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EDUCATION The members of the MAAC champion Epstein Eagles are (back row, from left) Simon Gersten, Ben Fox, Isaac Jaye, Jordan Shoob, Max Young, Jaron Holzer and Coach Howard Galloway and (front row, from left) Harris Dankberg, Aaron Bock, Mitchell Cohen, Gray Schneider and Kiefer Sturisky.
Epstein Boys Win MAAC The Epstein School’s A boys basketball team won the Metro Atlanta Athletic Conference Division 1 championship with a 37-25 win over the Galloway School.
TDSA Boys Take Division 2
The victory completed an undefeated season for the Eagles. “It has been a great season,” said James Battoglia, affectionately known as Coach B. “Everyone really worked hard and came together as a team. It was a very exciting game.”
The Torah Day School of Atlanta Middle School boys varsity basketball team won the Metro Atlanta Athletic Conference Division 2 championship for the second consecutive season. The Thunder survived a shot at the buzzer by Atlanta Jewish Academy to win the title game 40-39 on Jan. 25. Torah Day trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half but seized the lead in the third quarter. The Thunder, coached by Rabbi Michoel Alterman, reached the championship on a buzzer-beating threepointer by Mordy Lindenblatt that produced a 40-39 semifinal victory. Other members of the team are Dovi Fleshel, Shmuel Horowitz, Yacov Ingber, Dovid Pearlman, Elijah Pelishev, Avi Weiden and Eli Zeiger.
AA, JCC Volunteer Is STAR
FEBRUARY 17 ▪ 2017
Senior Jeremy Colton is this year’s Student Teacher Achievement Recognition student at Riverwood International Charter School, based on results on the SAT Jeremy Colton and class rank, the Sandy Springs school has announced. Jeremy, the son of Jonathan and Rachael Colton, chose science teacher Rama Balachandran as his STAR teacher “because I’ve really enjoyed how she brings physics to life in the classroom.” Jeremy plans to major in mechanical engineering in college. He has been accepted to Georgia Tech and lists MIT, Vanderbilt, Penn and Carnegie Mellon among his top choices. He has the highest SAT score in his Riverwood class and scored a perfect 36 on the ACT. He is a National Merit Scholar semifinalist, a Presidential Scholars Program candidate and an AP Scholar With Honor and received the Georgia Certificate of Merit. He won the
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal for Excellence in math and science. Jeremy founded Riverwood’s Ultimate Frisbee club. He volunteers as a teaching assistant at Ahavath Achim Synagogue’s religious school and as a counselor at the Marcus Jewish Community Center. He tutors other students in math and science. Balachandran said she’s “fortunate to have observed his maturity of thought and reasoning, his ability to not get carried away by successes, and above all his trustworthiness and dependability as a lab aide and a peer tutor.”
Weber Also Names STAR Weber School senior Ross Williams has earned the distinction of being the school’s STAR student, based on having the top SAT score in the class and ranking among the top 10 students. The son of Randi and Mitchell Williams chose technology instructor Michael Chalmers as his STAR teacher. Two years ago, “after witnessing Ross Williams another STAR student and STAR teacher be chosen, I remember going to Dr. Chalmers’ office and stating that if I ever get STAR student, I would choose him. Far-fetched at the time,” Ross said. He said Chalmers helped him start the robotics club and got him involved in a Rube Goldberg project Weber participated in. Ross’ extracurriculars also include Odyssey of the Mind and Safe Cracking, and he’s busy with Magic the Gathering and water sports. “We know that he is destined for great things,” said Joy Gray Prince, Weber’s dean of college advising. Ross is deciding between Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech for college, then plans to pursue industrial engineering.