It's been an incredibly busy and exciting two weeks!! Countless 8th grade visitors, our Senior Carnival, our 6th evening Rosh Chodesh lecture, a Brachot Siyum and Celebration, Rav Alpren's shiur, 10th grade museum trip, Science Olympiad and research competitions, Mock Trial and Debate team competitions, freshman baking parties and Bake Sale, Rosh Chodesh Adar Spelling Bee and brunch, our 2nd Annual Art Exhibit and our Purim Chagiga with Chaim Dovid. Without question, the spirit of Purim has filled our hallways and classrooms!

Our Senior Carnival was an extraordinary event and the senior class worked together to produce a fun filled and magnificent program. All the money raised has been placed in the Keren Sarah Fund, L'zecher Nishmat Mrs. Sarah Klein, a"h, and will assist seniors who will be studying in Israel next year.

I am pleased to announce that registration is now complete for the Class of 2010. We look forward to welcoming 86 incoming freshmen in September, bli ayin hara! Our newest students will be graduating this June at Bais Yaakov of Queens, Bnos Malka, HAFTR, HALB, HANC, Har Torah, Ohr Haiim, Prospect Park, Shulamit, TAG, and YCQ.

Last Motzai Shabbat, I had the zechut of joining other teachers in hosting our freshmen at our homes for a new baking program. We had a great time at my house baking carrot muffins, brownies and chocolate cream pies, eating pizza and taking lots of pictures. We were thrilled to see how quickly our products were sold at our combined Bake Sale and Art Show on Wednesday night. It was a pleasure to recognize and applaud the artistic talents of so many of our students that are being developed under the tutelage of Mrs. Libin and Mrs. Wald. We were excited to raise a lot of money for tzedaka too!

Special thanks to Mrs. Haidee Blumenthal and Mrs. Esti Stahler for all of their dedicated efforts on behalf of our Berachot Siyum and Berachot Party celebrations. May you continue to inspire others in the area of berachot! Amen!

We are thrilled that once again there will be four individual Grade Programs for all students this Layl Purim! Many thanks to our host families and grade advisors who have worked hard to make sure that each and every student will have a fun place to spend Purim night. Please remember that there will be a late arrival on Shushan Purim at 10:15.

Mazel Tov to our school dinner honorees: Mimi and Stuie Samuels, Bonnie and Heshie Schertz, and Jan Wernick. We thank you for all of your dedicated efforts on behalf of our students, our staff and our yeshiva. We look forward to celebrating with you tomorrow night!

I wish you all a Shabbat Shalom, a meaningful Ta'anit Esther and an amazing Purim where we can celebrate the miracles of Hashem with friends and family.

In an effort to honor the memory of Mrs. Sarah Klein a"h, to galvanize the grade for a good cause and to raise much needed funds to send girls to study in Israel, Mrs. Rivka Yudin, the SKA Senior Grade Level Advisor, organized a community-wide carnival to kick off the Keren Sarah Fund. Her extraordinary enthusiasm and dedication to the project immediately caught on and the 12th grade girls – among them, Mrs. Klein’s daughter, Jamie – were very much on board. Under the guidance of Mrs. Yudin and the three heads of the carnival, Jamie Klein, Deena Klein and Gabrielle Graber, SKA's Seniors spent countless hours shopping for supplies, distributing fliers, ordering food, decorating signs and doing anything they could – even dressing up as clowns and standing in the HALB parking lot – to ensure the carnival’s success. At the carnival on Sunday, February 26th, children and adults alike enjoyed Supersol hotdogs and knishes, won goldfish at the fishing booth and had their faces painted in multicolored shapes. It was truly a day to remember for everyone involved!

The girls’ faces are still aglow from the successful and fun-filled Purim Chagiga this past Thursday night. The night started off with a scrumptious dinner from Supersol that was enjoyed by all, followed by the girls and faculty changing into their respective costumes in accordance with the theme of “vinahafoch hu”, opposites. Once everyone was dressed up, the girls headed into the auditorium and danced to the one and only Chaim Dovid. Afterward, the teachers put on an entertaining skit and the GO presented their video presentation. Sadly, after more dancing, the night had to come to end and the girls went home, in anticipation of next year’s chagiga.

The SKA auditorium was miraculously transformed into an art gallery featuring works of art from our (almost) world renowned artists at the SKA Art Academy and other Studio Art classes. Parents, grandparents, neighbors and friends came to view the magnificent paintings, slates, holocaust sketches and more. Thank you so much to Mrs. Libin and Mrs. Wald for guiding the girls and enabling them to produce such skillful works of art and for setting up the show so beautifully.

SKA Bake Sale 2006 was a resounding success! The preparation for the sale began last motzai Shabbos with invitations extended to the entire 9th grade to come enjoy a night of baking at their teacher’s homes. The baking at the homes of Mrs. Gross, Mrs. Kaminetsky, Mrs. Leibtag, Mrs. Reichman, Mrs. Spirn, and Mrs. Storch generated delicious baked goods ranging from apple pie and oatmeal cookies to chocolate cream pie and hamentashen. This was an extremely unique and enjoyable event in which ninth grade students were able to bond with their friends, teachers and upperclassmen, and at the same time had fun performing an amazing SKA chesed. Thank you to the Juniors and Seniors who came to join in the fun and who helped out immensely.

After school on Wednesday, the 9th graders got to work wrapping the food and setting it up attractively on the tables. As the guests began streaming in they were greeted by enthusiastic students and . . .who could resist? The hundreds of baked goods were all sold and the event raised over a thousand dollars to help a school in Israel that is in dire need of help – Beit Sefer Maalot Chayim in Petach Tikavh. It was an exciting event for the 9th graders and we owe a huge thank you to Junior, Sheva Odzer and Senior, Judy Grossman who headed the project from its inception and through each stage of its development.

“O-P-H-T-H-E-L-M-O-L-G-Y”. “S-U-P-E-R-S-T-I-T- O-U-S.”

Do you know how to spell these words correctly?

Twenty girls and selected faculty piled on to the stage for a Spelling Bee showdown. Tensions were high as the competition escalated, as the contestants boiled down to two students and one teacher. The room permeated with an excitement that was palpable. In the end, the teachers were overshadowed by two prodigious students, who outshone all others in their spelling capabilities. Congratulations to our spellers, Ilana Lefkowitz and Sara Thurm, and to all the other contestants who accepted defeat with dignity.

Exercising our mental capabilities can be tiring, so it was time for some energy! We all enjoyed the delicious bagels that were provided after the “bee”.

Special thanks to our G.O. and G.O. Advisor Mrs. Belizon for making Rosh Chodesh Adar a super day!

Last week, SKA entered the new month of Adar with an inspiring speech by Rabbi Yonoson Alpren. The students thoroughly enjoyed his interesting ideas, dynamic personality and, of course, his foreign accent!

Rabbi Alpren explained to the juniors and seniors that on Purim, while the costumes, mishloach manot and the meal are nice, they are merely the "shtick" of the holiday. He used an interpretation of "Shoshanat Yaakov," the tefila said after megillah reading, to offer ideas on how to understand the true spiritual simcha of Purim. He encouraged us not just to get caught up in the "shtick," but to experience a happy, healthy and meaningful Purim.

In a separate shiur to the freshmen and sophomores, Rav Alpren focused on the Power of Positive Speech. He outlined specific ideas and steps we can all take to maximize the positive impact of our dibbur.

After completing the sefer “100 Berachot” , SKA sponsored a siyum and surprised the students with an exciting program. We kicked off the morning with an inspiring and informative Torah presentation given by Rabbi Maimon Elbaz. The slideshow aided in increasing one’s concentration while davening Shemona Esrei. Rabbi Elbaz brought forward helpful tips, and profound insights, making the presentation humorous and enjoyable for all.

From there, we took our new insights on prayer and applied it to real life. Building on the Power of Amen Campaign, Mrs. Kaminetsky spoke about the importance of berachot and the chashivut of Amen and their ability to increase our connection to Hashem. Thanks to Mrs. Haidee Blumenthal and Mrs. Esti Stahler, we had lovely baskets of yummy foods prepared in our classrooms, where we had the chance to recite five different berachot while giving our entire class the opportunity to say Amen. The program was inspiring and helped us gain a deeper understanding of tefila, brachot, and Amen, while remembering to count our calories. Many thanks to our sponsors: Mrs. Haidee Blumenthal, Mrs. Rozi Davis, Mrs. Haidee Blumenthal, Mrs. Leah Perlysky, Mrs. Ruki Renov, Mrs. Rivki Rosenwald and Mrs. Esti Stahler.

On Sunday, March 5th, twelve students from SKA were caught up in the spirit and excitement of the joyful month of Adar and were privileged to experience what it feels like on the other side of the painted clown face, by actually learning how to become Mitzvah Clowns.

In the morning training session, hosted at SKA, students learned everything from the philosophy of pastoral therapeutic clowning to the intricacies of applying clown makeup to learning how to create puppies and long stemmed roses out of brightly colored balloons. Afterwards, students enjoyed a pizza lunch, and a trip to the local Nursing home, where they put their newly-found talents, costumes and makeup to the test. The elated atmosphere in the Woodmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center when the students arrived was indescribable. Immediately, seniors sat up in their chairs, nurses and aides began to giggle and wave, and large smiles as well as hearty laughs dominated the nursing home halls. It was evident that just the sight of the young, colorfully-clad and smiley clowns radiated warmth and pure joy throughout the Center.

However, it wasn’t until the clowns began to sing and dance for the elderly that the day’s celebration really reached its peak. Students sang everything from “You Are My Sunshine” to “Mi Shnichnas Adar” and even threw in some classics sung by Frank Sinatra and pieces from “The Sound of Music.” Seniors were delighted to sing along with “microphones” that students concocted for them from brightly colored balloons, and some nurses even joined in with the dancing, singing and excitement.

SKA girls learned, through this exciting and enjoyable Clowning program, that chesed, aside from being important and satisfying, can be really fun and exhilarating too. As a result, many are considering enrolling in the Lev Laytzan Clowning Program next fall.

Seforim are open, chavrutot are in session, and spirits are high as girls delve into the depths of Torah, searching for answers as the nearing Chumash paper deadlines approach. The informative library provides the students with numerous sefarim that give insight into their topics and open up a whole new world of research. With the help of Mrs. Martin, the librarian, the girls find the library an easy resource for their questions. How special to see girls excited about learning Torah!

In what has become a favorite tradition at SKA, we once again partnered with Kulanu to provide shadows at the HALB preschool. More than 50 girls volunteered to give of their time to enable the Kulanu kids to integrate into their respective classrooms. Thank you so much to Frumee Pelcovitz, Adina Gamss and Beth Stein who helped organize the program – it was successful and so much fun!

Eighteen volunteers from the 10th, 11th and 12th grades spent an enriching afternoon at the Nefesh Academy in Brooklyn. After some time getting to know each other, SKA and Nefesh girls together made Purim projects and played Purim Pictionary enabling them to have fun while learning about the upcoming holiday. Lunch, schmoozing and email exchanging really helped the girls forge relationships. Thank you to Goldi Nissel, Atara Feinberg and the entire committee who volunteered their time for this worthy cause.

Because they felt that "feeding hungry people is the most important chesed," Mindy Koren and Rebecca Mendlowitz initiated a food drive in conjunction with the JCC food pantry. In one week's time, 4 large cartons of various non-perishable food items were collected and delivered to the JCC for distribution. Thank you so much to all who donated so generously!

Our Women and Teens Clothing Drive was a huge success! The bowling alley is full of donated clothing that will make a difference in the lives of many local residents who would otherwise have nothing to wear. (SKAers learned that there are some girls in the community who, when they stand in front of their closets and say, "I have nothing to wear," really mean it.) Thank you to all those who brought in clothing and to the representatives from each grade who effectively advertised the drive and helped to sort and hang the clothing.

Thank you to Mrs. Storch for all of her hard work in coordinating so many worthwhile programs!

This week, the SKA students team took part in the Science Olympiad competition, hosted at SAR Academy, and consisting of numerous events that tested students’ knowledge in a wide variety of sciences. The girls showed off their great problem solving skills, ability to think on their feet, and general knowledge of science in competitions that ranged from chemistry labs to food sciences to topography to ecology, and everything else in between. Our girls emerged as the 5th place best school overall and they won individual medals in numerous events. Mazal Tov to Gittel Klein and Adina Snow for winning the 1st Place in Bridge Building, Batya Hertzberg and Kayli Gerson for winning 2nd place in Food Science, Michal Jaeger and Daniella Orner for winning 3rd place in the Designer Genes Compettion, and to Emily Levine and Danielle Lent for winning 1st place in the Can’t Judge A Powder (Chemistry Lab) competition.

Special thanks to SKA Coordinator Mrs. Rosenfeld for her dedicated efforts.

The 9th Grade Eating Disorders Program for students and parents has been rescheduled for Thursday, May 4th.