Vol. 28 Issue 2
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Rockville, MD.
December 7, 2010
College recommendations overload teachers, cause confusion ers. Students would give paperwork and self-addressed envelopes to their teachers, who would write the letter and send
by Josh Boxerman Managing Editor
hered to ‘meet the deadline for the college, and if you can’t meet the deadline for the college do the best you can to meet it shortly thereaf-
As the current crop of CESJDS seniors is no doubt acutely aware, the college application process is one of the most stressful aspects of high school. Between essays, standardized tests and decisions, many students barely have time to 70 breathe during the beginning 60 of their final year at JDS. Students overlooked, 50 however, the amount of work that goes into each 40 college application beyond what they complete them30 selves. Behind the scenes, teachers write numerous let20 ters of recommendation while the college guidance office over10 sees the entire process. 0 This year, however, an effort science english other math history by the college guidance office to numbers according to College Guidance Department streamline the process resulted in graph by Noah Zweben added stress for teachers and added confusion for students. Second-year Director of College Guidance Susan Rexford instituted it directly to ter.’ And it’s always worked fine for a number of changes for the 2010the college. Under us,” science teacher Laura Jacobs 2011 school year. Before this year, that system, teachers had a certain said. the process of requesting and sub- amount of flexibility in regards to This year, all letters of recommitting a letter of recommendation deadlines. mendation were submitted eleconly included students and teach“In the past, we’ve always ad- tronically to the college guidance
office, and teachers were obligated to complete each letter within 30 days of receiving the requisite paperwork from a student. According to Rexford, the changes were made in an attempt to submit the letters, along with counselor letters of recommendation and student transcripts, in a single, electronic package. While the electronic compiling system was never set up, Rexford emphasized the value of channeling the entire process through a central location in the college guidance office. According to Rexford, having college counselors handle the transportation of letters would guard against student error and consolidating the disparate pieces of the application would allow colleges to more quickly process students’ applications. Rexford also said that the “30day policy” was not, in fact, a change in policy from last year. “That is not a new policy. That is a policy that has always been in effect—has always existed, has not always been enforced,” Rexford said. At a meeting before the school year began, Rexford said that she specifically pointed out the change
College recommendations by department
Local Jewish-Islamic programs bridge troubled relations by Arielle Panitch Senior Reporter In contrast to the interfaith chaos in the Middle East, local Muslim and Jewish teens are coming together to engage in dialogues and community service projects. The Jewish Islamic Dialogue Society (JIDS) was founded in February 2009 by Daniel Spiro and Hytham Unis. JIDS’ goal is to help foster local Jewish-Islamic relations in hopes of achieving understanding. “There are two reasons why the Jewish-Islamic relationship is unique and necessary. One, because there are so many similarities between the religions… and two, because we are both interested in Middle East peace,” Spiro said. Junior Micah Nelson was a panelist for an interfaith dialogue at the Idara Jaferia Islamic Center last spring. She said that she was very excited to attend when she first heard about it. “I thought it would be really interesting to hear what the Muslim teens had to say. I’ve always been really interested in different cultures and building bridges,” Nelson said. “I thought it would be a nice experience, too, to represent the Jewish community.
I don’t always get to do that. I don’t always get a chance to step out of the Jewish bubble.” Nelson said she enjoyed the experience and was surprised by some of the responses from Muslim teens. “One of the girls… said she wanted to study fashion… to design more fashionable yet still conservative outfits for Muslim women,” Nelson said. Seniors Mira Fein and Amy Lieberman participated in a Jewish-Islamic community service projphoto courtesy of Charlotte Rest ect on Nov. 7 to clean helping hands Kaylee Model and Tahagod Mohamed volunteer toup Meadowbrook Local gether to clean up Meadowbrook Local Park in Chevy Chase. Park. Whether it is called “tikkun olam” in Hebrew AMS) participated in the com- an e-mail, “While we have coursor “islah” in Arabic, community munity service project as well. es (including “Star, Crescent, service is a core value of both Ju“I know that there are a lot Cross”) that introduce students daism and Islam. The JIDS pro- of tensions between Jews and to Islamic history and thought, gram culminated with Muslim Muslims in the Middle East, but we occasionally welcome Muslim and Jewish prayers. I don’t think we should let that speakers to the School... we have “I love the idea of the pro- affect local relationships. It’s im- not been involved recently in gram. Bringing Muslim and Jew- portant to remember that both substantial partnerships with the ish youth together can help build religions just really want peace,” local Islamic community. I would a bridge between the two cultures Mohamed said. “I would like to be very open to our exploring and raise a generation of future come to [JDS] and see how you such opportunities.” leaders who grow up with an em- go through a whole day... I’m Spiro said, “we absolutely phasis on coexistence and mutual curious and want to learn about need young people at our social understanding,” Lieberman said. Jewish religion and culture,” Mo- action programs and dialogues. If Tahagod Mohamed of the All hamed said. we don’t talk and work together Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADPrincipal Michael Kay said in we can never reach peace.”
in enforcement to teachers writing letters of recommendation. However, several teachers interviewed by The Lion’s Tale said that they were never told of the policy. English teacher Caroline Fitzpatrick said that while she was unable to attend the meeting, those who did attend returned with the message that the recommendations would now be submittted electronically through the college guidance office, with no mention of a 30-day window for writing letters. “At no point was this new policy effectively communicated. I think there seems to have been a misunderstanding,” she said. Jacobs did attend the meeting and said she did not recall hearing that teachers had 30 days for writing letters. “At the meeting that we had, what I heard was that students had to give me 30 days, and what I heard was that guidance was going to get them out, so I was thrilled. So maybe I suppressed the information that teachers had to write them within that 30 days. Maybe I missed that if it was said verbally,” she said. see TEACHER RECS, page 4
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