The Rampage The Newspaper of the Ramaz Upper School
New York • Volume 65 • Issue 8 • May 2021 • Sivan/Tammuz 5781• the-rampage.org
Former VP of Ramaz Finally Elected President of Something (Israel)
Aviva Schilowitz ’24 Is it easier to become the President of Israel than President of the Ramaz Upper School? Maybe. On June 2, Isaac “Bougie” Herzog ‘78, former Vice President of the Ramaz Upper School student government, was elected as Israel’s eleventh President. He will formally assume his new
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role on July 9, 2021. His election came by the largest margin in Israel’s history. Historically, the role of President has been viewed as largely ceremonial, but it has taken on greater importance as recent elections have failed to yield a stable ruling coalition. It is the President’s job to select who gets to try to form a government after an election. Herzog attended Ramaz for three years when his father, Chaim Herzog, was ambassador to the United Nations. Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, former Principal of Ramaz and current Rabbi Emeritus of KJ, remembers Herzog from his time as a student and still talks to him. Rabbi Lookstein recalls that his own father, Rabbi Joseph Lookstein, knew the elder Herzog and encouraged him to send his son to Ramaz. As a student at Ramaz, Isaac did not disappoint. “He davened at KJ every morning. He was always charming and sweet. He was a popular student, a people person.” Rabbi Lookstein says the President-elect is proud of his Ramaz background and mentions it in his speeches often. In recorded remarks from the 2015 Ramaz dinner, circulated to Ramaz families by Mr. Jonathan Cannon, Ramaz’s Head of School, shortly after Herzog’s election, President Herzog expressed his love for Ramaz. “I think it’s an incredible institution. It has left a mark on my life and my family’s
life.” He emphasized Ramaz’s “unique mixture of learning Judaism in a modern way, together with the skills needed to become an independent young person in the modern world as the great success of Ramaz.” Mr. Cannon feels that Herzog’s mission is in complete alignment with Ramaz’s own mission in that Herzog “represents unity and diversity of the Jewish people,” a core aspect of Ramaz’s own mission. Moreover, for Herzog, “Ramaz represents Jews outside of Israel” and his appointment is a “tremendous honor for the Ramaz community.” Rabbi Shlomo Stochel, Ramaz’s Head of Upper School, points out that Ramaz has always sought to cultivate leadership in all its students through, among other things, co-curricular activities, a rigorous education and an active G.O. “The opportunities are vast. We empower students to provide feedback on their experience at school through SFAC, we encourage class presidents to represent their cl assmates, and we urge students to Continued on Page 6
for buildings that are exempt. This rating is calculated by the Energy Star Portfolio Manager, created by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Environmental Protection Agency is targeting buildings because buildings generate roughly 80% of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings over 50,000 square feet are planning to reduce their energy and water consumption by 2024 so as to not be charged a “carbon penalty.” This fine increases every five years, and it is dependent on the size of a building and how much energy and water it uses. For example, if the Ramaz Upper School does not reduce the amount of electricity and water it uses by 50% by 2024, it will be fined $37,030 each year until 2029. From 2030 to 2035, Ramaz will be fined $91,171 a year until 2035. Ramaz will then owe $117,848 from 2035 and on; this last number is a rough estimate and will probably change since 2035 is a long time away. If Ramaz does manage to reduce their energy and water consumption rates by 50% and possibly even more, then not only will they not have to pay a fine every year for the first five year cycle, but their utility cost will also go down. This can be seen as inducement for buildings to be more efficient with their energy and water usage, since their expenses will also reduce. The Ramaz Upper School’s score is significantly lower than additional Upper East Side private schools and other Jewish day schools. While
Ramaz’s energy rating is the lowest score achievable, the Yeshiva University High School for Girls of Central Queens has a score of A99. Even though the Heschel School has to pay a fine beginning in 2024 like Ramaz, their fine is only for $4,095, which is still much less than Ramaz’s penalty from 2024-2029. In comparison to Ramaz’s neighboring private schools, there is still a great gap in the amount of “carbon fines” these institutions will pay. Regis High School, Dalton, and Trevor have a high enough energy efficiency score as to not be penalized with a “carbon fine” every year for the first five year cycle from 2024-2029. The square footage of a building makes it more difficult to lower its energy and water consumption rates, and yet, these
Ramaz’s Lowest Grade: The Energy Rating Eric Kalimi ’22 and Andrew Spielfogel ’23
The New York City Benchmarking Law requires buildings over 50,000 square feet to display their energy and water production rates by its entrance. Though the purpose of this law is to reduce the number of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions, Ramaz has a benchmarking score of D1, the lowest score possible-- other then for buildings that don’t submit their score, and buildings that are exempt. The Energy Efficiency score is based on a scale of A to F, with A being the highest. A represents a score of 85 and higher, B is between 70 and 84, C is between 55 and 69, D is any score lower than 54, an F is for buildings that don’t submit their score, and an N i s
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Inside this issue...
Celebration of the Arts p. 2
LGBTQ+ at Ramaz p.7
Meet Your New GO! p.
8
2EN1OR Memories p.10
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The Rampage
Goodbye to the Rotating Schedule Nicole Hirschkorn ’22 The rotating schedule, a Ramaz staple, was used until last March when the pandemic first hit. The schedule, which consisted of rotating A, B, C, E, and F days, Winter Rosh Chodesh Fridays, M days, and R days, was permanently discontinued by the Ramaz administration. This year, a new schedule was implemented, consisting of only five days a week. Tefillah was moved from its former first period position to second period, and the school day was cut short by just over an hour. Next year’s schedule will be somewhat of a hybrid of the two different schedules. School will begin at 8:15 in the morning, fifteen minutes later than the rotating schedule’s start time, and fifteen
minutes earlier than the current one’s. Classes will end at 4:50 in the afternoon on Monday through Thursday and 1:35 on Fridays. There will be no official winter Friday schedule. Tefillah will continue to take place after first period classes, and there will be time for breakfast afterward. Unlike in previous years, tefillah will consist of the sophomore, junior, and senior grades davening together, as opposed to grades praying separately. 9th graders will continue to daven as an individual grade. In the most recent SFAC meeting, Rabbi Schiowitz discussed the possibility of implementing everyday “special” minyanim, such as singing minyan, women’s tefillah, and exploratory tefillah, as opposed to having those opportunities once a week. Students would be able to switch between
minyanim every third of the year; during those time intervals, students would have to pick one option, instead of moving back and forth. There will be nine academic periods on weekdays, and six on Fridays, all consisting of 40 minutes each. Test days will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays for every grade; this decision was based on survey results from a group of students. When asked for the reason behind removing the rotation schedule, Rabbi Stochel explained that the rotating schedule had many confusing aspects for those new to Ramaz, and caused difficulty scheduling meetings and events. While the rotating schedule was a topic of controversy, many students can agree that it was a unique and memorable part of the Ramaz experience.
together received “overwhelmingly positive” feedback from viewers, but he decided to change different aspects of the show from last year. “Overall it was a successful event, especially since this was one of the first online events Ramaz embarked on.” Another teacher who is heavily involved in Celebration of the Arts is Ms. Rabhan, the head of the art department. Ms. Rabhan said that Celebration of the Arts has been on her mind for the entire school year, and she even integrates different prompts in art classes to prepare for the show. The plans for the online art exhibition will be very similar to last year’s, except for the fact that last year’s show was pulled together in about two weeks, but this year they started gathering artwork to showcase in the middle of April. Ms. Rabhan put together a team of curators for each grade. Evie Rosenfeld, Adrian Rosenfeld, and Charlotte Kleeger are collecting work from the freshmen. Rebecca Kalimi, Charlotte Newhouse, and Daniela Woldenberg are collecting work from the sophomores. Anna Braun, Mia Dentil, and Rachel Freilich are collecting work from the juniors. The seniors don’t necessarily have curators, but the Senior Art Studio class will be submitting artwork they have been working on for the whole year. Thankfully, the plan is also to have an in-person art exhibition at the end of the last day of finals. The curators will be choosing what artwork will be showcased in person and online, as Ms. Rabhan wants to give them a higher level of independence than normal. Similar to Oded, Ms. Rabhan received amazing feedback after last year’s show. She emphasized that the show last year was in the middle of the pandemic and riots were going on in New York City, but many people in the Ramaz community told her that the show was an escape from the chaos in the world around them, which is something she hopes will carry over to this year’s show as well.
Dr. Honig has worked on Celebration of the Arts for many years. She mentioned that the show began as solely a showcase of art and poetry, and the performance aspect was added more recently. She is also involved in the auditioning stage of preparation. She doesn’t work with the performers as much as Oded and Mr. Elisha do since they coach them throughout the whole process, but she rehearses with the readers. She will be coaching the winner and runner-up of the Shakespeare Recital competition and will be involved in ordering the pieces and preparing the playbill. She also mentioned how unfortunate it is that we won’t be able to have an in-person performance aspect, but we should all look forward to the online show and the in-person art show. As a part of the performances of the evening, the Ramaz Dance team will be performing. Arielle Butman ‘21 is one of the captains this year and shared some aspects of their part in the show, as well. She said that they have prepared and choreographed one dance altogether, which is similar to the format of RamJam. They started meeting more regularly right after Moadon Haatzmaut to prepare for the show, and their faculty advisor, Ruth, has been making sure things have been going smoothly. They are planning to wear matching sweatpants and some type of matching t-shirts. Her favorite part of the performance is when the team comes in from the side steps on the stage, because at that moment only the members of the dance team know what is about to happen. “Celebration of the Arts is an outlet for every student because anyone can participate and everyone comes together for a
Celebration of the Arts
Rebecca Kalimi ’23 With New York’s Covid guidelines getting more lenient and allowing life to take in an extra ounce of normalcy, Ramaz students have been hoping for the end-of-year Celebration of the Arts to partially resemble how it would normally play out. In past years, the entire Raamz Community would be welcomed into the auditorium on a Thursday night to watch a series of performances and be wowed by student artwork displayed all around the room. Oded Levari is the head faculty music advisor for the celebration of the Arts program. He is an instrumental music specialist and he is involved in the various ensembles in school. He started thinking about Celebration of the Arts a little bit before Pesach started and began getting in touch with students right after Pesach break. He said that this part of the process, the auditions, is probably the most challenging. Sometimes students show him that they have room for improvement and other times their performances don’t need any work at all, but it can be hard to assess how much time and effort both he and the student will need to put into practice. He plans for the show to be a community event celebrating and showcasing various activities that take place in Ramaz. He says that in this sense, the program won’t be so different than normal since the goal is to share and celebrate the artistic work students do. A group of students will help run the event. Included in this group are Ita Newman-Getzler ‘21, Samantha Sinensky ’21, and Simeon Dicker ‘21. Oded added that although they are only a group of three students, they have been really helpful throughout the process thus far. Regarding last year’s show, Oded and the whole team that worked
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
common goal, which is to celebrate each other’s talents.” Simeon Dicker ’21 mostly helped during the auditions and assessing students’ abilities. He is working closely with Mr. Elisha and Oded to ensure the student’s success. He began thinking about Continued on Page 5
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
The Rampage Ramaz Upper School
New York • Volume 65 • Issue 8 • May/June 2021 • the-rampage.org
FACULTY ADVISOR Dr. Steven Milowitz EDITORS-IN-CHEIF Caitlin Levine ’21 Rebecca Massel ’21 Gabby Ostad ’21 Samantha Sinensky ’21 LAYOUT EDITORS Julia Feit ’22 Rachel Freilich ’22 Sarah Ginsberg ’22 PUZZLES & MEME EDITOR Isaac Silverman ’21 PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Tammy Palagi ’21 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ashley Behm ’24 Ethan Davidovitch ’22 Sydney Eisenstein ’22 Julia Feit ‘22 Rachel Freilich ’22 Abby Gurwitz ’23 Nicole Hirschkorn ’22 Daniel Kalimi ’23 Eric Kalimi ’22 Rebecca Kalimi ’23 Charlotte Kleeger ’24 Keren Kubersky ’21 Alex Paul ’23 Jake Rubin ’22 Aviva Schilowitz ’24 Rebecca Silber ’23 Sarah Silverman ’24 Andrew Spielfogel ’23 Charles Spielfogel ’21 Hannah Tambor ’23 Emily Vayner ‘23 The Rampage is the student newspaper of the Ramaz Upper School. It is published on a monthly basis. Letters to the editors may be submitted to rampage@ramaz.org. Letters must be signed and may be edited to conform to The Rampage style and format. The opinions expressed in The Rampage are of the author’s alone, and do not represent the views or opinions of Ramaz, The Rampage, or its editors.
The Rampage
Student Summer Plans
Rachel Freilich ’22
After last summer, when most summer plans were cancelled due to the pandemic, this year Ramaz students are finding ways to create their own, unique summer. Even though some plans were cancelled, more programs arose and students were able to find the right path for themselves. Some students decided to be a counselor in a sleepaway or day-camp. Others decided to pursue an internship or take online courses. Even some travel programs are taking place! Others will be spending time studying for standardized tests or working on their college applications. Furthermore, the Summer Mentorship program will be taking place again for the second summer. Certainly, this won’t be a summer of let downs as students are more prepared to take a risk and try something new. Sleepaway-camps are prepared to stay open for a full seven weeks this summer. Last summer, these camps were only open for a few weeks due to the fear of a Covid-19 outbreak. Camps are now prepared and have learned from their experiences last summer. Izzie Ottensoser ’22 will be working as a camp counselor at Camp Seneca Lake. She said, “Working at Seneca last summer, even during the pandemic, was one of the best summers of my life. I was able to step away from the Covid world for a few weeks and just hang out with my friends.” Camp Seneca Lake set up a “bubble”, so campers and staff were able to remove their masks after the first few days. Ottenssoser will be returning to be a counselor again and she can’t wait to once again step away from the busy city and spend the summer outside. Kol Hanearim, a program that connects American teenagers to Israeli youth who live in at-risk homes, was cancelled for the second summer. Even though the staff and alumni from Kol Hanearim were optimistic about this summer’s program, the situation in Israel and the uniqueness of their program forced them to cancel this summer’s plans. Students who were scheduled to participate in Kol Hanearim needed to find new plans, which included working at a summer camp or taking an online course. Sarah Ginsberg ’22 was planning
News 3
on traveling to Israel for her first time this summer as a part of the Kol Hane ar im program. Her hopes were let down when the program was cancelled. However, she discovered that she was still able to make her summer meaningful by interning with a dentist. Although Kol Hanearim was cancelled, other travel programs are still happening. Ramah is still hoping to bring their campers to Israel as part of their Seminar program. Students have already purchased plane tickets and are very optimistic that this program will not fall through, as Israel’s guidelines are beginning to ease up. There are also many summer programs available for students who are interested in journalism. Columbia University offers two-week courses in their Summer Immersion program with a wide range of courses from Entrepreneurship to Creative Writing. On the subject of Journalism, they offer Creative Writing: Advanced Workshop, Creative Writing: Introductory Workshop, Journalism and Nonfiction, Master Class in Fiction, Introduction to Creative Writing, and Introduction to Journalism and Nonfiction. Furthermore, Boston University’s College of Communications offers their Summer Journalism Academy and New York University offers Summer Journalism at NYU. This summer presents an opportunity for students to try something new and explore outside of their comfort zone. Many programs exist and although some may be virtual, they are informative and engaging. As the world steps in the right direction with Covid-19, students hope that their in-person plans remain plausible and that their return to school after the summer will look more “normal” than this past year.
3-Feet Social Distancing
Eric Kalimi ‘22 To comply with New York State Education Department (NYSED) guidelines at the beginning of the school year, the administration separated desks six feet apart. Because of how far apart the desks are, only two grades can learn in the building at once: forcing students to attend online classes two to three times a week. Now that the number of new Covid cases is declining, the CDC issued a recommendation, which reduced the recommended six feet of social distancing to three feet of social distancing. As a result, the New York State Department of Health,NYSDOH, and NYSED reduced the social distancing requirement to only three feet. Decreasing the space between desks would allow three grades to use the building simultaneously. Although most areas in New York have adopted the new social distancing policy, Ramaz still can not adopt the new protocol. During a public health emergency, the local Department of Health (DOH)
has jurisdiction over regulations. The CDC and the NYSED recommend switching to a three foot social distancing standard, but the local department of health (NYC DOH) has yet to adopt it. Ramaz can not move forward with their new social distancing plans until the local DOH adopts the shorter social distancing rules. The City generally lags a few weeks behind the state guidelines, so Ramaz officials are hopeful that the NYC DOH regulations will lessen in the coming weeks. The NYC Department of Health holds regular meetings that Ramaz nurses and Ms. Shlomovich, Ramaz’s chief operating officer, attend. Ms. Shlomovich says that the presenters indicated that the NYC DOH would approve the three foot social distancing policy with two conditions in the coming weeks. The first condition is community approval. Schools need to show that their constituents are willing to relax the Covid restrictions. To address this, Ramaz sent a google form asking parents and faculty if they are comfortable with three feet social distancing. The other requirement is that students still need to be six feet apart while eating and unmasked. This means that some areas need to have desks separated by six feet so students can eat. The administration needs to account for meal time in their submission plan to the DOH when they accept the new guidelines. Ms. Shlomovich, who is heavily involved with Covid planning, described how she thinks school will look in the first semester next year based on the DOH meetings she attended. She believes masks are almost
certainly here to stay for the foreseeable future. She also imagines a hybrid schooling system similar to today’s, but with more days in person because of three feet social distancing. She thinks that until the Covid vaccine is approved for younger school age children, we will be seeing some of the same Covid protocols in place. In summary, the NYSED announced new distancing protocols that would allow far more students to use the building than previously possible. Despite the protocol’s approval throughout the rest of New York State, schools in New York City will still follow six foot social distancing until the local DOH also approves the rule. Ramaz has prepared for the DOH’s approval so three grades can learn in the building at once as soon as possible.
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The Rampage
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
Ramaz’s Academic, Competitive, Politics and Law Based Teams Emily Vayner ‘23 Ramaz offers a plethora of academic, competitive, politics and law based clubs and teams, including Debate, Mock Trial, Model Congress, Model UN, and Moot Court. Each club is different from the other, but they all require the team members to be strong public speakers and have proficient debating skills. After interviewing a member of each club, we received a personal outlook on members’ motives for joining the clubs, how the clubs function, and some of this year’s victories. Eliza Binstock ‘23 joined the Debate Team this year because “being able to debate any topic is an important skill for anyone to have. These skills teach students how to research a certain topic, gather supporting arguments, and perform well in a debate.” During the Debate meetings “we
review how to cross-examine our opponents, and create specific strategies to use during a debate, such as quick thinking and being able to anticipate what our opponents might argue.” Before competitions, she practices by “rereading speeches, preparing possible cross examination questions, and researching evidence to support arguments and contradict opponents arguments.” Binstock participated in a two round debate this year where she had to argue both for and against Donald Trump’s
possible incitement of insurrection, and whether or not he deserved conviction. “My partner, Ariella Goloborodsky, and I won our second round, where we held the negative position.” Ilana Kahn’23 joined the Mock Trial team this year because of her love for debating and interest in “our country’s laws and democratic society. My sister is currently applying to law school, giving me a further understanding of what the judicial system does.” She was first excited after attending the club’s information session because the club realistically simulated actual court. “At the start of the season the team met every Tuesday for an hour to discuss the general rules of Mock Trial, and practiced previous Mock Trial cases as well as New York State’s official Mock Trial case. We were each assigned a role as either plaintiff lawyer, plaintiff witness, etc.” Kahn said that later in the season when preparing for competitions, writing and editing drafts, practicing examinations, and using possible objections and responses, the team practiced for three hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. This year the team had three competitions. “We won the first and second but lost on the third. We were creative in our questions which made us stand out from the other teams.” Rebecca Kalimi ‘23 joined the Model Congress team because she values debating and politics. During the meetings, the chair of the debate “will send us a bill which we have seven minutes to research and we debate affirming or negating the bill by delivering a series of speeches and rebuttal questions.” In order to prepare for competitions, the team composes their own bills with the help of the team captains. “The meets have gone over Shabbat, so we haven’t had the chance to participate for the full time, although, we are definitely eager to.” Ilan Putterman ‘23 joined the Model UN team his freshman year of highschool. Prior to
trying out for the team he participated in a summer Model UN program. He says that the team enables students to feel like a UN delegate. During the team’s meetings they “review the procedures for Model UN conferences and run through mock conferences.” This year the team competed in the Yeshiva University National Model United Nations Conference. “Samara Blatt won Best Delegate and Nicole Hirschkorn received an Honorable Mention in their respective committees.” The newly found Moot Court team closely simulates proceedings in appellate courts such as the U.S. Supreme Court. Joining Moot Court helps students pursue their passion for law and debate as many law schools hold Moot Court as a co-curricular activity. The club meets every Thursday for an hour and practices by holding Mini-Moots. Students act as either petitioners, the party bringing the appeal, respondents, the party responding to the appeal, or even as a Justice alongside Dr. Herzog and her sister, Attorney Michelle Herzog. Students are given 15 minutes to study the case in teams, conduct research, and prepare oral arguments. Petitioners are required to make their speeches first, followed by respondents, which are followed by questioning and rebuttals from each side. At the end of this year we hope to hold a large intramural Moot Court in which multiple teachers will act as justices. We are looking forward to next year’s competitions in the Yeshiva League.
Au revoir Madame Bellaiche Andrew Spielfogel ’23 Madame Bellaiche is Ramaz’s French teacher, and we are saying goodbye to her this year. Madame is moving back to France with her family, and she is very sad to leave the Ramaz community. Madame has been working at Ramaz for 4 years. She said “the school welcomed me with warmth, kindness, and made me feel like I was part of the family immediately.” As a student of Madame for two years, I can confidently say that she was the perfect teacher. She understood how to cater to all of her students’ needs in the classroom, integrated fun activities to make French more fun, and would constantly check up on anyone if they had any trouble learning. Ironically, my favorite moments with Madame were on the last few days of school. On the last day of classes, Madam’s 10th grade second year class threw her a party. They made a colorful poster, brought French treats such as croissants and madeleines, and bought her a bracelet to remember the class. They also made her a fake passport saying that she can use it to visit the class next year. Madames’ students have a lot to say about her departure. Eliana Cepelowics ’23 said: “Madame Bellaiche not only taught me a great deal of
French, but she also made me look forward to her class every single day, whether it was on Zoom or in person. She made the class about French culture and French language, and I know I am going to remember every verb she’s ever taught us. I’m really going to miss her.” Alex Paul ’23 said: “It’s very cool to have Madame as a French teacher because she understood what I needed to learn to speak French fluently. I will miss her throwing markers at me every time I go on my phone or get an answer wrong.” When asked about what specifically she loved at Ramaz, Madame answered: I loved every single moment at Ramaz! I have been amazed by the kindness of the kids and their interest in learning. I have too many amazing memories, from baking crepes with them, to singing songs, discussing French gastronomy, or fashion. But what I really enjoyed the most was when I saw them write full stories in French and realizing they could write and understand French!” Additionally, Madame will miss her students the most, and loved interact-
ing with them. “As the mother of teenagers myself, I know how hard the journey of high schoolers can be. I tried to give to my students what I hope someone would give to my own children to make their journeys smoother. I enjoyed each day with them and feel I received as much from them as I gave them.” Madame, thank you for being not only our teacher for the past four years, but someone we all grew to admire. The Ramaz community wishes you the best in France! P.S. Madame will still be teaching an AP French class live from France next year.
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
The Rampage
Alex Paul ’23 and Ethan Davidovitch ’22
the Department of Health (DOH) gives periodic check-ins, and they gave the green light to play “low to moderate risk sports” just recently. Ramaz sports aren’t just about the game. Many students say that belonging to a Ramaz team is equivalent to belonging to a family. The teamwork that sports require creates ample opportunities for friendship to grow. “Baseball has given me the ability to make friends in a bunch of different grades, and it was really great to have it as a part of my Ramaz experience.” said Simeon Dicker ‘21. So, when sports were cancelled, many students, especially underclassmen, missed out on the opportunity to make those new friends. Michael Pagovich ‘22, another member of the baseball team, was thrilled about sports returning. “This is a first step towards getting back to normal and a chance to bond again with friends and teammates,” he said. Michael enjoyed his experience on the baseball team freshman year and is hyped to be getting back on the field. EJ Singer ‘22, a member of the tennis team since his freshman year, felt similarly. “It shows that life is finally getting back to normal,” he said. With vaccination rates among students growing, he’s ready for a full year of sports next year. As seen by her frequent Schoology posts, Ms. Cohen is loving the return of sports. According to Ms. Cohen, tennis, basketball, and volleyball are the most popular sports. She encourages freshmen to try out for a sport, as she says it’s a great way to meet new people and “enriches the Ramaz student experience.” All in all, competitive sports are a crucial and appreciated part of Ramaz that students are incredibly happy to see back. “When sports were
Competitive Sports are Back! Though Ramaz has been able to provide after-school athletics since the start of second semester, there have not been any games or leagues with other schools– until now. Tennis, baseball, and track are among the sports returning this spring to play other schools competitively. This year’s sophomores, who hardly got a taste of Ramaz’s spring sports, are especially excited to finally be able to experience what it means to be on a Ramaz team. Last school year,
when in-person learning morphed into zooming from home, sports seasons faced an abrupt ending. However, after months of social distancing and hybrid learning, the Rams are thankful to say that competitive sports are back! One person who’s especially excited that competitive sports have returned is Ms. Cohen. She eagerly stated that tennis, basketball, baseball, volleyball, track, table tennis, and soccer are all returning. However, there are caveats that come with the return of these sports. According to Ms. Cohen,
Junior College Night Ethan Davidovitch ‘22 and Julia Feit ‘22
On the nights of April 24th and 26th, college representatives from numerous universities visited Ramaz– virtually, of course. Normally, these representatives would all flock to 78th street for in-person information sessions and give their presentations after school hours for students and parents. But due to the obvious constraints of the pandemic, college representatives and admissions officers were unable to visit schools live. So, in order to keep the program running, the Ramaz college guidance office moved the meetings online. About two weeks before the program, the Ramaz college advisors sent a form out to all juniors, allowing them to select up to eight schools they wanted to hear from– four on each night. Ms. Shulman, the registrar, then assigned each student an individual schedule based on their selections. Parents had the opportunity to attend the eight sessions with their children on the same device or join
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cancelled due to covid, it was almost suffocating, because I didn’t have somewhere to escape to, and I didn’t have that break to free myself from the stress of life” says Eliza Binstock ’23. Now that they’re back, students have regained both their stress outlet and a place to cultivate friendships. Go Rams!
separately. Most juniors signed up for eight colleges and had back-to-back programming from 6:30 to 8:30 on either night. Sydney Eisenstein ‘22 explained, “The night was pretty long and I felt a little rushed, constantly switching from one meeting tab to another. It was also pretty stressful having two tests in math and physics that same week with the large amount of time dedicated to these Zoom sessions at night.” Most college representatives went through prepared slides before opening the floor up for questions from prospective students. Each representative chose to present their college differently to the group and the experience was limited to the information given by a select person in half an hour. Benji Goldstein ‘22 added, “I thought that the college sessions were helpful in providing me with a general sense of each school. They helped me grasp a basic understanding of the school, but were very brief. I still plan to visit the schools which in-
terest me in-person once I get the opportunity.” A noticeable aspect of the sessions was that most college representatives didn’t bring along current students on the Zoom. Ziv Bolton ‘22 explained, “The college representatives were helpful in explaining the more factual, academic information about the school. However, I didn’t fully understand what campus life was like at the colleges and feel like I would benefit from visiting the campuses and hearing from students.” The college guidance office put a strong effort into this program, and they got an excellent return on their investment, as it ran smoothly. Generally though, the reaction to College Night was mixed. Many had only positive reviews of the program, but Rachel Freilich ‘22 perhaps summed up the mixed feeling: “I thought that they were informative but I also felt that a lot of the schools sound very similar on Zoom. It’s difficult to decide where you see yourself when you don’t visit in person.”
ordinate such an inspirational event for an entire community. Appointed by Ms. Rabhan, Anna Braun ‘22 is the head artistic curator for Celebration of the Arts. Her job is to oversee and coordinate the individual grade curators and help them organize their artwork collected from students in their grades. Her job is slightly different from the rest of the curators because she is also focusing on organizing the exhibition as a whole rather than focusing solely on individual artists. Since the beginning of April, she has been brainstorming with the other curators trying to figure out how to make Celebration this year uniquely big and different from other years. Her favorite part of the show is “the overall
atmosphere celebration brings.” She is excited to watch this show serve as a “somewhat official public exhibition.” “We have so many artists with incredible volumes of work, and the fact that they have the opportunity to take part in this is thrilling.” To Braun, Celebration is about the art of the student body, both visual and performing arts. “I think it’s really cool that we have an event that allows students to display their talent with their peers.” Overall, Celebration of the Arts this year has many aspects to it that are similar to last year’s online show, but everyone involved is working hard to make sure that this year’s show has an outstanding effect on the entire Ramaz community.
Celebration of the Arts Continued From Page 2
Celebration a few weeks ago and is excited to see all of his work pay off in the form of a night shared by the whole Ramaz community. His favorite part of the show is watching students spend a night together just listening to their classmate’s talent and almost being surprised at their abilities. He is happy to leave high school knowing that he helped co-
News 6
Junior Fugue Day
Jake Rubin ’22 Every year the Ramaz Junior grade performs their fugues on Fugue Night, this year was different. We had students performing their fugues in the auditorium during the test and lunch period with a livestream for parents to tune in. The fugue topics ranged from the coronavirus, to meals, and TikTok dancers. Fugues are not like ordinary songs; they are based on subjects and counter-subjects which are developed and altered but maintain the same ideas. There are lyrical fugues where students develop a subject such as “Lil’ Henny Spittin” and the counter subject “Pulling up in the scooter.” Another fugue had the subject “I want to go downtown to see New York” and it used alterations in the tempo and the sentence structure to create a piece that was rhythmic and musical. All of the fugues had several voices, two were students and Mr. Henkin was the third, with one exception of a trio of students. Of all of the fugues, the most impressive ones were the melodic fugues. Students who composed melodic fugues first had to create a subject (motif) and then a countersubject using musical notation rather than words. One melodic fugue was played on the piano, and the other one was played on electric and acoustic guitars. Each fugue took about 2 minutes to perform, and with 18 total fugues the assembly ran into lunch, so the 11th grade got to enjoy a free 5th period as well. Overall Fugue Day was a great time for the 11th grade to relax and enjoy the product of their quarter semester of work in music class.
The Rampage
Lil Henny Spittin Performance
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781 These were the fugues: • New York, New York by Jordan Mittler and Caleb Rosenfeld • Corona Fugue by Cy Aminzadeh and Emmet Ades • Getting Ready by Jared Harnick and Jake Rubin • Cereal Killers by Corey Title and Eric Kalimi • Time To Munch by Jonah Hornblass, Julius Rubinsten, and Norma Tawil • 601 Fugue by Nicole Hirschkorn and Ben Rosen • Rev in D Major by Zev Woldenberg and Ron Alweiss • Bed Making Blues by Arlette Gindi and Ozzie Kremer • TikTok Dancers by Jonathan Zahavi and Ethan Davidovitch • Poker Fugue by Joe Kaplan and Raphael Silver • Buzzer Beater by Ziv Bolton and Michael Lindenbaum • Lil Henny Spittin by Morris Dabah and Alex Berman • Rex and Joro Clock by Jack Cohen and Jordan Rechtschshaffen • Schoolwork by Sam Koffler and Emily Rosenfeld • Dessert Fugue by Ben Cole and Ben Yazdi • Candy Andy by Benji Goldstein and Noam Morali • What’s in the Crock? By Jeremy Miller and Yona Weinstock • Lunch by Michael Gersten and Maurice Maschiach
Lag Ba’Omer: Did Ramaz Do Enough? Julia Feit ’22 In a typical fashion, Ramaz celebrated the annual holiday of Lag Ba’Omer by connecting students with nature. This year’s outdoor activities were Covid-19 friendly, engaging for students, and in the spirit of the Jewish day. Although the pandemic posed specific difficulties, the health committee adapted the plans to ensure that each grade cohort remained isolated. Specifically, the school rented extra buses to allot individual rows for each student in order to reduce contact during the ride to school. Over the span of a week, the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors visited the Discovery Park in Norwalk, Connecticut. Because the health committee was insistent on separating cohorts, each grade attended their trip on different days. Therefore, most students did not have any planning on the actual day of Lag Ba’Omer, Friday,
April 30th, the 18th of Iyar. For example, the junior grade visited the day before the actual holiday and the freshmen on the following Monday. Sydney Eisenstein ’22, “I had an amazing time on the trip, but I wish that Ramaz had something planned for the actual holiday. Teachers did not really explain the historical significance of the day so most students just viewed the day as any other school day. I would have hoped that my Jewish studies classes took the time to delve into the meaning behind Lag Ba’Omer and why the school celebrates by taking us on a trip.” In particular, the freshmen had very limited programming on Lag Ba’Omer as their trip happened over ten days after the actual holiday. Rebecca Podolsky ’24 explained, “I barely even knew it was Lag Ba’omer on Friday because it wasn’t really mentioned in my classes. I knew our grade was going on a trip, but I wasn’t sure when the 33rd day of the Omer was or the meaning behind the day.”
President Herzog: The Ramaz Grad Continued From Page 1
advocate for themselves. Student voice is taken very seriously.” Perhaps because of this, Rabbi Stochel says that Ramaz has a long history of teaching the children of diplomats like Herzog. “We’ve had many children of diplomats. I myself taught [former Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu’s daughter and [former Director-General of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs] Dore Gold’s daughter.” Currently Ambassador Erdan’s son, Ohad, attendees Ramaz. Most importantly, Rabbi Lookstein thinks Mr. Herzog is going to do well as President. “His father was an outstanding President. He will do at least as well, if not better than his father. He gets
along beautifully with people and has high emotional intelligence.”
Rachel Freilich ’22 added, “I had an amazing time bonding with my grade in a recreational, outdoor setting. I know that the students have suffered socially from the pandemic, so it was really nice to see everyone together again and having fun. Yet, I wish that the school, in particular my Judaic classes, had explained to us why we celebrate the holiday each year.” The overall consensus among students was that they enjoyed the ropes course and adventure-packed day with their grade. The ropes course was a well-deserved treat for students, but hopefully next year Ramaz students will learn more about the holiday they’re celebrating...
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
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LGBTQ+ In Ramaz and Its Policies Charlotte Kleeger ’24 In recent years, Orthodox Judaism has increasingly recognized the LGBTQ+ community. Perhaps this is most visible in the implementation of inclusion policies by several Yeshivot, which recognize, accept, and welcome students who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. Eshel is an organization in support of these inclusion policies. Their mission “is to create a future for Orthodox lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals, and their families.” According to Eshel, some Yeshivot that have a full inclusion policy are: The Frisch School, Shalhevet High School, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, and SAR High School. Other schools have partial inclusion policies, such as Robert M. Beren Academy, DRS – Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, Katz Yeshiva High School, Columbus Torah Academy, and Kohelet Yeshiva High School. As an example, Frisch’s inclusion policy states: “With full and unwavering commitment to all halakhic precepts, and in consultation with leading rabbanim, we commit to the following with regard to gay students: We commit that our Yeshiva will be a place where gay students are treated with the respect and caring that all students deserve. They will be welcomed to participate in the full range of educational, co-curricular, and religious opportunities offered by our school.” The Ramaz school does not have an inclusion policy of this sort. Would it be beneficial? What is the perspective of the LGBTQ+ community at Ramaz? “It is a good question to think about whether or not it is time for there to be a more formal inclusionary language,” Ms. Krupka, Dean of Faculty, told the Rampage. “We obviously have our mission statement of menschlichkeit, in which all people, no matter who you are, are people to accept and be part of our community. We also have our
harassment, bullying, and social media policies, which include everyone.” This topic has clearly been discussed by the administration. Currently, they are working on rewriting Preludes, the student manual, and plan to incorporate student input. Ms. Krupka feels that it is absolutely beneficial to insert a formal inclusionary policy. Ramaz has brought in Orthodox gay speakers to discuss their experiences. Further, they have reached out to alumni regarding this issue. “I’ve spoken to alumni who have come out after graduating, to ask them about their experience of being gay at Ramaz- even not out, and why it took till after high school to come out. I’ve had a lot of discussions about cultural experience with kids about being gay at Ramaz,” said Ms. Krupka. Interestingly, although Ramaz accepts gay students, Ms. Krupka noted that most yeshiva kids don’t come out until after high school, although it is very possible that this is changing. Is this because the students felt that homosexuality at an Orthodox school would be frowned upon? “What could the school do either formally, from a policy perspective, or a cultural perspective- what could we have done differently to make you feel like coming out in high school wouldn’t have been safe and acceptable? Was it Judaism or just adolescence? I’ve thought about this a lot and I’ve had a lot of conversations with kids. They said that they never felt comfortable coming out in high school. They didn’t think that it was because they thought that they wouldn’t be accepted, but more just because it wasn’t talked about enough.” Ms. Krupka agreed that there wasn’t enough of a dialogue about homosexuality. She explained that most of the time the topic surfaces in a context that is in tension with Judaism, when it should arise in other areas as well. “It’s not there in the culture enough to make it feel normalized. Ms. Krupka told the Rampage that this would have to include both faculty and students together. Faculty members who are gay should be told that they can be open about their partners. Knowing that they are supported by Ramaz would undoubtedly help students feel that they don’t have to hide. She commented that there is both a teacher perspective and a student perspective - is Ramaz creating a culture amongst our students in the way they socialize and the way they interact to ensure that these students feel comfortable? Ms. Krupka suggested running certain programs, such as having a panel of alumni who are now openly gay or
collaborating with organizations that work with kids who are trying to come out. “We need to get the conversation rolling more,” she said. “Being gay can’t only show up in a book you’re reading in literature or a judaic studies class that’s talking about homosexuality and Judaism. Being gay has to be something that we talk about because it’s part of people’s identity.” Students were also asked their opinions on this subject. Some are in favor of the policy. “Ramaz should most definitely have a formal inclusion policy,” says Sarah Silverman ‘24. “LGBTQ+ rights are a necessity and a daily aspect of life. We can’t just ignore them. Therefore even though we go to a religious school, where people don’t like to talk about these issues, we have to talk about them.” “I think that an inclusion policy is a great idea,” says Liam Gomberg ‘24. “However, since I’m not part of the community, I feel like it’s not really my place to have an opinion.” Rebecca Kalimi ‘23 told the Rampage: “I think that Ramaz, as a yeshiva and a private school, has no obligations or reasons to instate an inclusion policy but I think that Ramaz as a school normally stays up to date with accepting new advancements in society. An inclusion policy would ensure students that are part of the LGBTQ community would feel more comfortable in school and know that they are safe in the Ramaz community, which I think is something very important to the Ramaz administration.” It seems as though most students support an inclusion policy. However, there are some who oppose it. A sophomore boy said: “I am against an inclusion policy for LGBTQ+ students, as the Torah and other halachic sources forbid homosexual intercourse and cross-dressing. Although, we should not ostracize these students, because the actual sin is in committing these actions- not thinking of doing them.” The Ramaz administration has put significant thought into this very important topic. As summed up by Head of School, Mr. Jonathan Cannon, “As members of our community are learning about how they understand their sexual identities, it is essential that Ramaz develops inclusion policies and procedures to ensure that LGBTQ+ students feel safe, supported and that they belong in our community.”
Summer Mentorship Program Sarah Ginsberg ’22 Are you wondering what to do with your free time this summer? Well, you’re in luck! This summer, Ramaz is launching a free five-week Summer Mentored Project for sophomores and juniors that will run from July 13 to August 21. This program is designed to help sophomores and juniors create and execute a summer project about something they want to know more about or are interested in exploring. The project can be about an academic subject such as: computer science, history, Judaic studies, science, etc. On the flip side, it can be about something you’re passionate about, which doesn’t have to do with academics, such as: social media, art, chesed, and music. These are just a few of the many fields you can choose from; it can be about anything as long as it requires help. This project will prepare students for independent learning
as students are expected to work on this project on their own and online classes will not be given. The only requirement is that you spend a minimum of 6 hours a week for 5 weeks working on this project. The Summer Mentored Project will pair each stu dent with a Ramaz faculty or staff member who will serve as his/her mentor. Though most of the student’s work will be done independently, mentors will meet with their students once a week on Zoom. During these Zoom calls students can ask their mentors any questions they have and make adjustments to their plan. Students are also free to send their mentors drafts of their project if they want to receive feedback. The final project of each student can differ based on their topic. Students that are working on academic projects can simply discuss what they learned with the Ramaz community as their final project. They can choose to present their project in class, during
an assembly, in an article in the Rampage, or even in a Ramaz club. On the other hand, students that are completing a project that produces something at the end, such as art, can use the piece they have been working on as their final project. Lastly, students that are focusing on a more business approach can create a business plan or even launch a business as their final project. In order to participate in this Summer Mentored Project, students must fill out an online application by June 29th consisting of their subject and a description. There is no GPA required, but students with an F or W on their transcript will not be accepted. If you’re interested in taking part in this program this summer, start thinking about a project proposal and don’t forget to sign up !
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May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
MEET YOUR NEW GO M
Yona Weinstock, President
As the GO president, I want to make next year an amazing year. This year was extremely limited, and as President, I hope to give every grade several opportunities to make up for lost time, and make more memories as a grade. My favorite part of Ramaz is the community. Your grade provides you with life long friends, and ramaz provides you with a larger community which spans generations. It gives you connections to all different types of people, and anywhere you go you are bound to find somebody who went to Ramaz and have an instant connection with them.
Izzie Ottensoser, Vice President
As vice president, I hope to give the students a voice and make the student experience better for everyone!! My favorite thing about the school being in nyc and relationships i’ve developed with the teachers.
Rachel Freilich, Associate Vice President of Communications
This year I want make sure that I advocate for the student body in every situation! It’s important for the students to feel that someone is listening to them and helping them have the best and most productive year. My favorite things about Ramaz are my amazing friends and the close community Ramaz creates.
Norma Mattout, Associate Vice President of Student Life
I want the students at Ramaz feel comfortable voicing their opinions to me or anyone else on the GO. More importantly, I don’t want their voices to go unheard. My goal is simply to create an environment where everyone is comfortable speaking up enjoying every minute they are in school.
Alex Paul, Junior Vice President
As the junior vice president, I want to enrich the student experience both by adding exciting and fun things to every day student life along with keeping the GO organized and running smoothly! My favorite thing about Ramaz (besides my friends :) ) is the school spirit!! I love going to home games and seeing everyone dressed in blue and yellow.
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
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LOOKING BACK: HIGHLIGHTS OF 2020-2021 Sydney Eisenstein ’22 While this year was void of many regular activities at Ramaz, the administration and faculty worked hard to create various trips, programs, and activities to supplement those losses. The school year began with hungry students carrying all of their binders and textbooks, without a place to sit and veg. Shortly after, the Parents Council created a lunch service, students were assigned lockers, and bean bags were added to the empty lounges. Students were given the opportunity to eat lunch outdoors on the terrace and on 78th street. Among many differences this year, Ramaz had a five day schedule as opposed to a rotating schedule. In terms of the student government, there was not only one GO election, but two GO elections! Students went on trips in each season to spend time outdoors with their grades. To kick off the year, students went on trips to
Central Park
. The freshmen and seniors ventured out of the building
to participate in outdoor scavenger hunts. On the other hand, sophomores and juniors went ice skating at
ropes courses
Wollman Rink
.
When winter came around, each grade went on a
snow tubing
trip. In
the spring, each grade went on trips to a ropes course. On the ropes course trip, students completed of varying difficulty while they were attached to harnesses.
Students also had the opportunity to participate in axe throwing on the trip. Although these trips gave students opportunities to socialize with their grades, Rabbi Dov and other teachers felt that Shabbatons and retreats in previous years ensured students the opportunities to have impactful bonding moments. The seniors spent an overnight at
Camp Kaylie
whereas other grades spent a full day there. Students played sports, went bungee jumping, drove go-carts and had grade-wide bonding activities. Izzie Ottensoser ’22 said that, “going on retreat was such a great way to bond with classmates after missing Shabbaton and other regular activities at school.” In addition to trips, there were various programs this year that connected people. One program was the
Decameron Project
, which
is a program that gives students and faculty a platform to share their stories. The inspiration for the project was born when Ms. Rabhan spoke to Dr. Jucovy about her anxieties about the pandemic. From that point on, they started recruiting teachers and students to head certain parts of the program. Storytelling allowed students and faculty to connect with each other while being physically isolated. In other years, students have joined sports teams to bond with other students. Although most students did not have sports seasons this year, the baseball team has had a regular season and students have been playing games against other schools.
RamJam
Other staples at Ramaz are RamJam and Celebration of the Arts. These are celebrations which highlight students’ talent in the arts. is an event in which the whole school watches musical performances from the chorus, band, guitar ensemble and dance team. RamJam was virtual this year. Jordan Mittler ’22 said, “the best part of RamJam is seeing everyone’s reactions and excitement during the performances. I wasn’t able to experience that while recording in my bedroom with headphones on.”
Celebration of the Arts
is an event which displays students’ artwork and performances from students interested in the arts. Celebration is on June 17th; there will be a live Celebration right after finals in the auditorium. Art from all grades will be hung, there will be music and a short introduction to Virtual Celebration, which begins at 5:30. Ms. Abramson says, “hanging art, planning the virtual performances and exhibition takes an enormous amount of planning, rehearsing and technically pulling it all together. It is so moving to see students sharing their expressive, creative & joyous sides.” This eventful school year ended with a full school assembly. We reminisced about the year, thanked the maintenance and security teams, said farewell to teachers who are leaving, and thanked all of the teachers at Ramaz who continued to prioritize students’ education. At the end of the assembly, we watched a photo montage encapsulating our school year.
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May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
Seniors ’21: Thanks for the Memories.... Keren Kubersky ’21 and Charles Spielfogel ’21
MY FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE GRADE WAS:
Isaac Silverman: That everyone was really nice and friendly, especially when we went to Central Park and did all those team-building activities. Hannah Dubroff: That everyone was really fun!
MY FAVORITE RAMAZ MEMORY IS: Aaron Sokol: Saul Tawil giving me a black eye at freshman year Shabbaton. Jake Slochowsky: When we were playing belts one time, belts is the game where you have two belts and you can only take one step between the two belts and you need to get to the other side. And the game gets crazy as you move the second belt further and further and people are leaping like crazy! And I remember what happened was that the bottom of my shoe actually broke or came off. Belts has a nice space in my heart. We played it on Shabbaton all together. Isaac Silverman: In Dov’s freshman JLT class. I made a bet with Jules that he couldn’t get over a 90 on the test and if he did I would get a tie with his face on it. As you all probably know, I had to wear a tie with his face on it fora few months. That was really really fun. That was when Jules and my friendship really started. Rebecca Massel: Watching Abe, Jacob, and Akiva perform Dr. Gaylord’s Wuthering Heights dance in 10th grade.
Ita Newman-Getzler: How we would always hang out together on Shabbatons and retreat, especially the night before the sleepover part when we would be in the room together talking. It was always a lot of fun!
Yonah Taragin: The dinner!! The dinner was always super fun! Maya Chaovat: Junior retreat. Something about it was different in the best way possible. William Kremer: Junior Shabbaton. It was insane! I don’t know what it was. Charles Spielfogel: My favorite Shabbaton memory is junior retreat and having s’mores outside in the freezing cold after Shabbat. Chai Katz: During Dr. Bernstein’s class, I went to the “bathroom” (for quite some time, he wasn’t so pleased), but I was in the lounge. Spencer Rubenstein scores to win the game. The lounge goes crazy! I’m all over the place, pushing, shoving, Continued on Page 11
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Continued From Page 10 falling on the floor. Best moment maybe of my life!
Josh Rubinchik: My best memory was maybe in LA and Spencer Rubenstein hit a game winner and we saw the video of everyone in the lounge going crazy. It was pretty dope! Avigail Asraf and Emily Mullakadov: Our funniest high school experience was getting locked out of our rooms on junior retreat and not having a place to sleep. We slept on a chair! Michal Seinfeld: One of my favorite memories of our grade was on junior retreat when one of the buses wasn’t working and the entire grade had to squish onto one bus. Spencer Rubenstein: My favorite memory was spending time with friends on the last day of school.
I’M GOING TO MISS: Jacob Davis: The baseball team! Liora Kassman: Taking naps in the library. Moise Khafif: The lounge on the sixth floor. Ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade - those were crazy! Arielle Butman: Hanging out with everyone on the terrace. Aaron Zanger: The three Model UN conferences I went to with the Model UN team. The people you meet there are truly special people and not people you typically meet at Ramaz. Rebecca Massel: Hanging out with friends between classes, getting coffee or frozen yogurt during lunch, and getting distracted while studying in the library! Gabby Ostad: Spending time together on Shabbaton and singing Shabbat songs. And, our last day of school party was so much fun! Ita Newman-Getzler: Seeing people all the time - going to school and seeing people in the hallways and having conversations, or when I had work to do during or after school and would run into people in the library or in the lounge. I would always get distracted and not do my work for the whole period! Adam Vasserman: The Westchester squad! Keren Kubersky: Commuting and going to Juice Press. Guy Bacalu: The grade! Caitlin Levine: The simple pleasures that Ramaz has to offer - the time in the lounge with friends, pizza and cookies on Friday, and clubs after school. Maya Chaovat: Seeing everyone every day in school. I think we have all grown a lot since freshman year and it’s really crazy to see. David Gerber: Every second and every hour I was in that building on 78th Street. From the bottomless mash potatoes at lunches to the cookies and pizza on Fridays to the hangouts with the boys. I’m so thankful for the friendships I made that will last a lifetime and the connections and valuable lessons I learned that I will carry on for the rest of my life!
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The Rampage
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
Covid-19 Vaccines at Ramaz: Everything You Need to Know Nicole Hirschkorn ’22
asked for the reason behind their decision. “I am not in any danger of the virus,and an older person who is at risk from the virus should get it before I do. There is also no way to know the long-term effects, and it’s not FDA approved yet (only Emergency Use Authorization),” replied one anonymous respondent. “I haven’t gotten around to signing up, but definitely hope to be vaccinated soon,” responded another. Other responses varied, citing lack of available appointments, parental objections, and concerns about the long-term effects of the vaccine. According to New York State immunization requirements, both private and public schools must require students to receive a plethora of vaccinations, including mumps, measles, and tetanus shots, with medical and religious exemptions. In all likelihood, the Ramaz administration has the ability to require the Covid-19 vaccine for students that are eligible to receive it. Requiring teachers to receive the Covid-19 vaccine is more complicated. States have the
ability to enforce compulsory vaccine laws, under the aut h or it y of Supreme Court case Jacobs on v. Massachusetts, w h i c h states that individual liberty is not always absolute. This Supreme Court ruling is the basis of government mask mandates and stay-at-home orders throughout the pandemic. However, it is unlikely that states will require Covid-19 vaccinations for the general public, due to its EUA status. There are few legal barriers when it comes to employers requiring the Covid-19 vaccines, with medical and religious exemptions. While some universities are not requiring the vaccine for employees, some have decided to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory, such as Rutgers University. In the end, it seems as if it is up to the administration to decide whether they will be requiring the Covid-19 vaccines for the 2021-2022 school year.
College is a stressful topic for many students, even the underclassmen who are still a few years away from it. This month, the sophomores had their first glimpse into the Ramaz college guidance program. The grade was split into groups and each had a meeting with one of the school’s college advisors. The meeting was mostly question and answer style, with students asking about their transcripts, SAT/ACT prep, and especially how Covid will be impacting the entire process. The meeting was mostly an overview of what colleges are looking for, what students should be doing now, and how they should be planning. Sophomores were also given a brief overview of how their college ad-
visors will be assigned. Some students have been concerned about if Covid and the strange schedule have affected the timeline of when students begin to be introduced to the college guidance process. Ramaz students can sometimes get overly concerned about things like college, so many were happy to have a forum in which they could ask their questions. Dr. Honig confirmed that sophomores are “definitely not behind” the usual spot at this time in the school year. In fact, the time that sophomores are introduced to the college process has actually gotten earlier over the years. The College Office is “trying to strike a balance between keeping students informed and hyping up college anxiety and competition.” This balance seems to be a hard one to find.
One sophomore said she wishes they had started earlier and that she feels “utterly unprepared” for the college applications process, while another said that while the meeting was somewhat helpful, it was too broad and made her start to overthink. Every student is different, and while some like to prepare far in advance, others may feel that starting to talk about it too early just leads to more unnecessary stress. Dr. Honig advised that sophomores should not be worried about college yet, but the main thing that they can do at this point is to make sure they are doing the best they can academically, as well as participating in extracurricular activities that they are passionate about.
Continued From Page 1 schools have managed to reduce their “carbon penalty” while being greater than twice the size of Ramaz (except for Heschel). Surely, it is still possible for Ramaz to become environmentally aware and conscious, just like these schools. Hesham Nouh, the Director of Facilities of the Ramaz School, has answers for many of these concerns. Nouh said, “A low energy efficiency score is to be expected considering the building was designed in the 1970s – a time when mechanical and lighting systems were highly inefficient. That being said, Ramaz is committed to gradually upgrade outdated mechanical equipment and retrofit inefficient lighting systems when possible.” By looking at Ramaz’s letter grade without its percentage, Ramaz’s energy rating could be considered average, considering that most of New York Citys’ buildings do not have great energy efficiency scores; out of all 40,000 who had received their grades, half had earned Ds. Even New York City’s most prominent buildings haven’t been doing well. An article from the Curbed, which is part of New York Magazine, selected 50 of New York City’s most iconic buildings, and 28 received Ds. Perhaps most New York Citys’ buildings began this challenge with a rough start since this benchmarking law was put into place very recently, and buildings haven’t had
enough time to reduce their electricity and water usage. An energy consultant used public data about Ramaz’s energy usage to gain an understanding of the upper school’s resource consumption. He had cited buildings twice as large as Ramaz that use less energy and explained that “It’s difficult for a building to shed that much electricity. [Ramaz is] using at least double the amount of electricity than they should.” The specialist reasoned that the waste might stem from old and inefficient appliances and that switching them could remedy the issue, but he couldn’t be certain with the limited information he had. He said that “there are many energy service companies out there that offer a guaranteed savings contract” and that “budget is not a reason to avoid these upgrades.” There are plenty of ways that a building can better optimize its energy usage. The two largest users of electricity are climate control and lighting. A solution to the excess amount of heating and cooling would be to improve the building’s insulation. Adding extra insulation would reduce heat flow between the outside and inside. Another viable method is to restrict the hours that climate control can be on. For instance, only using climate control during school hours, even if people are still
in the building. The other major user of electricity is lighting. Lights are on in a room all day whether the room is being used or not. Adding motion detector sensors to the light switches would only allow the lights to be on while someone is using them. Ultimately, a large part of the issue may be from inefficient appliances that are outdated. Replacing heating and cooling units and lightbulbs may have an enormous effect on Ramaz’s energy usage. Ramaz’s energy efficiency rating is the lowest awardable score due to the overwhelming waste of electricity. Students feel that the building’s energy consumption needs immediate reform because of the environmental repercussions. On top of “going green,” there is a huge financial benefit of making the building more eco-friendly because New York City plans on charging Ramaz hundreds of thousands of dollars if the consumption stays the same. There are countless solutions to reducing the amount of wasted electricity. Time is of the essence: the sooner Ramaz addresses the energy building’s energy crisis, the better. Making these changes are a win-win. Ramaz can help the environment and avoid huge fines. Does Ramaz want this grade as part of their average?
The Covid-19 vaccine has finally arrived into the hands of the general public, creating a mixture of excitement and trepidation among those eligible to receive it. Scientists made use of never-before-seen mRNA technology to produce the vaccine, instilling feelings of uneasiness and hesitation in some. On the other hand, many feel that the slew of Covid-19 vaccines available is the only shot at returning to life before the pandemic. As of April 27th, about 77% of eligible Ramaz students (those who are 16 and older) reported receiving either one or both doses of the vaccine, according to a poll conducted by the Rampage. Those who have not received the coronavirus vaccine, about 23% percent of respondents, were
College Guidance for Sophomores Abby Gurwitz ’23
Ramaz’s Low Energy Score
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
The Rampage
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10 Things To Do In NYC This Summer
Rachel Freilich’22 This summer will definitely be different than last summer! Everything is starting to move in the right direction and the city that never sleeps is coming back to life. Over the summer, instead of watching TV and sleeping all day, here are ten AMAZING things you can do this summer right here in New York City. 1. Take a trip to the new floating park The new floating park recently opened in the Hudson River Park. It was built on massive pylons that come straight out of the Hudson River. This is an awesome place to take in the beautiful green scenery and hang out with friends and family while listening to performances that will be happening on the island all summer!
2. Try to make it to a few local museums Only a few minutes away from the Ramaz Upper School, one can find many museums. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, and the Museum of Natural History to name a few. What’s better than having a relaxing and educational day, looking at beautiful artwork, learning history, all while roaming the streets of New York City in the summer? 3. Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience Have you ever dreamt of stepping inside one of Van Gogh’s paintings? Well, now you can at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. With 360º projections, 15,000 square feet of screens, and virtual reality, you will be able to feel as if you are inside Van Gogh’s paintings.
bottle!
4. Take a Citi Bike around Central Park Bike-riding will allow you to get outdoors and travel through New York City. The beautiful green scenery around Central Park will amaze you! Make sure to stop by the Turtle Pond and visit the turtles and ducks! Remember: Don’t forget a water
5. Go on a double decker tour bus What better way to spend a hot summer day than on the upper deck of a New York City tour bus. You may think that you have seen all of New York City, but you will be surprised by the many places that you haven’t been to. Additionally, you can never get tired of seeing the landmarks and the places that make this city New York City. 6. Try to catch the new cast of Gossip Girl part 2 filming at the
MET If you were obsessed with the first Gossip Girl series, you should be screaming at the news that there will be a Gossip Girl part 2. They have been spotted filming at the infamous MET steps more than once. Spend the day sitting on the MET steps, reading, eating ice cream, or drinking iced coffee, and you may just find yourself sitting
next to the filming of a Gossip Girl scene. 7. Go to a drive-in movie No. It’s not just something they did in the “olden days.” Grab some friends and drive right up to the movie. Don’t forget some popcorn and some fountain sodas, so that you can enjoy the entire experience! 8. Visit the highline One of the most beautiful views in New York City is the highline. Imagine looking out at the most amazing view with some family or friends. Bring some picnic snacks and a book and just sit back and relax as you admire the best of New York City. 9. Have a picnic in Central Park A classic but a good one. Travel through Central Park and find the perfect spot. Some of the best places to have a picnic are the Great Lawn and Strawberry Fields. Don’t forget a blanket to sit on, some yummy food, and of course some sunglasses! After you are done picnicking, don’t forget to take a walk through Central Park! 10. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge If you have never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, this is the summer to do it! Grab some family and friends and walk across the bridge. You can also bike or even run across, whatever suits you best! Make sure to take pictures and enjoy the outdoors.
Israel Application Deadlines Confusion
Rachel Freilich’22 The process of deciding what students will do after High School is both nerve-wracking and exciting. Some students decide to take a gap year in Israel while others proceed to college right after high school. The decision takes time, so the Junior students recently received their Israel Advisors. The Junior girls were selected into two groups, Ms. Rahimzadeh or Ms. Senders, and the boys into three groups, Rabbi Schiowitz, Rabbi Gober, and Rabbi Schimmel. Juniors will soon have their first meeting. On Monday, May 10, the Ramaz Israel Guidance Office will begin the Israel advisory process with the Junior grade and will be explaining the variety of different opportunities available. Junior Grade parents will also attend a zoom introduction to the gap-year process on Wednesday, May 12 at 8pm. While the application process may seem the same for boys and girls even though they apply to separate Seminaries or Yeshivas, the application deadlines differ by a month. Why do the girls need to apply almost a month before the boys?
This past year, the application deadline for around twenty Seminaries on the Joint Seminary Application was December 24th. However, the deadline for the Joint Yeshiva Application, which organizes the applications for around twenty Yeshivas, was January 15th. Ms. Senders explained that a possible reason for this phenomenon pertains to the organization of the Seminaries as compared to the Yeshivas. Seminaries are more efficient and would rather have the applications in sooner rather than later. Julia Feit ’22 believes that the Seminaries and Yeshivas should have their applications due at the same time. Julia Feit ’22 said, “Imagine if colleges had different application deadlines for boys and girls. That wouldn’t be fair or make any sense.” Jordan Mittler ’22 also thought
that the difference in application deadlines was compelling and could not think of a reason why gender should matter. Jordan Mittler ’22 said, “I’m sure there is an explanation that I am unaware of. I think that a gap year program in Israel is as meaningful no matter what gender.” The unique deadlines for boys and girls is an interesting occurrence and certainly sparks curiosity among Ramaz students, whether or not they plan to take a gap year in Israel themselves.
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The Rampage
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
Junior College Night: Was It Helpful? Ethan Davidovitch ‘22 and Julia Feit ‘22 On the nights of April 24th and 26th, college representatives from numerous universities visited Ramaz– virtually, of course. Normally, these representatives would all flock to 78th street for in-person information sessions and give their presentations after school hours for students and parents. But due to the obvious constraints of the pandemic, college representatives and admissions officers were unable to visit schools live. So, in order to keep the program running, the Ramaz college guidance office moved the meetings online. About two weeks before the program, the Ramaz college advisors sent a form out to all juniors, allowing them to select up to eight schools they wanted to hear from– four on each night. Ms. Shulman, the registrar, then assigned each student an individual schedule based on their selections. Parents had the opportunity to attend the eight sessions with their children on the same device or join
separately and hear other colleges than the eight of the students. Most juniors signed up for eight colleges and had back-to-back programming from 6:30 to 8:30 on either night. Sydney Eisenstein ‘22 explained, “The night was pretty long and I felt a little rushed constantly switching from one meeting tab to another. It was also pretty stressful having two tests in math and physics that same week with the large amount of time dedicated to these Zoom sessions at night.” Most college representatives went through prepared slides before opening the floor up for questions from prospective students. Each representative chose to present their college differently to the group and the experience was limited to the information given by a select person in half an hour. Benji Goldstein ‘22 added, “I thought that the college sessions were helpful in providing me with a general sense of each school. They helped me grasp a basic understanding of the school, but were
very brief. I still plan to visit the schools which interest me in-person once I get the opportunity.” A noticeable aspect of the sessions was that most college representatives didn’t bring along current students on the Zoom. Ziv Bolton ‘22 explained, “The college representatives were helpful in explaining the more factual, academic information about the school. However, I didn’t fully understand what campus life was like at the colleges and feel like I would benefit from visiting the campuses and hearing from students.” The college guidance office put a strong effort into this program, and they got an excellent return on their investment, as it ran smoothly. Generally though, the reaction to College Night was mixed. Many had only positive reviews of the program, but Rachel Freilich ‘22 perhaps summed up the mixed feeling: “I thought that they were informative but I also felt that a lot of the schools sound very similar on Zoom. It’s difficult to decide where you see yourself when you don’t visit in person.”
Are School Publications Getting Read? Sarah Silverman ’24 The school newspaper is the eyes and ears of the school. One has to wonder if people actually read it. " I mean, I read the paper," said Adrian Rosenfeld 24', "I see it by the desk sometimes and pick it up while walking out." Adrian seems to be a rarity. In light of computers and phones, Covid-19 restrictions, and the ever-declining print publication rate, those wound-up newspaper copies appear to be a transport to another time. When someone walks into Ramaz, one of the first things they see is an endless assortment of publications. Xevex, Parallax, Breakthrough, these magazines, and journals are what Ramaz prides itself on and are always broadcast to prospective parents and the expansive Ramaz community. According to a recent poll taken, only 53 percent of Ramaz Upper School Students read the Rampage. This number is even more concerning when discussing the other publications, with a staggering 23 percent of students claiming to read them. Now, it can be understood why kids may not be enthusiastic about Xevex, the math magazine, or Breakthrough, the science journal. "Xevex is the type of paper that when kids hear about it they either love or hate the idea. There is no gray area. It's for students who like math. The same can be said for the science journal," said Akiva Shlomovich ’21, the Editor in Chief of Xevex, "It's one of those opportunities that are for a specific group of kids, who have a passion for a highly specific topic. When you pick up a copy of the magazine you know what you are getting yourself into." When asked about the size and demographics of the math magazine's readership, Shlomovich explained that the type of people who write for the paper and those who read it are practically the same people. " The words "math" and "magazine" together in a sentence tend to frighten people. We don't really have the largest readership base. It's mainly Super honors to honors-level kids who have a passion for the subject." Many of the smaller publications cater to an extremely small demographi c , which causes low readership. These papers, such as Break-
through and Parallax, are published seasonally or yearly. " It makes sense that they don't come out as often as the Rampage," said David Gitelman ’22
a writer for Parallax, "It's not the type of publication that breaks news, or informs people of anything. It's an interesting paper. We aren't really
like The Rampage. I think they have about forty writers; there are about twenty people on Paral-
lax." There seems also to be a correlation between the number of writers and the number of people who actually read the papers. " I mean, the largest group of people who read the paper are the ones who write for it," says Dr. Milowitz, the faculty advisor for The Rampage, "They like to see their name in print. Also, kids who are interviewed. People commonly referenced also take the time out of their day to pick it up. According to Dr. Milowitz, half the papers put out are usually gone by the end of the month. He said, “Now, we don't know if people are just skimming them, reading them through, or bringing them home. But they are taken.” In the olden days, pre-covid era, scattered and ripped out pages of the Rampage could be found throughout school, showing how kids would read the paper during breaks and other free times. "It's truly a testament to how much they
were read," said Shlomovich. Covid has presented unique challenges for the Rampage on how it is distributed. Many students say that they wish the paper was posted on Schoology or someone was actually handing them out. As of this point, the paper sits at the security desk, practically begging itself to be picked up. One of the ways Rampage has tried to tackle this issue is by giving the paper a more virtual presence, with the development of a website and an Instagram account. It seems that only 56 percent of students were aware that such a site exists. The paper needs to do a better job of broadcasting the website and making kids aware that besides the physical paper, there are other variations of the Rampage. Besides the benefit of standalone issues and the knowledge acquired by those who read it, there are many pros to having student-led publications. "It gives kids a chance to work on their writing skills," said Samantha Sinensky 21', the Editor in Chief of Rampage and Breakthrough said, "It helps those interested in journalism get a chance to try it for themselves." Additionally, especially in the case of Xevex and Breakthrough, writers gain deeper insight into topics they are passionate about. The most obvious plus in all of these works is college admissions. "Well that's a factor, " said Samantha, "But if you are only doing it for college it shows up in your writing. Those who really care take time and effort into what they submit, so it's fairly obvious. They produce better work. " Students, hopefully, care about their futures, and saying you write for the school newspaper or papers is a great plus. But it should not be the only reason for writing. Papers, especially school newspapers, are important. "A school needs to have a paper," said Dr. Milowitz, "It's essential to give voice to the students in the school." But some school publications serve different purposes. For example, take the Hebrew newspaper, Toses, which recently came out with its first issue of the year. " It's not the type of paper that students pick up and read," said Mr. Adelman, the Hebrew teacher who's in charge of it, "I ask kids to write. I also use it in my classes to teach students about Israeli news and culture."
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
The Rampage
Russian Culture Club, Клуб русской культуры Emily Vayner ‘23
Growing up in a home of Borscht and Babushkas, I realized that my school didn’t have the same cultural influence I did. Once I found my Russian community in Ramaz, I realized that I can bring my home to school, and make my school a home. Ariella Goloborodsky and I founded the Russian Culture Club as a place of representation, learning, creativity, culture, community, and a home for students with an FSU (Former Soviet Union) background. We encourage students with and without Russian
heritage to join and learn more about our culture. The club engages in all sorts of activities; from learning about history and literature to listening to music and cooking classes. Our first meeting this year focused on the plan for our monthly meetings and common Russian superstitions such as: placing keys on your table will make all your money disappear. Some students contributed superstitions they grew up with in their own homes. Our second meeting began with an inspirational QOTD (Quote of the day) by Alexander Pushkin, a famous Russian poet,“It is better to have dreamed a thousand dreams that never were than never to have dreamed at all.”
Throughout this meeting we talked about the five W’s in regards to the FSU. Then, we looked at several maps that displayed the 15 states of the USSR and discussed the Jewish lives in several of them before and after the break-up of the FSU. We also learnt about traditional foods from each of the states and concluded the meeting with a fun and engaging Russian trivia Kahoot. This year’s speakers were Natan Sharansky, an Israeli politician, human rights activist and author who, as a refusenik in the FSU, during the 1970s and 1980s, spent nine years in Soviet prisons, and Gil Troy, a distinguished Scholar of North American history at McGill University. They published a new book called “Never Alone”, and hosted a live panel about it. We also had several spontaneous meetings this year to speak about current events and politics in the FSU after its fall. We discussed the various political and military conflicts that have arisen in the FSU such as the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyzstan’s state of emergency. Another meeting focussed on Russia and the Biden Administration. During our pre-Passover cooking meet, my Babushka and I led a class on how to make Deruny, shallow-fried pancakes of grated potato, and Kompot, a sweet fruity beverage that may be served hot or cold. She spoke of some of her Passover traditions from the FSU such as repainting all the walls of her home and how her mother would make matzah from scratch. She also spoke of the antisemitism and harsh conditions in Russia that made it difficult for her and her family to peacefully celebrate Passover, unfortunately a holiday they had to celebrate in hiding. “Baking with my Babushka,” a charity cook-book project I was inspired to start by my
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great-grandmother Elka z”l, whom I am named after. My Babushka, Bella, taught me three of the most important things she learned from my great grandmother, the recipe to culture and tradition: cuisine, stories, charity. The five senses connect through the three steps of the recipe. Cuisine engages smell and taste, stories open our ears to new knowledge and lessons, and charity touches the hearts of the ones we help. Once the recipe is complete, the result is a sight that brings about a smile. This project aims to bring culture into every home in a way that gives back to individual families as well as the entire Jewish community. Each page of the cookbook will have four components: The name and image of the dish, your recipe, a picture of you and your grandparent, your shared story. Each student will interact with a grandparent in order to find a recipe, creating a bonding experience. While the student and their grandparent work together to prepare the dish, the grandparent should tell a story that relates to their heritage that teaches the student a lesson. The student will gain a new outlook on life through a wiser lens, one that will be shared with everyone who purchases the book. Once the cook book is put together, the purchases will be directly donated to The Blue Card, an organization that provides financial assistance to poverty-stricken Holocaust survivors. There is going to be an upcoming meeting on the Great Patriotic War, where several students and their grandparents will present their families war stories and show some patriotic medals. We have all sorts of plans for the future such as collaborations with other clubs and field trips planned for after Covid-19. The Russian Culture Club is excited to RISE with Ramaz. до встречи!
Parsha Puzzles Daniel Kalimi ’23 Every week another mysterious line of emojis is waiting to be deciphered. This year, Rabbi Blaustein began posting his Parsha puzzles to Schoology for students to solve. Each string of emojis represents a pasuk from that week’s Parsha. Over the course of this year, these Parsha puzzles have become a much more competitive endeavor, with students racing to solve them. Within minutes of posting the puzzle, students are already commenting their guesses and waiting for Rabbi Blaustein to announce a winner for that week’s puzzle. These Parsha puzzles raise many questions: Who makes them? How are they made? What is the future of the puzzles? An interview with Rabbi Blaustein helped the mastermind behind puzzles elucidate some of these questions. He explained that his inspiration for creating the puzzles was from the Academy of the Hebrew Language, the place responsible for creating new Hebrew words. Blaustein said that he follows the academy on social media, and they posted a series of puzzles from Tanach that he enjoyed doing. Another inspiration that came to mind is Dr. Rotenberg, who created a megillah out of emojis that hangs up in school around Purim time. After doing the puzzles posted by the academy, Blaustein decided he wanted to make some himself and decided, like Dr. Rotenberg’s megillah, to make his puzzles from emojis. To make the puzzles every week, he goes through the Parsha and writes pesukim he thinks he could translate well into emojis. He then types out the emoji onto WhatsApp, screenshots
and edits them to be posted onto Schoology for students to enjoy. For the future of the puzzles, he says, “over time I’ve experimented with different things like not only emojis so we’ll see where I go but I’d like there to be other types of puzzles too.” He also plans to develop the actual content of his puzzles to require students to think and learn more about the pesukim. An example of this is in Parshat Vayechi, where he used a red emoji whereas according to some commentators, like the Ramban, it should
have been a blue emoji. Adding aspects like these to the puzzles forces students to delve deeper into the language so they are actually learning what the words mean. Overall, there is a promising future for these puzzles to continue and further encourage students to learn more Torah.
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The Rampage
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
Returning to Ramaz: An Interview with Teachers After a Year on Zoom Ethan Davidovitch ’22 and Sydney Eisenstein ’22
Although most students and teachers returned to school in-person in September 2020, some teachers opted to stay on Zoom until Pesach. These five teachers, Ms. Sole, Dr. Jucovy, Ms. Litwack, Ms. Barak, and Rabbi Stern, have all been teaching at Ramaz for many years. The Rampage interviewed these teachers to learn about their experience teach on Zoom to an in-person classroom and their adjustment back to school in-person after a year online. Tell us about your overall experience coming back to school after teaching on zoom for the year. Ms. Sole: It was very exciting! I felt like I was received fondly by my students and colleagues. Dwight gave me a very warm welcome at the door. The last time I was in school was last March so it was very exciting to come back to school after a year. I’ve been a teacher for twenty years so not being in school for a year was definitely significant. The atmosphere is different at school because everyone is wearing masks but we are all used to that atmosphere at this point. One adjustment was learning how to teach students in the classroom while teaching students who are on zoom. I have a lot of appreciation for the students because they persevered through this difficult time and cooperated. Dr. Jucovy: Now we’ve got this new five day a week schedule, no more rotations so things are going to be less confusing. To actually have a Monday through Friday without having to tell your friends who go to other schools or relatives well I can’t do this because it’s a C-day. Now every time it’s no, I can’t do this because it’s a Tuesday. It was really great to be back and nice to meet up and now it’s, you know, five or six times over the past, I guess it’s been three weeks or something, something like that, but it feels like normal now. And hopefully it’ll get even more normal. Ms. Litwack: Nothing looked the same. I haven’t even been in my classroom since I’ve been back, and it just sort of seemed like a tremendous amount of work almost as if you had to open 15 different doors to actually get into the room. And then other zooming kids were like we can’t hear you, we can’t hear you. But then when I turn around, like, try to talk to the zooming kids, the other freshmen kids would just be like doing whatever freshmen do the minute you take your eye off them. Ms. Barak: I had a countdown to when I was going to enter the building and see Dwight, who is the best person in the building. And just see, just meet my students, it was one of, and I don’t want to sound really I’m not exaggerating, because it was one of my happiest days in life. It was really like
the feeling of going back home, finally. I thought to myself that the in person teaching before Covid we took for granted. How important is the interaction, the live interaction between the teachers and the students. Nothing is really like standing in class or meeting your students in the hallway, or seeing them in different moods. And so a lot of appreciation for the life that we had before Covid.
Rabbi Stern: I was very happy to be back in the building, and see my students and colleagues. I thrive off of the vibrancy of the classroom and I love walking around the classroom to see my students’ work. Additionally, I think that it was remarkable that Ramaz managed to continue classes and this year would have been disastrous if classes had not continued virtually. I thank all of the students for doing their best to work with us this year. When you entered the building for the first time, did anything about the students or building shock or surprise you? Ms. Sole: I felt at home very quickly when I reentered the building. Reentering the building was a similar feeling to returning to Israel; I have lived in the United States for the majority of my life but when I visit Israel I immediately feel at home and there is no transition period. Additionally, one of the first things I noticed at school was that many students looked a lot taller than they were last year. Dr. Jucovy: I thought I would feel like, wow, I’m back in the building after 15 months. It’s so amazing that all this time passed and now I’m back, but it was like I’ve been there all the time in some ways. Now we get to the unexpected– the building was half empty, because only half the school is there at any given time, everybody’s wearing masks. nothing is where it’s supposed to be. The library is being used as a class, the Beit Midrash has a classroom, the gym has two classrooms. There was the Plexiglas all over the place, so it was weird, but nice. Ms. Litwack: I had 40 students I’d never seen in person. So they’re just like floating heads. And, all of a sudden I would see kids and one kid was like two feet two, while one of my freshmen girls I remember she’s like 5’8” or something. I was just like, oh my god, you are so tall. At home, when you just zoom, you see everyone without their mask, so it’s crazy, You’d think I’d recognize them, but then they all had their masks on. I thought I would know everyone. Ms. Barak: I look at the lounge and the lounge is empty, or like two freshmen in the lounge where seniors usually spend time together and I think to myself, Hey, don’t you know this is not your place, this is really the seniors place. Really, my heart rate goes up for the seniors because juniors, also yes, for all of you, but you will next year. You will get back to normal and it will be another kind of insightful experience in your life that you will be able to share with us and your children. But seniors, senior year, not to be able to socialize. That’s tough. That’s real-
ly tough and there’s nothing equating it to. It felt a little bit surreal. Rabbi Stern: I had already seen the physical makeup of the building before I officially came back to school to teach. Over the course of the year, I have been in the building to pick up and return finals. Did you have a different type of relationship with your students this year? Ms. Sole: It was difficult to get to know students who I had not taught before. At the beginning of the year, it was especially difficult to teach freshmen because they were new to the school and I was not in school to guide them. After a while, my relationship with students felt normal and I did not feel that I was at a disadvantage in that sense. The main challenge that I faced was teaching students on zoom while they were in school because the wifi in the school was unreliable. Dr. Jucovy: An odd thing is that there were some students that room I’ve only taught through zoom up until that point. And on zoom, you only see this little picture. That’s if they’ve put on their video the whole time. And they’re wearing masks if they’re in the building so half the classes, you’re teaching them, there’s a little picture of somebody in a mask, the other times they’re their faces. And it’s different to meet somebody who you only know from a tiny little moving image. For the first time, there they are, there and in the building, they’ve got their masks on. I used to pride myself on getting to know every single student really really quickly within a week. I had one student who I thought was one person but it was actually another person. That would not happen to me normally in April. Ms. Litwack: It was definitely different. There were no spontaneous meetings. Everything seems so formal like sometimes I’d be concerned about a student. And if I were in the building I would just grab them after class or my office is near the gym and I’d see them going into the gym or something and I wouldn’t have to make a big deal out of it. It’s like it’s intimidating especially to younger kids, but even to juniors I think to say like, I need to meet with you. It has to be so formal, and sometimes even if I just need to talk to somebody for five minutes, it has to be a setup meeting. There’s no randomly in the lunchroom going over to a student table and making jokes with students. I think it’s intimidating, especially for the freshmen that have never met me. Ms. Barak: I felt very close to my students, even my Continued on Page 17
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
The Rampage
Why Does Ramaz Allow Seniors to Drop Sydney Eisenstein ’22 and Eric Kalimi ’22 As Ramaz juniors climb the high school ladder and become seniors, they have to choose from a wide selection of honors courses. These high-level courses range from talmud to history to calculus and last for two semesters, as opposed to non-honors courses that only last one semester. Many of the honors classes have optional corresponding AP tests available at the end of the school year. AP tests are college-level assessments that the College Board offers in certain subjects to give students an opportunity to show their academic abilities and earn college credits. Not all the honors courses that have corresponding AP tests teach for the test: some teachers do not teach all the relevant material and students who plan on taking the test self study the remaining material. Although seniors have the freedom to choose their courses, many seniors enrolled in honors courses with AP tests decide during the year that they are no longer interested in taking the test for their course. Therefore, Ramaz generally allows seniors to drop out of honors classes at the end of the year to exempt the students from AP tests. Seniors seem to be happy about having a choice in taking the test. Ita Newman ’21 thinks that seniors should be able to opt out of an AP test if they understandably
end up not wanting to take it. The current policy is sympathetic to seniors that are not interested in taking an unnecessary standardized test. Jacob Schwartz ’21 says that, “Since seniors have the freedom to choose whether to take AP courses, they should also be able to opt out of an AP course or test.” Furthermore, there are cases where students decide to take honors classes with a related AP so they can get credits for college, but when students commit to a college, the college does not accept credits for the course. Different high schools have unique policies regarding AP courses and tests. Similarly to Ramaz, Frisch allows students who take an AP course to opt out of taking the test. Frisch’s AP courses are the honors courses for that subject, so students can switch from their honors (or AP) course to an Accelerated course if they want to avoid the standardized test. In contrast to Ramaz and Frisch, several other schools such as SAR, Central, and Kushner require students to take the AP test if they take an AP course. At SAR, the AP tests are a crucial part of the AP courses because students in those courses take the AP test instead of the final exam that other levelled classes must take in that subject. One SAR student heard Ramaz does not require students in
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Classes? AP courses to take the AP test and said, “I understand why a school would not require students to take the AP test because students are not even required to submit their AP scores to colleges. Nonetheless, I think that taking the AP test makes the AP course worthwhile.” A new policy in the math department for this upcoming year is that students in honors courses are required to take the corresponding AP test. Ms. Shine explained that “many students decide to take honors courses because they think it looks good for their college application but are not serious about the class… and that ruins it for the kids who are committed.” Students like Ita and Jacob appreciated the flexibility in not having to take the test. Another student said “it seems unfair that students in honors classes have to take AP tests now. Some students decide the class is not the right fit for them by the end of the year.” There are both benefits and detriments to having a choice in taking AP courses and tests. Students generally appreciate that the school usually allows students to opt out of taking a related AP test, and dislike the math department’s decision to make the AP test mandatory.
An Interview with Teachers After A Year on Zoom Continued From Page 16 seniors, many of which I never had before. And I’m staying close to those seniors, and I will keep being close to them even when they graduate. And I felt it when I came to class in person, as a matter of fact. There were students that took a semester course with me and then my two mini courses and I used to make fun of them that they have so much Barak, it’s too much. And so these students I taught six months on Zoom, and then two weeks in person. And the relationship was so close.
Rabbi Stern: My relationship with students was different because I could not see the work they were doing during class and I could not see their reactions to class. The relationship with all my students was different and with some students, my relationship was very removed and distant. My relationship with some students felt distant because s o m e students were uncomfortable participating on zoom, and I could not merely go over and talk to them. It was difficult to monitor those students and gauge if they understood the material. Since I have been back in the classroom, I have been walking around the desks to see what my students are doing. I have noticed that the students who were uncomfortable speaking on zoom, are great participators in the classroom. What about your relationship with other teachers? Was there a difference there? Ms. Litwack: The first time I came in the building was actually before my first day of teaching, and I
basically found that my ability to make small talk had completely disintegrated. I found that it was very hard for me to hang out. I ran into Mr. Klotz and he was like oh it’s so great to see you and everything and we talked for a few minutes and then I started to feel like I need to get out of the building. I just felt like, have I forgotten how to just say unimportant things to people and listen to their own important things? And, and it was weird also because I’ve known Mr. Klotz for like 30 years so it’s just like, and it had nothing to do with, you know who the person was it just was, I just felt like I just been home alone for so you know for so long, except for the few periods when my daughter was home from law school. I missed the collegiality, I missed all the conversations. Rabbi Stern: Teachers have lost a lot of social interactions without lunch and other gatherings. Many teachers, including myself, only come to school to teach their live class and then go home to zoom their virtual classes so teachers are not really around to socialize in school. Even when I speak to other teachers via zoom, it is not the same personal relationship. Ms. Barak: I never take my lunch in the lunchroom, so I’m not part of this gang, sharing I don’t know what. I don’t have the patience to sit in the lunchroom– I usually take two leaves of lettuce and one clump of tuna, and take it upstairs and work. Not that I’m not social; I am social, but I am not part of this clique of teachers. The relationship happening between teachers is happening either in the lunchroom or in the offices. In our office, we are very very very connected: Ms. Brachot, Ms. Dashiff is my best buddy, and Rabbi Blaustein and Mr. Klotz and Dr. Rotenber and Ms. Fung. We are very very very much connected. It’s happened many times during Covid that they ask me when I’m coming back and with my Hebrew and all this news and the updates and the gossip from Israel. So that was a really nice reunion with my office mates. Did your teaching method differ this year on
zoom? Rabbi Stern: My teaching method was very different this year on zoom than other years. In the classroom, I love teaching in a classroom with lots of whiteboards and sending students to the board. There is no comparison to sending students to the board because you can see if they are having trouble and help them correct their mistakes. Ms. Litwack: With my seniors, it was kind of mixed, but definitely with my freshmen. There is a group I don’t feel that they’re performing at the same level as traditionally freshmen would do. And I think it’s because it’s difficult for them, it was difficult for them to maintain focus on Zoom, and because they’d never actually met me so I was this sort of screen presence. Believe it or not I want all my students to get A’s, so it’s like, When kids that I thought were understanding things suddenly write about something and I’m like, how could they not have understood that. There’s so there are just many fewer ways for me to check what’s going on when they’re on Zoom. They can be watching Netflix during class for all I know. I feel like sometimes I’m putting a lot more energy, because there’s no electricity on screen, so I feel like I’m putting a lot more energy into the lesson and getting fewer returns. Ms. Barak: Absolutely. In my Israeli film class, we had a lot of technical issues of how to watch the Israeli movies online and I didn’t want to waste time on Zoom to watch it, so we needed to come up with different technical methods of how to do it, both the students and myself. I find myself excelling in PowerPoint presentations which I wasn’t as good at. I think that it’s really forced me to, to be more familiar with the new technology. I think that I will definitely integrate it next year when I teach in person. This was one positive aspect [of virtual learning].
Opinions 18
Ramaz Round Table
The Rampage
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
Opinions
Should Ramaz make an effort to teach about other religions? Charlotte Kleeger ’24
Hannah Tambor ’23
Ramaz must make an effort to teach about other religions. For many people, religion is the source of their beliefs and has a large impact on their lives. Learning about other religions facilitates interactions and respect for others. Further, in the real world, not everyone is Jewish. Most Ramaz students barely interact with people of other religions, people of color, and other marginalized groups, as we live in a very sheltered community. This causes students to be uneducated and unaware of other peoples’ issues in the country. Teaching about other religions would prevent this and would, in fact, further the mission of Tikkun Olam. Ramaz is a Jewish private school, but when Ramaz students get to college and any event after that, such as a job, they will be swimming in a much bigger ocean.
Rebecca Kalimi ’23
As Jews living in the United States, spending half of our school time learning about our own Jewish heritage and holidays, I believe that it is important to learn about other religions surrounding us. A majority of students at Ramaz have grown up very sheltered, and do not have much exposure to other groups. We are so well versed in our own Religion, yet when we are exposed to other cultures, we are oblivious to those surrounding us. I believe it could be incredibly helpful and interesting if there could be a class on other religions. I think if it met even once a week, we could learn about other religious holidays and traditions, as well as compare them to our own. It does not have to simply be about Islam and Christianuty; rather it could also be about Buddihsm and Hinduism. I know hardly anything about those religions, yet I can speak about a singular Jewish minor fast day for hours on end, discussing the argument between Beit Hillel and Beit Shamai. That is slightly frightening. I wish I could get education and exposure to other traditions and religions surrounding me so when I leave my sheltered religious community, I can know what others are talking about.
As a Jewish Day-School, also known as a Yeshiva, Ramaz tries to help its students believe in all their teachings and help students feel comfortable in their Judaism. The teachers aim to show students why they should believe in the material they are learning. In reality, many students start creating their own opinions after their first semester in high school and start coming up with their own belief systems that can stray away from Ramaz’s teachings. On social media, and online, students have the power to fend for themselves and do research on different religions, allowing them to come to their respective opinions. Although students learn about other cultures and religions in ninth and tenth grade, they aren’t learning them from a neutral standpoint. We learn about these other religions coming to be almost as if they are fictional stories; when, in actuality, they have millions or billions of followers. We never truly understand what specific factors appealed to people in new religions that caused them to abandon their current faith and adopt a newborn religion. Learning about these different religions will not only allow us to understand Judaism from an outside perspective, but it will also prepare us more for the outside world. If we go into life without the background of other religions, we risk offending others because of our lack of knowledge on their way of life. By understanding and learning about why people believe in different religions and how they came to be, we can understand and appreciate their religions more. We also have the advantage of being able to find commonalities between these religions. I think it is more valuable to learn about the roots of these religions and how they have coexisted, rather than just learning about their commonalities. By understanding what brings us together, we can deduce how much we relate, and recognize each other on another level. Integration programs with other religious schools are the perfect way to introduce us to these other religions. They have similar schedules as us, and they have similar values. By spending time, speaking, and learning with them, we can understand their ways of life first-hand instead of basing our whole lives around Judaism. Although Ramaz strives to make us proud of our Judaism, we need to be aware that there are countless other religions and ways of life that differ from ours. We need to be able to understand and respect those values as well as our own.
Ashley Behm ’24
Understandably, Ramaz students are much more immersed in the study of the religion of Judaism. This is warranted as Ramaz is a Jewish day school. However, there is a clear lack of education about other religions of the world. While the roots of Christianity and Islam are briefly covered in ninth and tenth-grade history, only the basics are taught. There are many other religions in the world that Ramaz students are not educationally exposed to. Ramaz needs to teach students about other religions, including their roots, customs, holidays, values, and beliefs. Integration programs with other non-Jewish, religious schools are great ways for Ramaz students to further enrich our knowledge on other religions. To only be educated about Judaism results in ignorance regarding all other religious faiths. After high school, Ramaz students, most likely in college, will meet people of all different religious backgrounds. We must be able to engage in meaningful discussions about religion. Open class discussions should be encouraged and efforts to provide support should be as well. As Jews, we have the responsibility of being allies to other religions if we expect the same back. The only way to be an ally is to be properly educated and open to other religions.
Should Seniors be Forced to Take the Math APs if They are In Honors Math? Sarah Ginsberg ’22
As students in Ramaz approach senior year they are finally allowed to choose the classes they want to take. Unlike many other schools, Ramaz only offers classes that teach the AP curriculum in senior year. Essentially, AP exams are a standardized way of testing college-level material. Students that receive a good score on an AP test may earn college credits and can even use it to help their admissions process as having taken an AP exam is impressive. Though the school only offers classes senior year, AP tests can be self studied by students. Seniors in Ramaz are offered honors math classes such: HSS Calculus I, which is Calculus AB, HSS Calculus II, which is Calculus BC, and HSS Statistics. Seniors taking these classes should be given an option whether they want to take the AP exam or not. Though many students are interested in taking an honors math class, they should not be forced to take the AP exam. Over a million high school stu
dents take AP exams and the number of AP exams given doubled from 2003 to 2013, according to the College Board. However, while these numbers are growing, colleges are making it extremely difficult for students to receive college credit. “Eighty-six percent of the top 153 universities and colleges in the United States restrict the awarding of AP credit… Only a handful of colleges deny AP credit altogether, but many others restrict the granting of credits,'' Progressive Policy Institute explains. Therefore, many students in Ramaz who will be taking the AP Math exam will not be able to submit these credits to the school of their choice. Students applying to Dartmouth University, Brown University, the California Institute of Technology, Williams College, and Amherst College, and other universities will not be able to submit their test score. What’s the point of stressing about an exam when it will not count for any credit? Taking the AP exam should definitely be optional. The entire point of taking an AP exam is be-
cause certain colleges award college credit to those who receive a high score. However, a senior that is aware that the college he is applying to does not accept AP credit should be able to opt out of taking the exam. In this case, the student may be taking an honors math class knowing that he/she will only be using it as preparation for their college course. There are many students who simply want to take the honors math class because they completed regular calculus and so calculus AB is the next step. For students taking honors math in junior year it would only make sense for them to take honors math in senior year. Taking the honors class and being forced to take the AP exam at the end enforces the notion that teaching is teaching “for the test”. The math class may as well be named “AP Calc” instead of “HSS Calc” Forcing students to take an AP exam and sit for many hours is completely unnecessary for seniors who will not gain any benefit from taking the exam. Jack Cohen ‘22 says, “Let students make their own decisions.”
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
The Rampage
Eating in Class: Should It Be Allowed? Rebecca Silber ’23 As high school students, I believe we should all be given the opportunity to choose when and where we can eat or drink during the school day. Sure, some students cannot learn efficiently while eating or drinking during class, however, others may find that eating in class doesn’t affect their ability to focus at all. And others may even find that eating and drinking during class enhances their academic performance, and provides them with a comfortable learning environment. Regardless, it is our own responsibility to discover what type of students we are and what type of learning environment best suits my academic needs. What will allow me to best thrive in the classroom? We’ve reached an age in which these questions must be answered, and it is up to us to test these waters. An administrator should not have the power to declare that eating is prohibited in his or her classroom, because in doing so, they’re inherently answering that question on behalf of their students. Personally, I’m the type of student who would pull out a snack during each and every class period. I get hungry often during the school day, and find it both uncomfortable and difficult to study on an empty stomach. From getting to school at 8:30, there’s a 4 hour and 45 minute time gap until our 1:15 lunch period. Especially for students who don’t always have
time to eat breakfast, it’s likely that most people will get hungry sometime within that 5 hour hiatus. Hunger isn’t something that we can always control or predict. The 5 minutes we have between each period is most likely not going to be the time frame in which students realize that they are hungry; hunger will hit most students while they are sitting in class. From personal experience, I know that sitting through class and waiting for the bell to ring, just so that I can get a quick snack, is not an ideal way to learn. It’s distracting, both physically and mentally; it causes fatigue and occupies one's thoughts. Every student should be able to eat or drink, whenever their bodies dictate, regardless of what class they're in. Additionally, I find that placing restrictions on eating, a basic human necessity, makes school seem much too prison-like. We have to go to school every day, so we may as well not resent it. Eating during class can offer many students a comfortable learning environment, renouncing the grim and forbidding stereotype of school in general. Lastly, one can argue that eating in class can distract other students around them, and is therefore a threat to the overall atmosphere of the classroom. However, as I previously mentioned, hunger is something that cannot be controlled, and therefore eating should be permitted anywhere and everywhere, despite who it may distract. For example, anxiety and boredom, which many students experience during class, cannot be controlled either. As a result of
Opinions 19
anxiety and boredom, many students tend to develop habits such as leg bouncing and doodling. While these actions can distract students around them, it is how their body naturally responds to these feelings, and it is solely through those actions that certain individuals are able to learn comfortably during class. Eating, a natural response to hunger, should not be treated any differently. Overall, I believe that h i g h school students should be given all the tools required in creating a suitable learning environment for themselves. Prohibiting eating and drinking in class not only interferes with that ability, but it gives school a rather unfriendly connotation. I believe that eating in class is not only a right, but a learning necessity for many students.
CROSSWORD Isaac Silverman ’21
The solution to this crossword is posted online at www.the-rampage.org Down: 1. At the end of the year, each student recieves a _____. 2. Amusement Park seniors took a trip to. 4. History Chair leaving Ramaz to pursue law. 7. Dr. Jucovy’s Honors history course which is no longer be offered to seniors next year. 8. Number of days students will be in school each week next year. Across: 3. The Class of 2021 is fittingly graduating on the _____________ of June. 5. Senior Grade Dean leaving Ramaz to become Principal at Flatbush. 6. Frozen treat given to students on their last day of school. 9. End-of-year choir event held on Zoom this year. 10. Ramaz alumni who is the new President of Israel.
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Letter From Editors 20
The Rampage
May-June 2021/Sivan-Tammuz 5781
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS To Our Dear Readers, Being part of The Rampage for the past four years has been incredible. For three years, we wrote for the paper, and this year, we were so excited to be your editors! We have loved every minute of the job, from working with our writers to late-night editorial board Zoom meetings and hours debating InDesign layouts. Each month, we were humbled as the paper arrived in the lobby, and we watched the words of our writers spark conversation between students and teachers. We learned so much from our writers - the topics you brainstorm and interviews you conduct always amaze us. We know that being a journalist was difficult with the hybrid schedule, but you worked hard each month to produce a though-provoking, enlightening paper. The Rampage is so special because it is written by students, for students. Therefore, this year, we wanted the school paper to focus on YOU, the students. We did that by adding the student spotlight section to highlight students who are involved with out-of-the-box activities or who started interesting clubs. We created the Ramaz Round Table to feature your opinions about different issues from how you chose political candidates to whether or not vaccines should be required for in-person attendance. We made an increased effort to include photos of you, both in our in-print paper and online. Part of making the paper more relatable to the students is connecting with you in the format that we, as teenagers, know best: online media. We increased our Instagram presence and worked to constantly update it with exciting photos, videos, and student takeovers. This year, we also created the broadcast section of the paper. For the first time ever, our writers had the opportunity to create video interviews with their teachers and students. Sports broadcasts, interviews with the administration about Covid protocols, and video footage of student rallies brought you the latest news. Dr. Milowitz, thank you for the time you spent teaching us. Since our freshman year, you have been providing us with a platform for our voices to be heard. You taught us to appreciate the opportunity to publish our opinions. When we were intimidated about addressing a controversial story, you taught us to be “real journalists” and report facts, even if they may cause tension within the school. And, of course, thank you for reviewing articles and giving us advice, even as the paper was going to print. When we were in third grade, the four of us started a paper: The Ramaz Times, reporting on the breaking news of the Ramaz Lower School. Years later, we are so grateful to our Rampage team and readers for giving us the opportunity to continue writing and leading a Ramaz paper together. We will have a hard time saying goodbye to The Rampage. Have an amazing summer!! Love, Caitlin Levine, Rebecca Massel, Gabby Ostad, & Samantha Sinensky