the
l ion’s tale
News
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Volume 27• Issue 1 September 1, 2009 • 12 Elul 5769
Swine flu prevention
Indepth
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New teachers
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School • 11710 Hunters Lane • Rockville, Maryland • 20852
Enrollment drop is largest in our history by Adam Weinberger
photo courtesy of Robin Shapiro
Barack Obama Time Just outside of the East Wing of the White House, 22 seniors along with chaperones Victoria Ball, Michael Kay, Roslyn Landy, Robin Shapiro and David Solomon gather for a group picture. Unfortunately, the seniors did not get to see President Barack Obama because he was on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.
Class of 2010 tours White House by David Goldstein On Aug. 27, 22 seniors got to experience American history firsthand by touring the East Wing of the White House. After walking through the visitor entrance building, the seniors stopped in the White House Library, which contains hundreds of important books by American authors. The next stop was inside the Vermeil Room, which still serves as a ladies sitting room and is home to a large collection of gilded silver. While touring the White House, many seniors noticed that the East Wing seemed to be more of a museum than part of America’s central command center. Senior Sydney Liss said, “The White House just seemed more like a museum and so [it] wasn’t as meaningful as I thought.” “It was cool to be in the white house but at the same time there wasn’t much to see and it was just a place for entertaining,” senior Ezra Rudman said. The next stop was the China Room which displays the White House’s vast collection of fine china plates. Directly next to the China Room, the seniors stopped in the East Room which hosts many social events and is the largest
room in the entire White House. “It is used for receptions, ceremonies, press conferences, and other events. It has been the scene of several weddings, including those of Nellie Grant, Alice Roosevelt and Lynda Bird Johnson,” The White House National Park Service guide stated. In every room, the seniors encountered Secret Service guards who answered questions and provided historical information. “The security guards were very interesting and funny. They told stories about meeting celebrities who visit the White House, going on campaign trips around the country with all the presidential candidates, and overall were very knowledgeable,” senior Daniel Himmelfarb said. Next to the East Room, the seniors saw the Green Room which has been used as a sitting room, a lodging room and as a card room. Keeping up with the color themed rooms, the seniors next saw the Blue Room which is used by the president to receive guests. Similar to the Blue Room, the Red Room is “used for small receptions, [and] has long been a favorite of the first ladies. John Adams used [it] as a breakfast room,” according to the White House National Park Service guide. The final stop on the tour was the State Dinning Room, which hosts formal dinners and has a quote from John Ad-
The upcoming 2009-2010 school year will see one of the largest decreases in enrollment at JDS since the opening of the Upper School Campus. Head of School Jonathan Cannon said, “We anticipate that the enrollment number will be around 1300 students, as compared to 1400 last year.” This reflects an enrollment drop of approximately 7.1 percent. “The driving causes for [the drop in enrollment] are as follows: The graduating senior class of 122 is the largest that we have ever had, and together with an incoming kindergarten of approximately 80 students, this accounts for large part of the drop. Additionally, the economy is impacting our enrollment and there are fewer applications, particularly lateral entry applications, than would typically be the case. Also, there is slightly higher than normal attrition that is related to the economic climate,” Cannon said. Many students left JDS because they could not handle the strain of paying for college and private school during a recession.
see ENROLLMENT page 2 ams carved into the mantel that reads, “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.” All in all, most seniors enjoyed the visit even though the tour was short and was self-guided. “The White House Trip was a great opportunity and I was really glad [that] I went. I liked seeing inside The White House and sharing that moment with people in my grade made it even more of a special moment,” senior Lauren Garfinkle said. “I loved having the opportunity to go on the tour with the students and to spend some time with the seniors. It was also wonderful to see our alumni [Josh Lipsky and Julie Siegel] there who helped give the tour,” Academic Dean David Solomon said.
Vietnam War book teaches about more than war by Kyle Hardgrave When I first started reading The Things They Carried, I was tempted to think of it as a war book. That would have been a mistake, for Tim O’Brien’s cohesive collection of short stories about a platoon of American soldiers during the Vietnam War is only somewhat about war. The rest is about the art of writing and the nature of truth. Don’t get me wrong—The Things They Carried was just as engaging as any war novel I’ve ever read, though not always for the usual reasons. O’Brien’s uncomplicated and compelling writing does not have a lot of what you might think of as typical war action—that is, fighting. Instead, he conveys the multifaceted monotony of the Vietnam War for your average draftee. “The war was nakedly and aggressively boring,” he writes. “But it was boring with a twist.” In general, O’Brien spends more time on brooding than on battle, focuses more on feelings than firefights, but never
for an instant does the reader loose the weight of war that hangs around all his stories, and the terrifying excitement that comes with it. That’s the war part. The truth part can be a little more irritating. Just when we get swept up in the authenticity that O’Brien seems to bring to Vietnam, he reminds us that The Things They Carried is “a work of fiction,” shattering the nearly flawless suspension of disbelief that his stories weave.
For the rest of this review and reviews of other summer reading books, see SUMMER READING page 7
photo by Valerie Cohen
Freshman Ethan Walfish peruses The Book Thief, which was the required book for the freshman class to read over the summer. Besides The Book Thief, the freshman class, along with the rest of the school, had to read a book from the list of book club books, chosen by teachers of various departments and seniors. Students will meet in book clubs during the year. hitting the books