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From the desk of
Rabbi Perry
Tirschwell
With the holidays and hurricanes (hopefully!) behind
us, the
school year has
begun in earnest. This week we truly worked
hard
and played hard at WYHS!The new
PSAT exam, a full afternoon
of five concurrent Community Service
projects, four interschool sports games, two drama
practices, a presentation by a
highly competitive college, and the first regular
season mishmar got us through Thursday night.
Friday brings our Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
Chagigah and this coming
Sunday's first mishmar (running concurrently
in three
counties)!
I am thrilled to report that our graduates
studying in
Israel are extremely happy and growing
exponentially. We had the opportunity during Succot
to share advice about how the
graduates could make the most of their year and how
WYHS can continue to prepare its graduates for the
Israel experience.
On that note, senior girls and their parents should
see the upcoming seminary visits posted on
our Revised Calendar available
through a link below. Parents who would like to
attend any presentation should click here to
e-mail Assistant Principal Mrs. Ora Lee Kanner so she
can contact you if there is any change in
presentation date or time.
A second floor construction update-
This past week the exterior was stuccoed, and
this coming week the interior is being painted and
drop ceilings are being installed. This is an exciting
time in WYHS history.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Perry Tirschwell
Principal
| Hurricane Clean Up, Helping the Autistic, Underprivileged and Underclassmen |
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Wednesday was a memorable day at WYHS!
All freshmen, sophomores, and juniors spent the
morning taking the PSAT exam, which was revised for
this year to include a broader scope of math
questions and a change in format for some of the
verbal sections.
During the PSAT, many seniors attended a
presentation about NYU (New York
University), given
by a
representative from that school.
After the PSAT was over and students had an
extended lunch, each grade departed for various
fun and meaningful activities.
The freshmen were each paired with a junior or
senior big brother or sister, who is there to be a
friend and give advice whenever needed. These
pairs of "siblings" started the afternoon at the
bowling alley, where they had a chance to get to
know each other a little better. After bowling,
the freshmen, seniors, and junior boys went to the
Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County
Campus, where they spent an hour learning
Torah
together before wrapping up the afternoon with
a
delicious deli dinner!
Meanwhile, the rest of the students spent their day
involved in various acts of chesed. The tenth
grade
girls traveled to a horse farm in Coral Springs, where
they worked
with autistic children and teenagers who ride horses
as part of their therapy. The tenth grade boys went
to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca, where
they helped with the monumental task of
hurricane
cleanup.
The eleventh grade girls were divided into two
groups. One group visited the Menorah House
nursing home in Boca to spend time with the
residents. They even got to play Bingo! The rest of
the eleventh grade girls were at Veteran's Park in
Boca, helping underprivileged children with their
homework and other after-school
activities.Overall, the afternoon's programs
were a great way to let off some steam after the
intensity of the PSAT exam, and at the same time
were productive and inspirational ways to
spend the day.
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| Tzedakah Drive, Letters to Future Children and a Succah Shel Chesed |
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The pre-succot tzedakah campaign was a
terrific success! Close to $1500 was
contributed by all four classes combined.
Congratulations to the eleventh grade, led by Tuvia
Brander and Devorah Greer, for raising the most
money as a class! The tzedakah money will
be donated to Hatzolah Yerushalayim.
In keeping with the serious focus of the pre-
succot season at WYHS, students took time
during their chumash classes to compose
a letter to their future children. Students were
encouraged to express things like their greatest
hopes for their children and their most important
values and beliefs. The letters were sealed and
collected, and will be kept safe at WYHS until there
are future children to send them to!
Right before Succot, sophomores Yoni
Horowitz, Benjamin Shai, and Oren Hizkiya, along with
Rabbi Josh Spodek, had the privilege of building a
succah for Boca Raton Synagogue's oldest
congregant, Rabbi Cooper. In addition to having
a fantastic time, the boys were thrilled to perform
two mitzvot (building a succah and
chesed) at once!
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| WYHS Simchat Beit Hashoeva in Israel |
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During the Succot holiday, the WYHS alumni in Israel
got together to welcome Rabbi Tirschwell to their
side of the world and to spend time with their
high school friends and former teachers Rabbi
Avi and Mrs. Leba Schneider.
The boys, of course, went out for steak, and the
girls gathered at Mrs. Schneider's family's succah for
their respective reunions on two different nights. At
each gathering, divrei torah were given by Rabbi
Tirschwell as well as Rabbi and Mrs. Schneider, and
emotions ran close to the surface as the alumni
realized how homesick they are for WYHS!
In addition to the good food and good friends, Rabbi
Tirschwell and the Schneiders had the opportunity to
speak to the alumni about how WYHS can help
with the adjustment to yeshiva and seminary life.
Amazingly, even with an unprecedented large number
of WYHS alumni in Israel this year, every student
attended the reunions, even though in many
cases it meant giving up time with their visiting
families!
Thank you to alumni coordinators Rabbi and Mrs.
Schneider for organizing these two beautiful
events.
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| Yeshiva Volleyball and Soccer Heat Up |
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It was a great week for Yeshiva Storm sports! On
Tuesday, the boys varsity soccer team won their
game against Grandview Prep with a score of 4-
2!
Great saves were made by the starting goalie,
junior Brian Surasky, and by senior Jake Singer,
who took over as goalie in the second half of the
game to give Brian a chance to show off his
impressive skills on the field! Kudos to juniors Jordan
Lieber and Jon Struhl for scoring two goals each!
Although the girls varsity volleyball team did not win
their matches this week, they played incredibly well,
showing tremendous improvement over the
course of
the season. The regular season has ended, but
the girls will go to districts beginning on Monday.
This Saturday night, October 16th, there are two
important games being played simultaneously. The
girls volleyball team will compete against the
RASG Hebrew Academy at 9 p.m.
at
Advent Lutheran, at the corner of Yamato Road and
Dixie Highway in Boca.
Right nearby, off of Dixie Highway just north of
Yamato Road, the boys soccer team will play
against
the Donna Klein Jewish Academy at Sand Pine
Park at
8:45 p.m. As always, fans are invited to cheer on
the Yeshiva Storm athletes at either of these big
events!
Mark your calendars! The girls soccer and boys and
girls basketball seasons are about to begin!
Tryouts for girls soccer will begin on Sunday,
October 24, and boys and girls basketball
tryouts begin on Sunday, October 31. Stay
tuned for more details about times and locations to
be announced!
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| A Great Week Ahead |
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On Friday, October 15, WYHS will celebrate Rosh
Chodesh Cheshvan with the first Rosh
Chodesh
chagigah of the year! Davening will
be followed
by a
special breakfast, lively dancing, and words of
wisdom from WYHS founder Rabbi Kenneth
Brander.World renowned adolesence
expert Dr. David Pelcovitz will be spending this
coming Tuesday at WYHS with students, teachers
and administrators.WYHS parents and the
entire community are invited to
attend a lecture by Dr. David Pelcovitz on
Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. at the Boca
Raton Synagogue. This lecture is the first of three
seminars the attendance at one of which is
mandatory for WYHS parents.
The annual WYHS Shabbat in Hollywood will
take place on October 22-23. The Judaic Studies
faculty members and their families will join the WYHS
families of Hollywood for Friday night dinner and an
Oneg Shabbat. If you live in Hollywood and
have not
yet made your reservations for Friday night dinner,
please click here
to e-mail our Executive Director, Shimmie Kaminetsky
to make reservations.
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| In the Not So Distant Future |
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There will be no school on Friday, October
29 due to a faculty in-service conference
scheduled for that day. The optional PLAN exam will
be given to sophomores at 10 a.m. on that
day.Parent
Teacher Conferences have
been scheduled for Monday, November 1 (A-K) and
Tuesday, November 9 (L-Z). There will be a Friday
schedule on Monday, November
1 with a 2:30 p.m. dismissal, and a regular schedule
on Tuesday, November 9.
On Sunday,
November 7 at 7:00 p.m., bestselling author
Naomi Ragen will be speaking at the South Palm
Beach County Federation, in Zinman Hall, to benefit
WYHS. Tickets are $25 and $45, and sponsorships
are available. All sponsors will be invited to a private
dessert reception after the lecture. Please click here
to e-mail our Executive Director, Shimmie Kaminetsky
to order tickets.
Save the date! The WYHS School
Shabbaton will take place in Orlando, from
Friday, November 19 through Sunday, November 21.
More details, including shabbaton applications, are
coming soon!
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College Guidance Update |
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by Dr. Steven
Cohen
At our College Application Seminar last month, I
shared with the seniors and their parents my
philosophy that there are four keys to successful
college applications: appropriateness, timeliness,
correctness, and accuracy.
- Appropriateness involves the selection of
a school that fulfills the needs (educationally,
religiously, and financially) of the student and his/her
family.
- Timeliness relates to sending all materials
(application, school transcripts, standardized test
scores, etc.) before deadlines.
- Correctness requires that all questions
on applications be completely answered in the format
requested.
- Accuracy entails that information is filled
out to the best of one's knowledge so that the
college can see a true representation of the
applicant.
Despite the storms and chagim, each of
the seniors
has already met with me individually. We have
discussed their college choices and options and the
necessary steps (retaking the SAT and/or ACT,
applications, deadlines, writing the college essay,
transmission of documentation, etc.) to put their
best foot forward. Congratulations to almost half of
our seniors who have sent their applications to
Yeshiva University and Stern College by Oct. 15, the
first of YU's new application deadlines.
In anticipation of the PSAT exam on Wednesday, we
conducted separate seminars on the new
PSAT for the freshman, sophomore, and junior
classes. We believe that the more frequently the
students take these types of aptitude tests and the
more they prepare for them, the better they will do
on them when they ultimately "count". We will
carefully monitor the progress of all of our students
on the PSAT test each year. Changes have been
made in this year's PSAT which reflect the changes
in the SAT, which will be introduced beginning this
coming March.
I plan to begin individual meetings with
juniors to
discuss their college options after December, when
all of the seniors have completed their college
applications.
Please feel free to contact me with any of your
questions or concerns relating to college admissions.
I am available at the school every day from 10:00
a.m. and look forward to working with you on an
individual basis.
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GOOD and WELFARE
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Mazel Tov to WYHS Program Director Rabbi and Mrs. Josh Spodek on the birth of a daughter, Adina Hadas.
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Mazel Tov to Mr. Barry Levontin on the marriage of his son and to sister junior Jordana.
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Mazel Tov to Dr. and Mrs. Bernie Kaminetsky on the bar mitzvah of their son and to sisters sophomore Jordana and Sarah, '04.
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Refuah Shleima to board member Bernie Oppenheim
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Condolences to Mrs. Soraya Peimani on the loss of her mother and to grandson freshman Sasan.
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