about that.” while in her dance group by choreographing her Kabbalat Shabbat

the lion’s tale

16 style

LT’s finals survival guide e m o s t e G leep s t i n a Pl ut o p e Pr ly r a e t i p e e K essstr ee fr

“Getting enough sleep is extremely important. The recommended amount of sleep for teenagers is actually higher than it is for younger kids: eight to nine hours. The more sleep you get, the better you are going to perform on your exam. It clears your brain, and you will be more relaxed.”

Nurse Margarita Payne

“Use your calendar and backwards plan, so estimate how much time you want to spend on each subject and then make a schedule with each thing that you have to do as you approach finals and block out chunks of time.

Be realistic about what you can do in a given period of time. I know it is really hard for a person to study for three straight hours. Be realistic, you’re not doing that, you’re not going to work three straight hours.”

English teacher Melissa Fisanich

“The amount of sleep that you get is important, eating a good breakfast, arriving early, having all of your materials — all those things are important, because the more you go into something rushed or frazzled, the less your brain is able to focus in on what it knows and how to get that out there.”

Educational Support Services Specialist Brett Kugler

“We recommend maintaining some balance in your life by making studying for exams as pleasant as possible. Make sure you are rested, find a comfortable and quiet study space, make sure you have everything you need around you like pencils, erasers, paper, folders, a charged computer, different colored highlighters and eliminate distractions by turning off your phone.”

High school guidance counselors Melissa Gartner and Rachel Soifer

compiled by amelia davidson