Since the first day of school, Production excitement has taken over the halls of SKA. During and after school hours, girls worked on dancing, singing, acting, and band. After three outstanding sold-out performances, we can say that their hard work really paid off!

Production 2006, and its theme of “Nissim V’Niflaot,” was a huge success. The choir, accompanied by the very talented SKA band, sang and harmonized beautifully. The five dances were choreographed and set up marvelously with a lot of talent, and the three dramas were moving, hilarious, touching, and funny. The sign language rendition of “Matchmaker” was a true hit! We cannot forget the outstanding backdrops created by our talented art department.

Production would not have been what it was without the unbelievable dedication of Mrs. Terry Wagner, our Director, and all of the amazing Production heads. Thank you for all of your support, patience, time, commitment, and encouragement! Special thanks to Mrs. Phyllis Bowe, Mrs. Suzy Libin, and Mrs. Heather Wald for all of their dedicated efforts! Excellent job! PRODUCTION 5747 was AWESOME!

On December 25th, our 11th and 12th grades were treated to a very exciting "Career Day". Mrs. Nina Shenker, Managing Director at J.P. Morgan and many time SKA parent, was our keynote speaker and set the scene for the girls to break into 3 sessions of workshops. Women from the medical, legal, business and architectural fields informed the girls about their professions and how they manage to be successful career women, wives and mothers, while balancing their religious responsibilities simultaneously. The panelists also included nutritionists, chefs, journalists, wig stylists, and interior designers. Needless to say, the field of education was well represented too!

Many thanks to Parent Council Co-Chairs Mrs. Jan Wernick and Mrs. Esther Weinstein, who, along with Mrs. Sachs and Mrs. Pomerantz, coordinated a wonderful program.

We look forward to inviting current 11th and 12th grade students back to SKA to inspire future generations!

As the first semester comes to a close, we face an important decision - what club should we join next semester? According to the members of the Woodworking Club, that is "the" club to be in. They not only get to cut and build with wood, but they are able to use their imagination in planning the projects. From builing birdhouses to picture frames, it is always a blast! Willy is always there to help us with his energetic personality and creative design. If you are in doubt, join the Woodworking Club.

In what has become a favorite tradition at SKA, we once again partnered with Kulanu to provide shadows at the HALB preschool. Over 50 SKA girls volunteered to give of their time to enable the Kulanu kids – whose regular schools were on vacation – to integrate into their respective classrooms. Thank you so much to 12th graders Samantha Snyder and Shevy Zinberg who helped organize the program. It was a great success and so much fun. We can’t wait to have this opportunity again in February!

Thank you so much to Chesed Heads, Maya Aminoff and Atara Rubin and to Michal Aharonoff, Sara Grosser, Elana Haar, Tziporah Pill, Aliza Schwartzblatt, Chani Spirn and Zahava Zimmerman for making this semester’s Hospital Club such a success. Each Tuesday, during lunch and clubs, the students went to visit Mercy Medical Center. Just walking around and talking to the patients on the rehabilitation floor made a big difference to them – and to our students!Keep up the great work!

Just a few days ago, SKA hosted the second Torah Bowl meet of the year... and what a hit it was! Four schools attended the meet: SKA (of course), HANC, North Shore, and HAFTR. Under the expert supervision of longtime coach Mrs. Menchel, the team won three out of four matches, with the HANC vs. SKA match ending in a tie. In fact, that match, comprised of only 24 questions, may have been the longest match in Torah Bowl history, at a record one and a half hours in length!

So what’s the incentive for girls to engage in hour-long machlokot over Rashi? “Torah Bowl is a lot of fun and a great learning experience in one,” said one junior team member. “Being on the team really complements our regular Judaic studies, because it often gives us the chance to learn sefarim that we wouldn’t normally learn, such as Sefer Vayikra. It’s also fun because the team usually goes out to other schools for meets, which means we can relax, see friends and eat good food.” And yes, SKA definitely scored well on the food factor. On Wednesday, “the Torah Bowl room” for the day was generously stocked with pizza, salad, zeppolis and refreshments. The team can’t wait for the upcoming meet in February!

January 10, 2007! Most of the students had a Study Day. The SKA faculty spent an informative and enlightening day with the DRS faculty at our DRS Woodmere campus, expanding their teaching horizons during an In Service Day. Dr. Scott Goldberg, Director of the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Division of Doctoral Studies at the Azriele Graduate School of Yeshiva University, presented a workshop on Assessment in Practice. This very practical look at test components enabled teachers to re-evaluate the different ways they assess student performance. A working lunch followed during which the different departments sat together and shared information.

The day concluded with a presentation of Smart Boards, the new interactive, computer connected white boards. The SKA teachers were impressed by the media rich lessons that can be generated with this equipment. DRS already has two of these smart boards installed and SKA will have two installed over vacation. The big question is: Which classrooms will be equipped with this new technology? We’ll see as soon as we return!

The SKA Seniors recently heard about their early decision applications to colleges. Two students were admitted to Columbia University, 1 to Barnard and 1 to SUNY Binghamton in this first round of acceptances. Mazal Tov to Ilana Lefkovitz, Avital Shenker (Class of 2006), Gila Schneider and Arielle Zenilman!We look forward to sharing more good news in the next round of acceptances!

The Israel School acceptances have just been released! We are so pleased that our students were accepted to over fifteen schools in Israel and that 90% of our Senior Class hope to study in Israel next year. Six of our students, a record number for any one high school, were named Michlalah Scholars and will receive academic grants if they choose to attend. Mazal tov to Mijal Bitton, Yardana Galler, Ilana Lefkovitz, Tzippy Wiesenfeld, Aliza Zombek and Michelle Zomber on this beautiful honor.