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Friday March 23, 2012
29 Adar 5772
|  | Parashat Vayikra
Candle Lighting at 7:16 PM |
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WYHS Embarks on a
Strategic Planning Process
Inspired by our President Jeffrey Harris and aided by Dr. Scott Goldberg, Director of Yeshiva University's Institute for University-School Partnership, our lay and professional leadership has embarked on a Strategic Planning Process to lay out the school's agenda for the next 3 years.
We are focusing on four major areas- Admissions, Curriculum, Parent Involvement and Personnel- each of which has a committee assigned to it. Each committee is comprised of lay and professional leaders, and is charged with identifying areas of growth and the resources necessary to improve our already excellent school. Each committee is co-chaired by one lay and one professional leader.
Though WYHS is thoroughly committed to continuing to operate within its means (halavai the governments in the western world could learn from us!), it doesn't mean that we should not dream. If you do not dream, then your dreams certainly will not come true. It is important to reevaluate your priorities from time to time, as long as you stay focused on your mission.
Before we can begin to dream, we have to understand where we are. Our school's Founder Rabbi Kenneth Brander flew in for a day to meet with the school administration, Dr. Goldberg and Jeff Harris to perform a SWOT Analysis, assessing the status quo at WYHS. It was at this meeting at which we identified the 4 focus areas.
We are indebted to Yeshiva University for their sharing their expertise in designing this process, and will be sharing the results with you in the months to come.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Perry Tirschwell
Head of School
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Coming Attractions
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Yeshiva University Red Sarachek Boys Varsity Basketball Tournament
Wed. Mar. 28 7:30
WYHS Presents
Don't Drink the Water
Apr. 4-15
Pesach Break-No School
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Good and Welfare
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Mazel Tov
Jessie Busch ('09) on her engagement to Natan Brownstein of Portland, Oregon
Aliza Hochbaum('02) and Jacob Bliberg on their marriage
Loni Pearl('09) on her engagement to Ari Galster of Chicago
Meira Tirschwell
('07) on her engagement to Gershon Albert of Montreal
David Goldis on his engagement to Karen Colp
Congratulations to the Boys Varsity Basketball team on winning the Quater-Finals at Sarachek! Good luck in the Semi-Finals against Cooper Yeshiva of Memphis on Sunday morning!
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Feature Article
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WYHS Takes Orlando Graphic by Binyamin Feit ('12)
Written by Jared Samillow ('14)
This past week saw yet another successful WYHS event-the vaunted and highly anticipated biennial Winter Retreat. On Sunday morning, students arrived at WYHS at 8:00am for davening, before embarking on their journeys to various activities in the Orlando area.
These exploits included fast-paced paintball, rigorous and exhilarating water-sports, and-given the 85°F+ outdoor temperatures-perhaps the most prudent of all venue choices, the air-conditioned arcade, DisneyQuest located in Downtown Disney. Regardless of which activity a student chose to participate in, there was a consensus that just being able to do these activities with friends from all grades made it a special event. Yitzy Griner ('13) emphasized this sentiment when reflecting that "the paintball was a sick activity since it was a thrill to be with friends at a place we usually won't have an event at."
Exhausted from hours of fun, students arrived at the Lake Mary Marriott, where they relaxed at the hotel for several hours while preparing for the retreat's Winter Formal, a traditional and upscale dinner gathering. This special, formal dinner was followed by a poignant speech from Kimber Wrosch, who journeyed from Los Angeles to Florida just to inspire the students of WYHS. She relayed to us the incredible story of her life as a ba'alat teshuvah. Her story was one of perseverance and discovery, from her childhood in Florence, Italy, to her rise to stardom and success in fashion and show business industries, and finally to her discovery and embracing of Orthodox Judaism.
Following the Formal, each grade split up and spent the next hour or so enjoying interactive games set up by Student Council, ranging from Family Feud to the always entertaining Newlywed Game. Not only did such activities solidify friendships, it also helped build new one. Freshman Elisheva Phillips remarked that her favorite part of the was "hanging out with my friends and getting to know the rest of my classmates better."
Monday morning, students awoke to davening, breakfast, and the exciting prospect of a day in Universal Studios' "Islands of Adventure" theme park. Students then spent the day racing from the Incredible Hulk and Dueling Dragons roller coasters, to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey experience. As the day waned, the students gathered for dinner and prepared for the lengthy trek back to South Florida. On the bus ride home, students could not help but discuss the incredible two days they had been privy to, and some, such as Gil Goldstein ('12), went as far as to exclaim that "this was definitely the highlight of my high school experience!" Thank you to Programming Director Shira Englander, Assistant Programming Director, Rabbi Allan Houben, the faculty, and the entire Student Council for putting together such an unbelievable retreat. | | WYHS 5772 Retreat Orlando |
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Classroom In Focus
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Lil Wayne, Matisyahu and Wiz Khalifa, Watchout!
Rabbi Zisquit and co. Take Over the Gemara Rap Scene  | | WYHS 5772 Rabbi Zisquit's Gemara Class Rap Project |
Written by Jacob Danis ('15) and Donny Fixler ('15)
Long before the Oral Torah was ever written down, the Torah was chanted in rhymes and put to song in clever ways to help the students studying it remember it better. Over 2000 years later, a group of Gemara students at WYHS are reviving the ancient way of learning Gemara with a modern twist.
Taking the beats form modern R & B and rap music, the students in Rabbi Zisquit's Gemara class took one of this year's most complex Gemara section, which discusses the laws of breaking and entering (Sanhedrin 72A), and composed their own original music by incorporating Talmudic concepts into their songs.
These extremely talented rappers and song writers used their creativity to come up with catchy rhymes and phrases to help convey the Gemara's message in a way that is fun to listen to and easy to remember.
Enjoy the musical learning experience! |
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| Classroom In Focus |
 Graphic by Seth Fisher ('13)
Written by Jeri Veingrad ('13)
This week, Mrs. Stephanie Digregorio's junior Environmental Science Class made a landfill project with which they reproduced a landfill with home products. To build the landfill, the budding scientists used clay, straws as pipes, shredded paper, rocks and dirt.
The assignment was incredibly interesting and helped make the classroom experience very friendly and educational. It taught the class about the way a landfill works and how every part has to be connected and working in order for everything to be successful. This project taught the class to work together and build something educational while simultaneously having a great time. Thanks Mrs. D! |
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| Classroom In Focus |
 Graphic by Mrs. Branson & Eric Ditchek ('14) Written by Ellin Gurvitch ('14) This past Tuesday, Mrs. Branson accompanied her class to the Miami Science Museum. To coincide with a book the students were reading, they were treated to an amazing endangered owl show that was both educational and fun. A planetarium exhibit helped bring biology lessons to life. The students felt that this trip was informative and helped them to visualize their lessons. Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Branson for the experience.
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Ashreinu
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 Click on the image above to read this week's edition of Ashreinu.
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| The Yeshiva Highlites Staff | 
| Sarah Struhl
Editor-in-Chief |  |  |  |  |  |  | Ezra Kurtz
Senior Editor | Aaron Rose
Technical Editor | Shoshana Linzer
Creative Editor | Rashel Maikhor
Creative Editor | Jeffrey Herr
Layout Editor | Darren Jacoby
English Editor |
 |  |  |  |  |  | Aaron Zimmerman
Chief-of-Writers | Amir Tsarfati
Chief Photographer | Josh Firestone
Video Editor | Binyamin Feit
Asst. Tech. Editor | Jonathan Razon
Asst. Tech. Editor | Bracha Brauser
Creative Staff |
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