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SKAppenings |
Parshat Tazria
28 Adar II 5768
April 4, 2008 |
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QUICK LINKS |
ATTENTION
ALUMNAE
Please keep us informed of important
happenings in your personal and professional lives. It will be our pleasure
to post your news in our next SKAPPENINGS! Please email us at
hspirn@skahalb.org
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A Message from Mrs. Spirn
We were profoundly moved today by the words of Rav Grosser of
Yeshivat Mercaz Harav, who helped us feel a deeper connection to the boys
z"l who were murdered in the terror attack. They were so young and so much
potential has been lost! Rav Grosser described the qualities of some of the
kedoshim and their strong commitment to tefila, limud torah and ben adam
l'chavero relationships. We were disturbed and unnerved when we saw a sefer
that had a bullet hole through the entire sefer. He shared a video
with us about the boys and the attack on the Yeshiva which uniquely combines
its love of Torat Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. May Hashem hear our
tefillot and heal those that were injured and in the zechut of those who
have fallen, may we strengthen our commitment to Torah, am Yisrael and
shmirat mitzvot.
It is hard after today's presentation
to write about the fun programs we have experienced these past two weeks!
We certainly feel that Pesach is approaching and are intensifying our
preparations as we get closer to Zman Cheirutainu! We look forward to
more limud about Pesach and the Haggada in the days ahead, as well as
performing more chesed through maot chitim and other projects.
We were thrilled to be featured in last
week's New York Times in an article about a shemirat halashon program
sponsored by the Chofetz Chaim Foundation. What a kiddush Hashem!
Kudos to Liron Eiger, Emi Renov and Chani Spirn who were quoted in this
article and shared their thoughts about trying to abstain from speaking
lashon hara!
I would like to take this opportunity to
wish a special mazel tov to our SKA Basketball Sonics who won their 13th
Championship title last Thursday! Mazel tov to our Science Olympiad
team who placed 4th in the competition. Mazel tov to Leora Hefter, Shaindy
Schiffmiller and Sara Snow who were winners in the New York Scence and
Engineering Fair. Mazel tov to Ilana Saltzman who placed in the top
ten winners of the Young Poets Contest sponsored by Creative Communication.
Mazel tov to Mrs. Brenda Mirsky, a member of our faculty, whose poems were
selected to be published in a poetry contest.
May we continue to share pride in the
accomplishments of our students, faculty and graduates! I wish you all
a meaningful and restful Shabbos! |
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SKA Featured in the NY Times
There we
were! SKA students appearing in a feature article about SHAC, the shemirat
halashon program sponsored by the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation.
Eleventh
graders Emi Renov, Chani Spirn and Liron Eiger, who were among the SKA
girls who attended a special assembly at Yeshiva University High School for
Girls, were quoted as was our principal, Mrs. Helen Spirn.
"These kids want to embrace what they learn and integrate it into their own
lives," said Mrs. Spirn." By working on ourselves, we are enhancing our
relationship with G-d."
What a
beautiful kiddush haShem! And what a beautiful way to let everyone know
about shemirat halashon and the power of positive speech!
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SKA Varsity Basketball Team Wins 13th Championship!!
The SKA Basketball Team played against Magen David High
School and won with a score of 40- 23. With the anticipation of an
exciting game, the team played with skill and passion and the fans made the
experience so much greater helping to create real school spirit. Mazal Tov to
Rachel Melman on receiving the MVP award. What would the season have been
without the season's high scorer, Yael Leiderman and game's high scorer,
Jordana Wernick. Mazal Tov to the seniors for finishing off their four years
in such a positive way. They played well as a team,
which is why this was SKA's 13th year winning the
championship. Special thanks to our amazing managers, Alex Grossman and
Davina Wadler, who organized everything and made the season all the more
exciting. Thank you to the team's "awesome" coach Sheri Brazil
and assistant coach Shani Marks. |
9th Grade Purim Chagiga
The 9th grade gathered
at madricha Shira Ganz's
house after Megillah reading to have some Purim fun. The theme was a "20
year reunion" and the costumes varied from
beauty school "drop out" to seniors of 2028. With a funny video and great games,
the night was definitely a success! Can't wait to see what other fun events
S.K.A has in store. Thanks to Mrs. Sheila Leibtag, Mrs. Esther Segal and the
Ganz family for a great event!
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10th Grade Purim Chagiga
The 10th graders
had an amazing time Purim night. They spent the evening at
Aliza Gottesman's house and dressed up in a
"Blast From the Past"
theme. Girls were dressed up in old uniforms, as people from the 50's, and
as characters from old time shows like the
Wizard of Oz. There was amazing food
including homemade hamantashin and fondue. Girls in the grade made a very
entertaining video that they showed at the chagiga. Thanks to the Gottesman
family for opening their home and to Grade Level Advisors, Mrs. Avi Smulevitz
and Mrs. Keren Miller for a wonderful evening.
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This year Purim was awesome!! The 11th
Grade gathered Purim night at
Emi Renov's house. Girls dressed up
according to the theme of famous couples.
Two girls dressed up as Mrs. Spirn and Dr. Meier, there were girls dressed as
Mickey and Minnie Mouse, as Romeo and Juliet and many more amazing couples!! It
was really fun singing together as everyone participated in Karaoke!!! Mrs.
Spirn and Mrs. Kaminetsky joined for a while singing and dancing with the girls
and Ms. Chambre brought Dunkin Donuts!! Thank you to Emi and the Renov family
for hosting the evening and to Mrs. Gross and Ms. Chambre for putting it all
together! It was a really fun way to spend Purim night!!
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12th Grade Chagiga Purim Chagiga
On the night of Purim, the 12th grade girls excitedly gathered
at Talia Fenster's house right after Megillah reading. They decorated
a school bus with streamers and posters and then rode through
the Five Towns and Far Rockaway on the decorated bus spreading the simcha of
Purim at each stop. They visited several of their teachers who gladly
welcomed them as they sang and danced together with much enthusiasm. They began
their trip at the home of Mrs. Spirn. They then continued to Far Rockaway where
Mrs. Yudin greeted them with "franks and blanks"
and potato knishes hot from the oven. From there they
visited Mrs. Antman where they shook the room with their joyous energy and then
surprised Mrs. Block singing "Happy Birthday" and dancing around the table. The
next stop was Mrs. Storch's home where the girls got a sneak
preview of her creatively decorated tables for her seudah. The final stop was at
the home of Mrs. Kaminetsky where everyone ended the evening together B'Simcha!
Much thanks to Mrs. Yudin for coordinating this wonderful evening! |
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1..2..3..4.. We want Color War!!
This year's Purim Chagiga at SKA was " billed" as "Color War- the
Spoof!" The G.O. made a very funny video spoofing how seriously some people
take Color War. Each grade was assigned a color, the girls came dressed
in costumes of that color and grade achdut, the theme of chagiga, was evident.
Even the administration dressed up as crayons in the colors of the grades.
The gym, where everyone ate a yummy dinner, was decorated to look like a camp
dining room during Color War and had all of the grade colors displayed.
After dinner, Shloime Dachs took
over the stage and everyone danced with Purim spirit to his music.
Much of the dancing was in the dark with colorful lights shimmering and the
added fun of "glow in the dark glasses" provided by the G.O.
And then the laughter began! The big surprise was a professional
and hysterical improv comedy show by Comedy Sports that raised the
feeling of excitement to a whole new level.
WHAT A FABULOUS CHAGIGA!!
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Science
and Engineering Fair
Below are the results from Wednesday's New York State Science
and Engineering Fair which took place at NY Hall of Science in Flushing
Meadows Park. There were over 400 students who competed,
representing 50 schools.
A) Category:
Social Science
1st Place:
Shaindy Schiffmiller
"Egocentric Comparisons in Social
Judgment Among Adolescents"
3rd Place:
Sara Snow
"Mean Girls: How Different Groups View Each Other"
B) Category: Biochemistry
1st Place:
Leora Hefter
"Acyl Lysine Oligomers (OAKs) Mimicking Natural
Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs)" A study involving the creation of new
pseudo-peptides that prevent the emergence of bacterial resistance
Also given: Special Award for Best Research Project
Mazal Tov to the winners and much thanks to Mr. Steve Sullivan, the Social
Science Advisor and to Mrs. Eva Hefter for chaperoning the students at the
competition!
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Dr. Meier Interviewed
Live on
JM in the AM
SKA was featured on the JM in the AM
Program when Dr. Tzipora Meier
took to the airwaves to speak about a book of derashot, written by her father
zt"l , that was recently published. Her father,
HaRav Tzvi Dov Kanotopsky,
was the rav of the Young Israel of Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights
and then the rav of the Young Israel of West Hempstead before making aliyah in
1970. The book, Rejoice in Your Festivals
, has essays about the shelosh regalim and was edited by Dr. David Zomick, uncle
of Temi Zomick, SKA tenth grader.
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The SKA Science Olympiad Team
traveled to North Shore Hebrew Academy on
March 30th
to take part in the Yeshiva High School Science Olympiad Competition.
Teams came from different schools mostly in the New York
metropolitan area, although one school traveled from Houston,
Texas to compete in the Olympiad. SKA
received medals for 3rd
place in the Tower Building
competition and the Metric Measurement competition,
and 1st
place in the Five Star Science competition. Overall SKA came in
4th place out of the fifteen schools
that competed. We are so proud of our girls. Many thanks to Mrs. Elizabeth
Rosenfeld, Team Faculty Advisor and to Mrs. Paula Berger, SKA Chemistry teacher
who joined the team for the day.
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Parent Teacher Conferences/Art Show
Parents
filled the hallways of SKA, on March 25th, moving from room to room
talking with teachers at this year's second set of Parent Teachers
Conferences. The parents and teachers were afforded an opportunity to share
information, partnering in the education of the students.
Parents
were also able to wander into the auditorium and see the beautiful art work of
the students during the second annual Art Show. Thank you to Mrs Libin
and Mrs. Glaser who coordinated this very artistic event. The
creativity and talent displayed were very impressive!
CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES OF ALL THE ART WORK!!
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Mrs. Mirsky : Grand Prize Winner:
Mrs. Brenda Mirsky, teacher of tenth grade English and 11th
grade AP English, is the Grand Prize Winner
of the Wordclay Poetry Book Contest for her book,
Spare Parts. The book, which has over 50
poems written by Mrs. Mirsky, is being published by Worldclay. Mazal Tov to Mrs.
Mirsky on such a wonderful accomplishment!!
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Model Congress
On Wednesday, March 26th, about fifteen SKA girls joined over 200 other
students from New York and New
Jersey schools at the
Yeshiva League Model Congress, hosted by
HAFTR. The girls were divided into different groups, each of which focused on an
area such as commerce, environment, education , ways and means, etc. Each
member of the group presented a bill which was included in their specific
congressional committee. The bills were voted on by the committee members and
the committees then had the opportunity to amend the bills. The students were
also afforded the special opportunity to hear from
Tom Suozzi, the Chief Executive of Nassau
County. The winners received gavels of honorary mentions. It was both a fun and
educational experience. Thanks to Mrs. Zuckerman for preparing the team!
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Blood Drive
On Thursday, March 26th
a Blood Drive
was held in the SKA gym. Many students over the age of 16 donated blood, thus
participating in a huge mitzvah, since the blood can save many lives. Right now
America is in need of blood and the Red
Cross was very appreciative of our
efforts. Close to forty pints of much needed blood were collected.
Thanks to all the Blood Drive heads:
Aliza Abbitan, Elana Bindiger, Mati Engel, Aliza Kaye, Alex Spitz, Emi Renov,
Rachel Mehlman, and Daniella Neuman.
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Torah Bowl
On March 18th, the Torah Bowl team traveled to North Shore for the
playoffs. They studied hard and came in second place in a close game.
Much thanks to Coach Mrs. Menchel and Captains Shira Bindiger and
Elisheva Zinberg for all their hard work and dedication.
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Soup Kitchen
On Wednesday April 2nd,
a group of SKA students went to visit the
soup kitchen in Manhattan.
They brought food to give out and packaged bags for Pesach. The SKA students
were welcomed warmly and felt good about the chesed they performed.Thanks to our
chaperone, Rikki Schwalb, for accompanying the girls on this experience. |
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Juniors Run Kulanu Carnival
In honor of Purim this year, the Juniors
organized an awesome Kulanu carnival.
They arranged an assortment of booths such as pennies and flour, decorate
a mask, shave the balloon, face painting, and make your own Hamantashen . Some
of the girls dressed up as clowns and functioned as shadows. The children
collected tickets by winning games and were then able to get prizes at the end
of the Carnival. There was even a "moon bounce" for the kids to enjoy . It was a
really fun carnival!! Thanks to Mrs. Storch, Ms. Chambre, Mrs. Gross, and to
Kulanu Bais Ezra for preparing such an unbelievable event. |
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Debate
Many schools met at Central Yeshiva High School on March 25th to
debate whether school administrations should
be allowed to search student lockers with or without permission or notice. SKA
brought an affirmative team including
Shaindy Schiffmiller and
Rachel Zehnwirth and a negative team including
Rachel Duftler and
Leah Goodman. The debates went well and both
teams presented many interesting arguments from different points of view. The
debaters received very positive feedback from the judges. Good luck to the team
in future debates! Thanks to Mrs. Leibtag for her super spirit and wonderful
advice! |
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Project Frumway
SKA was involved in a fashion
show to raise money for Josh Ligett,
a boy who lives in the Five Towns and who is fighting cancer. Some SKA girls
modeled Junee's designer clothing while others worked behind the scenes . The
program was run by Elyssa Shertz '03,
Rena Emerson, Sherri Siedenfeld '04, Eliana Brecher '09, Miriam Rosen '10, and
Sarit Sandowski '08. We were pleased that
a lot of money was raised to help Josh and NCSY!
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Senior Programs
The 12th
Graders spent time last week with women from
the Shalom Task Force
who spoke about conflicts within marriage and the problem of spousal abuse.
This week, the girls attended a lecture by
Rav Mordechai Willig, Rosh Yeshiva at
Yeshiva University, on prenuptial agreements.
These two programs have become annual events at SKA in our attempt to present
our students with a broad "real life" education. |
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Mishloach Manot Campaign Raises Over $2,000 for Sderot
What better way to celebrate Purim than to give Mishloach Manot to all your
friends, while raising money for a meaningful tzedaka at the very same time?
Thanks to the hard work of Ayelet Brecher, Alyssa Brody, Rachel Rosen and Jaime
Rothman every girl in school received a very adorable animal-themed Mishloach
Manot - packed in a zebra and leopard print bag - and over $2,000 was raised for
our Sderot campaign.
Stay tuned for our SKA sponsored Walkathon on behalf of Sderot on Sunday
morning, May 11th!
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Lilmod Ule'Lamed for Mothers and Alumnae!
Our Lilmod Ule'lamed Program for HALB mothers and alumnae will continue at SKA
on Tuesday, April 8, at 12:00 PM. Rabbi David Weinberger, distinguished member
of the SKA faculty and Rav of Congregation Shaaray Tefila, will present a shiur
focusing on "Women and the Geulah."
Sponsorship for this shiur is still available.
We look forward to welcoming many of you once again for Torah, inspiration, and
coffee.
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