>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DANCING IN THE STREET-The featured dancers at the City of Beverly Hills Community Services Department Showcase at the Beverly Hills Farmers Market Sunday March are from the Wanna Dance program which meets at La Cienega Community Center and Roxbury Park. For more information about any of the City’s Recreation programs contact 310-285-6810. Pictured left (from left): Lily Jimenez, Shira Shaham, Hannah Bonavida, Myra Fogel, Shirel Vahedifar, Tayla Cohen, and Aryana Shahhian. Photo by Bob Jimenez
BHHS Watchtower Yearbook Recognized For Excellence By Jostens Look Book By Laura Coleman The Beverly Hills High School year book Watchtower was recognized for excellence by its publisher Jostens with portions of the 2014 edition featured in the 2015 Jostens Look Book. The Look Book celebrates the “best of the best” in yearbook design and coverage, de-
scribed BHHS yearbook adviser Gabrielle Herbst. “The Jostens Look Book is a collection of spreads and photos from outstanding yearbooks and their creative themes, cool covers, dazzling designs, relevant coverage, storytelling copy and actionpacked photography,” she said. “Along with design excellence,
the annually published Look Book honors the important role well-crafted yearbooks play in helping schools chronicle the experiences, stories and achievements most relevant to students and that academic year.” Watchtower was one of 476 yearbooks selected from approximately 3,000.
PURIM BALL-Temple Emanuel's 2015 Purim Ball was held last week at The Beverly Wilshire. Tom Gordon, CEO of Cedars Sinai Health System, and Ruth Weisberg were both honored. Pictured (from left): Offer Nissenbaum (managing director of The Peninsula Beverly Hills) and his wife, Bonnie; and Bonnie Nissenbaum; Mark and Lisa Schwartz, co-chair of Purim Ball and B.H. commissioner of Health & Safety; Lisa Greer, president of Temple Emanuel and B.H. commissioner of Cultural Heritage, and her husband Josh Greer.
BEVERLY HILLS COURIER | MARCH 6, 2015 Page 5
A Third Of BHHS Students To SMC; Half Transfer, Report Finds By Laura Coleman A report released this week by Santa Monica College’s Office of Institutional Research, revealed that roughly half of Beverly Hills High School students who enroll at the twoyear community college transfer to a four-year university or college. The report also found that the majority of those students that do transfer to a university from Santa Monica College (SMC) were doing so after two years.
Roughly one-third of Beverly Hills High School 2014 graduates headed to SMC, according to a report authored by Beverly Hills Unified consultant Dr. Phil Chase. “Students and their parents thinking about attending a community college need to understand the realities of transferring to a four year college in two years,” Board of Education President Brian Goldberg said. (see ‘BHHS-SMC’ page 15)
Film Producer Nadine SchiffRosen Offers A Tribute To Her Late Friend Leonard Nimoy By Nadine Schiff-Rosen, Special to The Courier With so many laudatory words written about Leonard Nimoy this week, I am proud to report I have an exclusive: Just In: Leonard Nimoy loved sweets. I know this, because sitting at our kitchen banquette, I would watch him dive in, clutching a spoon, spearing a dish of chocolate ice cream topped off by thick, hot fudge sauce. Closing his eyes in ecstasy, the rapture drizzling down his throat, he would look heavenward—eyes closed, as if in prayer. His eclectic love of confections knew no bounds: Vanilla macaroons, cream-
Susan & Leonard Nimoy
filled éclairs, peanut butter brittle, custards, meringues, puddings, soufflés—I was (see ‘LEONARD NIMOY’ page 15)
World War II Hero, Noted Beverly Hills Attorney And 40-Year Resident Leon Kent Dead At Age 99 By John L. Seitz Noted attorney and World War II hero Leon Kent, a 40year Beverly Hills resident, died last month from complications of pneumonia at age 99. Born in New York on June 23, 1915, Kent finished from high school at 15-1/2 and worked in his father’s piece goods store until entering Dartmouth College from which he
graduated Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year. He spent his senior year at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business before attending Yale Law School and graduated in 1938 with the “Order of the Coif” honors. Kent then applied to several Manhattan law firms after having passed the New York Bar exam but could not get any work as an attorney in New (see ‘LEON KENT’ page 26)
Leon & Simone Kent
REFLECTIONS WINNERS–The national Reflections Arts Program recognized young Beverly Hills artists at the 33rd District level in ceremony held at Hawthorne Memorial Center, El Segundo last week. Student winners included: Liza Freiberg, Sarah Lepkowitz, James Dohm, Andrew Rugendorf, Evan Baron, Dominique Desage, Emily Zhang, Hana Soloway, Aiden Vojdani Tina Yang, Jasmine Vehabzadeh, Esther Goldberg, Madison Nejad, Anna Polin, Sawyer Grijalva, Delara Yektafar, Saba Taheri, Julia Kamara, Carolyn Grijalva, Candice Emrani, Caprice Neman, Jaqueline Ebrahimian, Lucy Kim, Willa Ziegenfuss, Jenny Yoon, Jamie Kim, Katelyn Won, Daxton Cannon, Jessica Chun and Kacey Kim. Pictured (from left): Sharon Persovski, District Council Chair for Reflections, Dominique Desage (BHHS Senior, 1st place photography), James Dohm (BHHS Junior, 1st place music composition), Delara Yektafar (Beverly Vista 1st grader, 3rd place photography), Madison Nejad (Beverly Vista Kindergartner, 2nd place visual arts) and Willa Ziegenfuss (Horace Mann 7th grader, music composition.) Both Desage and Dohm will be competing in the upcoming California state competition.
POLITICAL PICTURE-Beverly Hills Board of Education Member Lisa Korbatov accompanied Rep. Ted Lieu to hear Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his guest in the gallery. Korbatov described: “It was an honor to be the guest of Congressman Ted Lieu and sit in the gallery of the House of Representatives and listen to Prime Minister Netanyahu address the Congress. It was an unforgettable experience and the room was vibrating with applause and dozens of standing ovations . I feel that I was witness to history.” They are pictured in Lieu’s Washington D.C. office.
Simon Wiesenthal’s Rabbi Hier Opines On Netanyahu’s Speech By Victoria Talbot In a rousing speech to the U.S. Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu boldly voiced concern that President Barack Obama’s cooperation with Iran essentially amounts to appeasing that country’s quest for nuclear capabilities. “Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam,” Netanyahu said. “Both want to impose a militant Is-
lamic empire first on the region and then on the entire world . . . In this deadly game there is no place for America or for Israel. The greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapon . . . That, my friends, is exactly what could happen . . . That deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. It would all but guarantee that Iran gets those weapons.” (see ‘NETANYAHU’ page 12)