The Boiling Point Shalhevet High School • Los Angeles, CA • October 2013 - Cheshvan 5774 • Volume 13, Issue 1 • www.shalhevetboilingpoint.com
New tech classes draw 27 students after school By Eric Bazak, Staff Writer
BP PHOTO bY GOLDIE FIELDS
TRAFFIC: Residents of Barrows Drive, which goes west from Fairfax opposite Shalhevet, are afraid traffic from new apartments being built as part of the project will clog their street in spite of no-left-turn and no-entry signs.
Construction edges closer as city zoning official approves plans for new building By Alexa Fishman, Community Editor A key city zoning administrator has promised to approve Shalhevet’s building plans, meaning that construction could begin this month if no appeal is filed. For now though, the building’s sale to Alliance Residential — which plans to build apartments on the part of the school’s lot where classes are meeting now — has still not gone through. On Sept. 4, Associate Zoning Administrator Fernando Tovar presided over a four-hour construction hearing at Los Angeles City Hall downtown. When it was over, Mr. Tovar said he would support the plans of Shalhevet and Alliance Residential, because Alliance wants to beautify the area and voluntarily improve traffic flow. But according to Ms. Renee Wietzer, who represented City Councilman Tom LaBonge in support of Shalhevet, residents of nearby Barrows Drive may still appeal. “An appeal will depend on whether Alliance will be able to do a private agreement with the people of Barrows Drive,” said Ms. Wietzer, who attended the hearing, in an interview later. An agreement that satisfied the residents would make them less likely to keep fighting the project.
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Karate Champ Newt talks nukes with the Boiling Point at LAX
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“It is not expensive for the public to appeal, [but] hopefully they won’t,” Ms. Wietzer said. The Erev Rosh Hashanah hearing was the final step in the city approval process. Only the group from Barrows Drive protested. Head of School Rabbi Ari Segal had asked a few parents and students to attend and show their support for the project, which envisions a new three-story building at the north (Sport Court) end of Shalhevet’s current campus. Among those who came were juniors Max Helfand and SiContinued on Page 12
Believe it or not, 4:20 dismissal is apparently too early for 27 freshmen and sophomores. They’ve signed up for Shalhevet’s new Sci-Tech-Engineering course, which meets for 90 minutes at a time, two days a week, after school. That’s nearly double the number of students who were expected for the class, and so now two sections have been scheduled instead of one. “We want anyone who is interested in this program to sign up,” said Science Department chair Dr. Jay Smallwood in an email sent to sophomores in August. “You do not have to be an engineer,” Dr. Smallwood said. “The results of this program are phenomenal and as such the demand in the schools that have this program far exceeds the capacity.” Offered exclusively to freshmen and sophomores, the course is being taught by Dr. Smallwood and BP PHOTO BY DORELLE NAHMAnY Rabbi David Stein, who has an engineer- LAB: From left, Kian Marghzar, ing degree from Co- Mark Miller and Eliana Hjortzlumbia University in berg Litov at CIJE Sept. 12 addition to his rabbinical ordination. Though meeting after school, the course will be graded and will count for credit on students’ transcripts. According to Dr. Smallwood, it will be more complicated and time-consuming than the robotics club, which started last year for all grades. There will be no tests, Dr. Smallwood and Rabbi Continued on Page 4
Shalhevet debaters invited to Boston to advise new model US Senate program By Alexa Fishman, Community Editor Four debaters from Shalhevet’s Model Congress team have been invited to beta-test a new Model Senate program being developed at the University of Massachusetts by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate. The institute was endowed in Sen. Kennedy’s will and plans a 40,000-square-foot center in Boston that will house a replica of the Senate chamber, where debate and other types of Senate education will be held. Also on the site will be a museum about Sen. Kennedy’s life, interactive classrooms and a library.
According to Rebecca Rosenthal, Shalhevet’s contact at the institute, the point will be to teach high school and university students how the Senate works. It is expected to open in 2014. “We want the younger generations to want to be involved in politics,” said Ms. Rosenthal. “It’s basically a mock Senate to teach students how to debate and how amendments and bills are passed.” She said the exact date for the conference had not yet been set, but that the beta-testing involving Shalhevet would probably be sometime in the beginning of 2014. Mr. Buckley chose senior Continued on Page 18
Atara Segal is first woman to teach Gemara in LA By Mati Hurwitz, Torah Editor Breaking barriers at least in Los Angeles, Judaic Studies teacher Mrs. Atara Segal became the first woman teaching Gemara in an LA Orthodox high school this fall when she added a 10th-grade Talmud track to her other classes at Shalhevet. In her third year here, Mrs. Segal is teaching onesophomore Talmud class, along with two freshman Tanakh classes and an AP Statistics course. Principal Reb Noam Weissman said the reason for
giving her the class was simple. “She is a real Torah scholar and an excellent role model,”Reb Noam said. Although it is a rarity to find an Orthodox female Talmud instructor, Mrs. Segal has done it before and doesn’t consider it newsworthy. “It’s not a big deal,” said Mrs. Segal about her new role. “Anybody who is qualified should be able to teach anybody.” Mrs. Segal attended Continued on Page 19 a Bais Yaakov-type high