Volume 48, Issue 7 (March 2017) - The Rampage

The Rampage The Newspaper of the Ramaz Upper School

New York • Volume 48 • Issue 7 • March/April 2017 • Adar/Nissan 5777 • the-rampage.org

Girls Varsity Volleyball Team Wins Championship, Again!

David Grinberg '19

One might assume that the Ramaz Girls Varsity Volleyball team is just another high school yeshiva league team that plays other average teams from around the Jewish day school world. One could not be more wrong. This group of committed and talented volleyball players recently won the yeshiva league championship for the second time in a row.

The team’s coach, Ms. Rachel Kohn, proudly said that she

History Curriculum to Change for Next Year Students Will Take World History for Three Years

Esti Beck '19

Ramaz’s history department, chaired by Dr. Jucovy, is looking to launch a series of changes to their curricula for 9th to 11th grade. Currently, Ramaz students learn world Jewish history for two years, in both 9th and 10th grade. Ms. Newman, Mr. Deutsch, and Dr. Sclar teach these world Jewish history classes, which cover ancient to modern times, excluding lessons on American history and the country’s Jewish history.

Those lessons are saved for 11th grade American history with Dr. Stone and Dr. Sclar. The 11th grade course goes back to colonial times and, once again, ends with modern history.

Students who have tak-

en American and world history feel as though the two courses cover some of the same material, something which Dr. Jucovy finds to be problematic. “It wasn’t really repeating material, it was more learning another side of it,” says Leah Kesten ’17. Students will learn events such as the Great Depression twice - once in 10th grade, as a part of a world history course, and then again in 11th grade from an American perspective.

The repetitiveness of the curriculum is a technical hurdle for the department to overcome.

According to Dr. Jucovy, an equally pressing problem with the course is ideological. Teaching American history as sepa-

has “won five volleyball championships with Ramaz.” She continued, “This win was particularly special because the varsity girls team won the championship two years in a row, and this year went undefeated.

Every practice we worked hard to continue to improve, and their efforts paid off. They were extremely dedicated athletes and played with much heart. I am so proud of them; it was an absolute pleasure to coach

this team. I will miss the seniors very much next year but am happy they will leave their mark at Ramaz with their championship banner.”

However, it is not only their coach who deserves credit. The Girls Varsity Volleyball team attributes their success in games to their strong captains as well. Veteran members Shelli Cohen ’17, Sarah Cabot ’17, and Brittney Kohler ’17 created a culture of winning, hard

Continued "Girls Varsity Volleyball Triumphs " page 4

Ramaz's 80th Year Celebrated at Annual Dinner

Becky Tauber '19 and Ayelet Monas'19

The annual Ramaz dinner Doft ’87. The Dofts were hon- Photos from the annual Ramaz dinner. took place on March 19th and ored for all their hard work on the celebrated Ramaz's 80th anniver- board and for their contributions sary. The dinner was at the Mar- to the school and to the Ramaz riott Marquis in Times Square community at large. Jacob Doft and began with Ramaz parents, joined the alumni board in the teachers, students, and other 1990’s. He later joined the board guests enjoying the cocktail hour. of trustees, and served as chair There was a large variety of food from 2011 to 2016. The Dofts to choose from, including sushi, delivered a thank you speech, as carving stations, hors d'oeuvres, they were given a replica painting and more. From the moment of the glass window they donated guests arrived, they were warm- to the lower school after the fire in ly greeted by Rabbi Grossman, the KJ synagogue. Sophia Kremer who was standing at the entrance. ’20 said, “They spoke very nicely “I like to stand outside the door and made their speech both hugreeting people, so I felt right at morous and serious, which is why home,” said Rabbi Grossman. “I I enjoyed it so much.” The Ramaz thought it was so nice how people community also recognized the kept asking me if they could bring dedication of the Assistant Head me something to eat—very Jew- of the Ramaz Middle School, ish, being worried that someone is Ms. Nyren, and the head of the near food but not eating!” he said. Math department in the Middle As the dinner hour came School, Mr. Gross. Upper School to a close, parents were escort- history teacher Dr. Stone, who is ed into the main room so that retiring after 31 years of teachthe speeches and student perfor- ing at Ramaz, was likewise honmance could begin. Rabbi Gross- ored, in addition to Ms. Nina man welcomed all of the guests Acunzo, who is the Controller and introduced the honorees, Ja- in the Ramaz Business Office. cob Doft ’87 and Suzanne Continued "Ramaz Dinner" page 3

The Tennis Court Oath by Jacques-Louis David, 1794. Students at Ramaz will now learn about the French Revolution after the American Revolution, not vice versa.

Continued "History Curriculum Changed" page 2

Inside this issue...

Ramaz Students Win Awards at Science Olympiad ... The school came in 3rd, out of 12.

Sophomores Hear from Speaker about Substance Abuse... See what Ms. Eve Goldberg had to say.

Freshmen Head to Brooklyn... 9th graders learned how to bake matzah, make tefillin, and more.

How Can Ramaz Improve School Spirit?... Read a student's suggestions for how to resolve this issue.

Crossword... Try to crack this month's puzzle!

page 5 page 6 page 7 page 10 page 12

News 2

The Rampage

Purim Carnival and Festivities

History Curriculum Changed

continued from cover

rate and distinct lends students the notion that it is somehow different from the historical processions of the rest of the world.

There is a way to change this issue.

Dr. Jucovy has been advocating reforms to the curriculum since the 1980s. And this year, for the first time, one of those changes seems to be in the works. This new plan - in its current form - would combine the world and American history courses into a three-year curriculum that moves chronologically from ancient history to modern times. The 9th grade curriculum, since it mostly covers a time in which the United States did not exist, would remain largely untouched; starting in 10th grade, however, the American Revolution would be taught preceding the French Revolution in a course that would end at the First World War, or roughly where the current sophomores end their first semester. History courses would, as a result, move more slowly than previously because there would be an extra year to cover the world history curriculum.

Of course, with the new system in place, it will be harder for students to take standardized tests, such as the World History SAT II, earlier on in high school. Already, Ramaz does not cover early American civilizations or much of Asian history, a significant setback in test-taking. Under the new system, students would no longer be prepared to take the World History exam at the end of 10th grade; they

would have to wait until the end of 11th grade, at which point they would also be able to take the American History SAT II. Furthermore, implementing this system would also mean that students will already be three years removed from the material taught in 9th grade (a significant part of the exam) and might experience more difficulty in taking the test.

This year’s freshmen have already experienced the preparatory changes: the minutiae of ancient Egypt and Medieval Europe, formerly a long stretch of material, have been removed, building a greater emphasis on the European colonies as preparation for the American Revolution in 10th grade. With these alterations, the new system can begin its integration into the school as early as this summer, and the Class of 2020 can start 10th grade as the first wave under the new curriculum.

While there are foreseen challenges in changing the curriculum, Dr. Jucovy does not think that the teachers’ concerns about teaching courses they have not taught in years plays into the matter.

“As it is, ...a professional teacher in high school ought to be able to teach well and in depth large numbers of subjects, and that should not be difficult,” he said. This new system is something that Dr. Jucovy has been championing since the 1980s, and he feels strongly that this is the direction the department needs to pursue.

March/April 2017

Hannah Doft '20

Every year, the students of Ramaz look forward to Purim and the activities the G.O. and teachers have planned for them. This year was no exception. This Purim, the high school celebrated Purim on Monday, Shushan Purim. Each grade was given one period off from class and their lunch period to enjoy the carnival both in the gym and auditorium. To end the day, the annual Purim G.O. video was played in the auditorium. Afterwards, students were dismissed at a slightly earlier time than usual. Naomi Freilich ’18, Secretary of the G.O., said that the entire day “was really great, and everybody participated in everything that was planned and set up with the help of all the class presidents.”

The Purim carnival featured many different types of activities, such as bouncy houses, raffle opportunities, a photo booth, and more. Students who participated in these games enjoyed themselves, and the atmosphere was full of joy. “I thought it was really cool to see everybody’s costumes. I also really loved the bouncy house,” said Alyssa Hackel ’20. Judah Wahba ’20, freshmen class president, said, “My favorite part about the carnival was running a booth myself.” In general, students were happy to get off from their classes and spend time with their friends, participating in all the games and eating the special snacks that were offered to them.

This year’s annual whole school Purim assembly included a costume contest. Lillian Pravda ’18, who dressed up as Dr. Milowitz was the runner up, and the winner was Jordan Beloosesky ’18, who dressed up as a member of a heavy metal group. Also, some of the most popular raffle prize winners were announced. “It felt pretty cool to win three raffle prizes,” said Judah Wahba. At the end of the event, the annual Purim video was featured. This year’s video received laughs all around and was made by Raquel Michel ’17 and Levi Altzman ’17. It featured G.O. President Nancy Toussie ’17 rapping and many of this year’s ongoing jokes, such as “peach juice is back” and making fun of “cool” freshmen. Ben Silverman ’20, who was featured in the video, said, “It was pretty cool to see myself in this years video. I definitely want to try and be in it again next year.”

Ramaz Students Compete at Penn Model Congress Abigail Huebner '18

Weekly meetings, bill-writing, and hours upon hours of practice finally culminated in the annual University of Pennsylvania Model Congress conference for the Ramaz Model Congress team. At Penn, 700 delegates from 40 schools around the country come together for the weekend in a conference run by the undergraduate students at the university. The delegates are split into different committees in the House and Senate, such as Armed Services, Ethics, Homeland Security, Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and many others. There are around 10-20 students in each committee, and they debate the bills that each student has written. Additionally, students may choose to be in special programs - Jessica Fuzailof ’17 was in the Executive Branch, Sam Berman ’17 was in the National Security Council, and Ga-

briel Klapholz ’17 and Abigail Huebner ’18 were in the Supreme Court.

The 12-person team, accompanied by faculty advisor Dr. Sclar, set

to their Thursday night sessions prepared to debate legislation and present their own bills, armed with both knowledge as well as the skills they had

“A year’s worth of practice paid off, as the team competed against schools from all over the country, and everyone enjoyed taking Shabbat off to spend some quality time with Dr. Sclar.”

-Jessica Fuzailof '17 , Model Congress Captain off for their big weekend immediately following davening on Thursday, April 30th. Upon arriving at Penn, they received binders full of bills and immediately began to research the topics, asking teammates for ideas and assistance for the more complex bills. They went

been practicing all year. After attending their sessions on Friday, the Ramaz students split from the other schools for Shabbat. Instead of going to sessions on Friday night and Saturday, the Ramaz students made Shabbat as a team. After a restful and fun Shabbat

spent at the Penn Hillel and bonding in the hotel, the students returned for Saturday night and Sunday sessions.

At the closing ceremony, the benefits of all the hard work and preparation were clear; Ramaz students won three honorable mentions and won the Supreme Court special program, managing to do all this even though they missed half of the sessions for Shabbat.

Jessica Saad ’16, who was on Model Congress in her time at Ramaz, is now one of the chairs for the Penn Model Congress Conference.

“Since I was on Model Congress in high school, while chairing I appreciated everyone’s contributions because I know how hard and nerve racking it could be,” she said. From Model Congress, she learned “to speak up and that your opinion matters, even though people may think otherwise.”

March/April 2017

Abigail Huebner '18

The Rampage

Fugue Night

After weeks of hard work and diligent composing, the big night finally arrived for the junior music students: Fugue Night. A fugue is a musical piece written for multiple voices, with a recurring subject or theme. For the third quarter of the year, juniors spent their music classes with Mr. Henkin first briefly learning about fugues and then composing their own, either individually or in groups of two or three. On April 3rd after school, the music students gathered in the Beit Knesset along with their parents and friends to perform their compositions in the tenth annual fugue night, a tradition predating Mr. Henkin’s time at Ramaz.

The fugues of the night were split into different categories. First were a few fugues about life in school, followed by some about travelling, a couple about politics and the 2016 election, and lastly the popular theme of sports. There was even a “senior moment,” during which a group of seniors came to perform their fugue from last year.

Mr. Henkin explained that although most students compose fugues consisting of just rhythmic patterns, each year there are one or two groups with previous musical experience who challenge themselves to compose a melodic fugue. This year, Akiva Weinberger ’18 was that student, writing a fugue somewhat different than those of his peers.

“I actually used to take lessons on improvising on the piano,” said Weinberger. “Those lessons gave me the confidence to write a musical fugue,” he said. Weinberger’s theme was not only rhythmic, but also contained a musical theme of D-A-C-F.

continued from cover This year’s theme was “Connect at 80.” The dinner sought to highlight all of the changes that Ramaz has undergone and what has remained the same since its establishment in 1937. For example, Ramaz’s technology has advanced in and out of the classroom, as teaching and learning methods have evolved through the decades. However, the presentation at the dinner also emphasized the fact that Ramaz continues to instill Torah values and teach students about Judaism. The overall goal was to show the vast array of connections that the school builds between students, alumni, teachers, and others members of the Ramaz community.

Once the speeches concluded, Rabbi Grossman introduced the final aspect of the dinner, the performance. Students from first grade all the way through twelfth grade par-

News 3

Shakespeare Recital

“The idea of the fugue project is really our opportunity to make music in class,” said Mr. Henkin. He elaborated that in the same way the art class is constantly producing art, the music class, too, gets a chance to produce its own music, and the fugue manages to be “a clever way to both learn about what a fugue is and actually create music.” Fugue night is significant because it is a culmination of the work of the junior music students. Students are also more likely to put greater effort into the project when they know they get to perform it at the end, as “most people get excited to write a funny fugue and then perform it for their friends.” Additionally, Mr. Henkin explained that performance of music is how we appreciate music in our culture, and performance is an important part of music itself.

Parents enjoyed the opportunity to watch their children perform their fugues. Julie Freidman, a parent who attended fugue night, said, “It’s one of those uplifting unique Ramaz experiences where students take ownership of a project that is completely out of the box. As a parent, it is completely elevating to watch kids shine.” Students, too, enjoyed performing for their friends as well as watching their friends perform. “It was so interesting to discover so much talent in unexpected places!” said Emily Stemp ’18. She continued, “It was also a nice twist to have some musical fun with my regular classmates as opposed to those I am so used to singing with in choir.”

Rebecca Araten '18

It has been an annual tradition at Ramaz to have a Shakespeare recital competition, in which students are encouraged to recite monologues from one of Shakespeare’s plays. It is sometimes difficult for this competition to attract competitors, as Ramaz students often do not have the time necessary for memorizing and presenting a full monologue.

This year, the English department offered extra credit to participants, yet the number of competitors remained rather small. Nevertheless, all three of the participants put on impressive performances, and there was a show of support from audience members. The participants and audience members enjoyed the performances and refreshments, while the teachers of the English department judged and scored them in their acting and recitation abilities. At the end, Natalie Kahn ’19 took

Ramaz Dinner

ticipated in the annual display of Ramaz talent. The band, guitar ensemble, dance team, student choir, adult choir, and chamber choir joined together to entertain the crowd with singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments. The students worked tirelessly, staying after school for numerous days in order to put on a spectacular show for the dinner’s guests.

The opening number, “One Voice,” sung by the choir, set the tone for the evening.

The choir performed songs like “Chaverim” and “Am Yisroel.” “I thought the performances went really well, and [the choir] was very prepared. They looked like they were having a lot of fun on stage,” said Mr. Henkin, who was one of the many adults that made the performance possible. He continued, “I loved working with the alumni, and the little kids brought in a younger voice,

which created a much larger range of voices.”

The dance team performed a routine to “Yisroel Ahuvati.” Ruth Goodman, director of the dance team, said, “I think the process is 99% of everything, and the way the girls worked together as a team to incorporate their own ideas, and how it all comes together makes [the long process] well more than worth it.” “On stage, everything came together excellently and it was really a team effort,” Goodman continued.

The chamber choir sang “This Is My Wish,” and the guitar ensemble performed “Prelude in C Minor.” These performances along with others, including a medley of songs performed by the band, made this dinner a memorable one for many of the guests. Ilana Steinmetz ’18 said, “I had so much fun at the dinner and enjoyed being a part of the show.

home the prize, a complete collection of Shakespeare's works, for her performance of a monologue in Romeo and Juliet. While the event did not take up a great deal of time, it allowed both the students and faculty members to get a taste of Shakespearean theater.

Everyone worked so hard, and I think it paid off because it turned out great. It was so fun seeing my teachers outside of the classroom setting. The whole night was very enjoyable.”

The show concluded with the chamber choir wishing Rabbi Lookstein a happy 85th birthday through song. Dessert followed the performances, which concluded the long night. “The dinner was amazing, I had a great time!” Rabbi Grossman exclaimed. He concluded, “I have a special connection with the honorees, Jacob and Suzanne Doft, and have such warm feelings about the faculty we recognized: Dr. Stone, Ms. Nyren, and Mr. Gross. I also love choral music, so it was a perfect evening.”

News 4 continued from cover

The Rampage

Girls Varsity Volleyball Triumphs

hard work, and dedication through their many years playing on the team. Now, they can leave Ramaz with pride, and whenever they decide to revisit the school, they can return to the gym, see their banner, and remember what they have accomplished.

Captain Shelli Cohen said, “This whole season has just been an amazing memory. I will never forget it. Volleyball has been a way for me to make amazing friends, and I am so thankful I made the team freshman year. I never thought I would win back-to-back championships!”

What will our captains do next year? Captain Brittney Kohler says that she will “be playing even after High School. Sarah Cabot and I plan to play next year in Israel, and after that, I will join a volleyball league at Binghamton University that many other Ramaz alumni are part of.” Captain Cabot agrees and believes that “since I will be going to Barnard, I will gladly

Rebecca Araten '18

The Ramaz Choir did not allow the hectic month of March to impede their musical ventures. Rather, little more than a week after their travels to a choral festival at Flatbush, they embarked on their annual choir trip. Accompanied by Mr. Henkin, the Choir Director, along with faculty chaperones Ms. Katz, Ms. Maccabee, and Mr. Rochlin, the choir members traveled to Philadelphia and Maryland, where they participated in multiple performances and workshops.

The first stop on the trip was the Perelman Jewish Day School, an elementary school in Philadelphia, where the singers performed for the young students. From there, the choir continued on to the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Maryland, where they participated in a “choir swap,” in which Mr. Aron Donn, the director of the JDS Choir (Shir Madness) directed the Ramaz students, while Mr. Henkin directed the Shir Madness singers. Liviah Sobel ’19 said, “He was upbeat and taught us many new vocal warmups,” some of which the choir members decided to use following the trip.

After both of these activities and the long bus rides, many choir members felt

Rebecca Araten '18

come back to help coach practices. I hope to continue playing volleyball for as long as I can.”

The Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team is clearly more than a team; they are now bonded forever through a memory of hard work and success. There will definitely be future students who are eager to participate in this sport, and Coach Kohn gave some insight into what others should do to prepare for next year’s tryouts. “What I would recommend for those trying out next year is to stay focused. Never stop working hard and continuing to learn, improve, and grow both individually and as a team.” Overall, this was an unforgettable season for the victorious volleyball team, and hopefully Coach Kohn can continue Ramaz’s winning streak considering that she has already won five championship titles.

The Annual Choir Trip

too exhausted to engage in the next sched- members partook in an act of chesed by singing uled activity - multiple hours of free time for the elderly at Tudor Heights Senior Center. at the Baltimore harbor. Mr. Henkin, how- The students were hosted in homes in ever, came up with an alternative plan: he Silver Spring, Maryland for Shabbat. Many brought the choir to the Rita’s Italian Ice of the hosts had children who were in high stand, where they bought ices and custards school, which gave the choir members the and ate them together in the cold night air. chance to form new friendships. Choir pres The next ident Rachel Wahba morning, the choir said, “Being [there] “I was very proud of you this ’17 traveled to the Beth really made me appreTefiloh Day School, weekend. You worked hard, ciate the amazing comwhere previous Ramunity they have there, maz administrator you sang well, and you behaved and we were all thrilled Dr. Koplon now to be welcomed with works. The choir nicely... It was both a kiddush such open arms.” Emperformed for the ily Stemp ’18 agreed hashem and students at Beth and said, “The hosts of Tefiloh, and the the community were a kiddush Ramaz!”

Chamber Choir so great and made sure -Mr. Henkin, Choir Director sang Dr. Koplon “At to please their guests Yaffa,” her favorite in every way possisong from her days ble. They really made at Ramaz. The choir also performed at Krieg- us feel welcome and a part of their family.” er Schechter Day School, where Mr. Henkin The singers had a chance to bond during once served as an assistant principal, prior to a Shabbat oneg, as well as after Shabbat, when his days at Ramaz. After their numerous per- they went on an excursion to Dave and Bustformances for high school students, the choir er’s, where they played many arcade games and

engaged in friendly competition. However, the choir members were still looking out for each other, as when it came time to purchase prizes at the end, many choir members donated their extra tickets to less fortunate students, thereby allowing everybody to win a prize.

On Sunday morning, the singers participated in a workshop with choral conductor Eleanor Epstein, who helped them sing through an arrangement that she composed of a song called “Shir HaAvodah.” Akiva Weinberger ’18 said, “Eleanor Epstein’s class was very entertaining, and she is very talented.”

The singers then returned home from the trip. Wahba concluded, “Being a senior in choir, having gone on the trip for four years in a row, I had high expectations for this weekend. Every single one of my expectations was met, as I got to sing for countless hours with the people I love most.” Mr. Henkin addressed the choir in an email, saying, “I was very proud of you this weekend. You worked hard, you sang well, and you behaved nicely...It was both a kiddush hashem and a kiddush Ramaz!”

Changes in the Ramaz Purim Festivities

Purim-time at Ramaz is always filled with festivities, including the exchange of mishloach manot bags, costume day, and an annual Purim carnival and raffle. However, this year a few changes were made to the Purim program for the school.

As usual, there was a Purim video from the G.O. and a costume contest, but one thing was noticeably missing: the teachers’ Purim shpiel. In past years, the teachers would put on a humorous presentation about Ramaz, often showing pictures with funny captions or performing a skit. This

Julia Levi '18

March/April 2017

Every year, Juniors at Ramaz look forward to their threeday retreat together in Pennsylvania. On a Thursday morning at the beginning of March, after much anticipation, the 11th graders boarded two buses and headed off to the first destination of the trip: SkyZone, a trampoline center in New Jersey.

After a morning of bouncing and a pizza lunch, the group headed to the Bushkill Inn and Conference Center, the home base for the rest of the trip. Students prayed mincha upon arrival and then had free time for the rest of the afternoon.

During this free time, there were two time slots for swimming in the hotel pool - one for the boys and one for the girls.

The first of three sessions led by teachers was held that night, and the grade also came together as a whole for addresses from Mr. Lupinacci and Dr. Milowitz. The main theme of the weekend was the big picture versus the little picture in life, and this theme was imbedded in the various sessions. Besides the few scheduled activities, students had ample free time to get closer to each other and to talk to teachers outside of a school environment. There were boardgames in the common areas during free time, and many students were introduced to new games, such as Code Names, which they played with teachers like Dr. Gaylord and Dr. Milowitz, or amongst themselves.

year, however, there was no Purim shpiel, which shortened the program considerably. Additionally, instead of choosing the winners for all of the raffles in front of the school, the G.O. picked out only a few winners and emailed the rest of the people who had won. While their rationale was based on shortening the program, some people missed this element. Dara Doft ’18 said, “I felt like they should have chosen all of them. It’s just fun knowing who won which raffle.”

Due to the shortness of the program, the students

Junior Retreat

On Friday, the juniors went on the classic Junior Retreat experience: TreeVentures at Pocono Mountain Adventures. They spent the morning on high ropes courses, gliding on the zip line, and trying to get from one stage of an obstacle course to another, from one tree to the next. The obstacle courses in the trees had several levels, yellow being the easiest and black being the hardest. “I think this activity was one of the best ways to bond with people,” said Tammy Krikheli ’18, because “while doing the obstacle courses, you end up unexpectedly on the same tree or the same course as another person who you might not have talked to so much before.”

Friday continued with lunch at the hotel and Shabbat preparations, and as expected, students spent time taking “pre-Shabbat pictures” with each other. The juniors welcomed in Shabbat with an oneg and then proceeded to Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv, followed by dinner, sessions, a tisch, and more free time. “I really appreciated all the free time we had, especially on Shabbat,” said Melissa Adler ’18.

She continued, “It was then when I had conversations and made memories that I wasn’t expecting.” Of course, free time brought more board games, and Hyatt Aronoff ’18 said, “playing board games was the highlight of my Shabbat.”

were let out of school around a half an hour early. While many students appreciated the free time, it was frustrating for the club leaders who had scheduled clubs for that afternoon. The majority of the students left after the assembly, so clubs such as Law Club and Ethics Club had fewer attendees.

Doft said, “It was different from other years. I feel like they could have done more things to make it a little bit longer.”

The next day, kiddush followed breakfast and shacharit. After kiddush, juniors had the last of the three sessions, in which students played a game of cards, each card having one word on it representing common values, for example “family” or “Israel.” The job of each student was to end up with the top four things they value in life out of the entire list. The goal of the session was to end the theme of the little picture and big picture in life, as it confirmed for each student what really matters to him or her. After lunch, students had free time for the rest of the afternoon to hang out with friends. Shabbat ended with an energetic havdalah and dancing, during which everyone let loose after spending the whole weekend together. The dancing continued even after students went to their rooms to pack up their suitcases.

The retreat experience ended with a bonfire outside of the hotel, where the juniors sang songs and roasted marshmallows. “The bonfire was definitely a great culmination to the amazing weekend,” said Aronoff ’18. Students went home after three full days together, having made new and stronger friendships that will have a lasting effect on the rest of their high school experience.

March/April 2017

The Rampage

News 5

Ramaz Competes at Science Olympiad The School Came in 3rd Place Out of 12 Total, behind only TABC and SAR

Josephine Schizer '20

On March 19, the Ramaz Science Olympiad team competed against 11 other yeshivot at Lander College for Men in the Bronx. The Ramaz team competed in 12 different events and placed in third in the overall competition.

Science Olympiad gave students a chance to learn and was an exciting day in which students had the opportunity to see friends from other schools that were also participating.

There were a variety of events available to the Ramaz students. For example, one of the building events required each school to test a tower they had built to see which one had the best ratio of the tower’s weight to the weight it could support. Another event included testing the electric vehicles each school had built for speed over a set distance. Additionally, in the write-it-do-it event, one student had to write a description of a given structure to help their partner build it based on their description. Test events covered topics such as herpetology, Fermi questions, and anatomy and physiology. There was also a chemistry lab event.

Ramaz students were very successful in the competition. Abigail Huebner ’18 and Michael Gul ’18 placed first in the Fermi questions event. Tyler Mandelbaum ’17 and AJ Druck ’17 placed second in the chemistry lab event, and Josephine Schizer ’20 and Daniella Feingold ’20 placed third in the herpetology event. Team members Oriya Romano ’17, Ariel Attias ’18, Henry Koffler ’18, Harry Shams ’19, Jonah Berman ’19, Michael Perl ’19, David Adler ’19, and Jake Shams ’17 also scored well in their respective events, contributing to Ramaz placing third in the overall competition, behind TABC (first place) and SAR (second place).

The Science Olympiad team met for the first time in December for an informative meeting in which stu-

Law Club Hears From Judge David Cohen Rebecca Araten '18

Law Club has had the privilege of hearing many speakers this year, with the most recent being Hon. Judge David Cohen, who is the father of Sarah Cohen ’18.

Mr. Cohen spoke about his experience on the bench and his time spent in civil court, housing court, and family court, where he now works. Aside from teaching the students more about the process of becoming a judge, Mr. Cohen impressed upon the students the importance of the law. He showed them the special robes that he wears as a judge and told them that the robes hold a special significance for him: they remind him that he is part of a system which holds together society and whose impact cannot be overstated.

During his presentation at Law Club, Mr. Cohen also described some of the cases that he has adjudicated, some of which may have seemed unimportant from an outsider’s point of view,

but which held enormous weight to all of the parties involved. In one case, Mr. Cohen managed to speak to both of the parties, and he realized that they really had mutual interests, but they simply had not been listening to each other.

During his time at Law Club, Mr. Cohen showed the students that while being a judge requires a great deal of work and commitment, the effort pays off through the impact that he can have in somebody’s life. Co-Law Club President Ema Rozenfeld ’18 said, “Many don’t always know what they want to spend the rest of their lives doing, but Hon. Judge Cohen knew that he wanted to go into law from a young age. Being someone who has few doubts about my future career, I’m inspired by his perseverance.”

dents had the opportunity to sign up for events that interested them. Starting after intersession, the teams for each event met separately to prepare, including building the tower and electric vehicle and studying for the test events. For some test events, students were allowed to prepare a binder or a certain number of sheets of paper with notes to use during the exam.

Unfortunately, this year, the Science Olympiad contest was the same day as the Ramaz Annual Dinner and an SAT testing date. Because of these conflicts, students who were participating in the dinner or taking the SAT were unable to attend the contest. Hanna Sholes ’18 worked on the tower but was unable to attend the contest because of these conflicts. She remarked that “it was really nice to be a part of a team and build with them, even though I couldn't [attend] the competition.”

The students on the team enjoyed having an opportunity to experience science differently than in school. Julia Levi ’18 has been on Science Olympiad for the last three years and always looks forward to it. “It's just a fun way to exercise my love of science. I love how we all want to win something but that that’s not even the point -- we were all there to have fun and in the end we did end up winning something. It wasn't so competitive for Ramaz, which I liked because it allowed us to have fun while still doing something serious,” she said.

Dr. Aharon, the team’s faculty adviser, agreed. “For me, it's not just about the medals that we win. We're a team, and our students share a common attitude that's curious, confident, enthusiastic, focused, and brilliant, which makes us tough competition! Science Olympiad events and the competition day itself give students on our team the opportunity to build and learn while having fun with science outside of their classroom,” she said.

The team succeeded in more ways than one; the students had a good time, learned a lot, and even came home with a trophy!

Ski Team Takes Hunter Mountain

Julia Levi '18

The Ski Team at Ramaz is relatively new.

It has only been in existence for three years, yet each trip has been a success, with students returning home every time with exciting stories to tell. Captain of the Ski Team Sam Freilich ’17 said that he “started the club because I love skiing and my peers do too, so [the other captain] Danny Jaspan ’17 and I decided three years ago to make it happen.” It is clear now that this was a positive initiative, as the annual ski trip has been more successful each year.

This year’s trip took place on Sunday, February 26th at the usual destination, Hunter Mountain. As the weather in New York had been mild in the few days preceding the trip, members of the club were expecting warm weather and slushy snow on the mountain. However, students were surprised by the cold weather, between 30 and 35 degrees Fahrenheit, that awaited them there. The conditions were far from ideal, as all the slush and melted snow had frozen overnight. Despite these bad conditions, Ramaz students continued to ski on the mountain, over ice, moguls, and patches of dirt.

Students had to wake up early Sunday morning, as the bus to Hunter departed Ramaz at 6:30am. While in the past two years,

the team would head to Hunter in a van, the increasing popularity of the trip necessitated an upgrade to a coach bus. Around 20 students and Rabbi Dov Pianko made their way to the mountain on a two-and-a-half hour busride.

After renting ski equipment, members of the club broke up into groups and skied the mountain. “Even though we had to wake up early and we were all tired and falling the entire time down the mountain, it made us closer. I had such a great time,” said Caroline Jaspan ’17.

It was a long day, as the bus would not be departing until 4:00pm that afternoon.

Members of the club not only skied, but also attempted snowboarding, and there was ample time to take breaks and relax in the ski lodge with Rabbi Pianko. Students returned to the city that night exhausted but happy at the same time, ready for the week ahead of them. “No matter what, it was a great experience, and I’m sad that I can’t be there next year. I hope the people who go on the trip next year have just as much fun as I did,” said Caroline Jaspan. Freilich agreed, saying that “out of the three trips, it really was the best ski trip we have ever had.”

News 6

The Rampage

March/April 2017

Students Attend Conference on Writing and Publishing Ramaz Students Head to the CSPA Conference at Columbia Univeristy

Julia Levi '18

Every spring, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) holds a conference at Columbia University for high school students who are active in their schools’ literary publications. This year’s conference took place from March 15th until March 17th, and a group of Ramaz students went up to Columbia on Thursday, March 16th.

Thursday’s schedule included four 50-minute sessions on topics such as journalism, yearbook layout, creative writing, and film. A group of four students, members of either Yearbook, The Rampage, or Parallax went to the event, along with Dr. Milowitz as a faculty supervisor. Upon arrival, the Ramaz students went to Learner Hall to receive their

Rebecca Araten '18

nametags, and they were able to look through tables stacked with award-winning high school yearbooks, newspapers, and literary magazines. The representatives of Yearbook, The Rampage and Parallax each went to sessions that corresponded to their publication in order to be exposed to new ideas and learn more about writing and layout.

Sessions that Ramaz students attended included “Memoirs

day continued with two more sessions, after which the group headed back to Ramaz, just in time for the end of the school day.

“The entire experience was so fun,” said yearbook member Louise Sitt ’18.

She continued, “I learned a lot, and I am excited for yearbook next year and the changes and improvements we can make.”

The students returned to Ramaz with many new ideas about how to enhance their respective publications. CSPA was a great way for the students to step out of Ramaz and into a larger network of writers, editors, and publishers, learning from teachers and peers from around the country.

Nashir Choral Festival

The month of March has been a busy one for the Ramaz choir. After the Ramaz dinner and the release of their new album, the choir members traveled to Flatbush Yeshiva for Nashir, an inter-school choral festival. The choirs of nine different Jewish day schools attended, and the students participated in a variety of workshops. The workshops offered students opportunities to explore topics in music that they would not normally hear about, such as group harmonizing and sephardic instrumental music. The students had the chance to listen to an Ud, a guitar-like instrument used in the Middle East, which can play notes that many other instruments cannot. The event culminated in a performance for the Flatbush students and family members of the singers, in which each school performed two different songs from their repertoire. Additionally, guest conductor Matthieu Lazar conducted all nine of the schools as they sang an arrangement of the song "Keren Or" by Achinoam Nini.

This year's Nashir event differed in some ways from previous years. Nashir used to take place at SAR, but this year, it took place at Flatbush. Mr. Henkin, the Choir Director, appreciated the change. "I preferred it at Flatbush. I thought things ran a little more smoothly. It may have been because there were fewer kids that people knew from within the school,” he said. Choir

David Grinberg '19

and Personal Essays,” “Systems for Covering the School Community,” and “Yearbook Opening Matters.” Each student had 15 minutes between each session to get to the next one, and they were given a map of the university in order to navigate.

High school teachers from around the country led the sessions, bringing with them knowledge and experience. After the two morning sessions, the Ramaz group walked a few blocks up to the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) for lunch. The

member Hyatt Aronoff ’18 said, "I wish it [had been] at SAR instead of Flatbush. It was way too far."

Another change that was enacted at this year's Nashir was the requirement for participants to learn the group song in advance. In past years, the guest conductor would teach a song to all of the students, which they would then perform.

However, the new policy demanded greater proficiency in the music prior to the performance. Mr. Henkin "liked the fact that we learned a group piece ahead of time, instead of learning it there."

Over the course of the trip, students also had the opportunity to interact with students from other schools.

Flatbush held a festive lunch, as well as a kumzitz, which enabled students to sing together in an informal setting. Elizabeth Newman-Corré ’20 said, "Nashir was really fun. [It gave us a] chance

to see choirs from schools, which we don't usually get to do. It also gave us a chance not just to see them, but to interact with them as well." Aronoff agreed, saying," It was quite an experience."

Substance Abuse Speaker Talks to Sophomores

On March 20th, Eve Goldberg, the founder of BIGVISION, an organization that provides activities to young adults transitioning into sober life after undergoing rehab for substance abuse, came to speak to the sophomores. She spoke about her son’s unfortunate drug overdose and delivered the message that teenagers need to be careful not to pressure their friends into experimenting with drugs

or drinking. Goldberg also made clear that if a teenager is suffering from substance abuse, finding an adult whom he or she trusts is a key step to overcoming his or her vice.

Oliver Rein ’19 asked Ms. Goldberg whether she believed that the school should punish students who have a drug problem and have been using drugs or other substances outside of Ramaz. Dr. Zeitchik, the school psychologist, gave his own answer before Ms. Goldberg could respond. He said that Rein asked an excellent question that was already addressed and explained how the school will first make sure that a student is safe and healthy, and will then take disciplinary measures with an automatic indefinite suspension.

After the assembly, Rein clarified his question in private, indicating what inclined him to ask. “I think if Ramaz wants to ever get rid of the drug problem in the school, they need to work on having an open dialogue with students. Not just scaring people out of doing anything. The school thinks that by threatening kids, they will stop the problem. If they ever want to see results they need to be more open about the issue. If not, they will be left in the dark guessing or lecturing the whole grade, and not looking at who actually needs help,” he said.

David Adler ’19 believes that Ms. Goldberg’s message did not have an impact on the students, but agrees that “you should never peer

pressure another person. Even if you want to drink, at least don’t make other people drink.” Adler is not the only one who thinks that scare tactics are not working.

In contrast, however, Yonatan Weitzner ’19 said, “The speaker did have an impact on people because we actually got to interact with someone whose life was tragically affected by drug abuse.” Ms. Goldberg mentioned that it was completely normal for high school students to rebel, fight the system, and experiment. “A considerable percentage of people who drink or take drugs are not doing it out of their volition but because other people simply are pressuring them to do it. I think people need to stop getting into other people’s business and just worry about yourself,” she said.

There are also those in the middle of the argument, like Meira Weinstock ’19. “I think her story did stick with everyone and left them thinking about it, but it did not really have anyone saying I am never going to do drugs or drink…

[Ms. Goldberg’s message] wasn’t anything we have not heard before,” she said. Most of the grade was shocked when Rein asked Ms. Goldberg about her opinion on school policy, and much chatter followed. “Oliver’s question was justified, and it was good for him to ask it. Most students do not really understand how just suspending kids and bringing in one speaker is going to solve [the substance abuse problem] and stop every student from doing these things,” said Weinstock.

March/April 2017

The Rampage

News 7

Sophomores Receive Priveleges 10th graders express mixed feelings on the subject

Emily Podolsky '19

The sophomores have recently received privileges to leave the building for lunch during the school day. Rabbi Slomnicki, as grade coordinator for the 10th grade, granted the sophomores this opportunity. The sophomores can now leave the building during their assigned lunch periods on Mondays and Thursdays.

The sophomores were very excited to receive their privileges. They had eagerly awaited this opportunity since the beginning of the year and thanks to the hard work of the 10th grade class presidents, they have finally acquired their privileges.

While many students embrace this opportunity, some are disappointed with the requirements and rules that came along with it. Suzi Dweck ’19 said, “It's been great to have a

Sophia Kremer '20

little added freedom and to get some fresh air in the middle of the day.” But in order to be allowed to leave the building and take advantage of their privileges, the students must arrive at school and be in their assigned davening room before 8:00am.

This rule applies to every single day of the week, and there are no exceptions. It does not matter if the lateness is excused or if the student arrives only a couple of minutes after the bell.

“I think not many people will actually have their privileges because no one comes to school on time five times a week,” said Violet Allaham ’19. The intent behind the strict rules is clear and understandable: it is meant to motivate the students to arrive on time. Some students, however, think the

rules are slightly unfair, considering that it is more difficult for students commuting from far away to arrive at school on time.

The sophomores are now also realizing another issue with leaving the building: there are not so many places to go. Ayelet Monas ’19 said, “ I was very excited to hear that we would now be given the opportunity to leave the building sometimes during the week during lunch because it's a great way to get some fresh air and a short break from school. However, I do think that it's overrated and after a while we'll get tired of it because there aren't that many kosher places to eat nearby.”

AIPAC Policy Conference 2017

“Many Voices, One Mission” was the theme of the annual American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference that took place in Washington D.C., from March 26th to 28th. AIPAC’s mission is to strengthen and protect the U.S.-Israel relationship. AIPAC encourages pro-Israel activists to be engaged politically and build relationships with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to promote the U.S.-Israel relationship. This year, 18,000 people, including 4,000 students, attended the AIPAC Policy Conference.

On the evening of Sunday, March 26th, the main guest speaker wasVice President Mike Pence. He recounted a story about a Holocaust survivor who told him about all of the struggles of the concentration camps. “Then America came,” said Pence, and helped free the survivors who had been in desperate need of aid.

The next evening, on Monday, March 27th, AIPAC hosted former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the U.N. The crowd was enormously supportive of her. The cheering was extraordinarily loud - to the point where Haley had to plead with the audience to let up on the applause and allow her to speak. Many in the audience cheered as Haley’s pro-Israel accomplishments were mentioned - namely, her signing into law of a state bill to stop the efforts of the BDS movement and her loud support for Israel in the very biased and anti-Israel climate of the U.N. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan also shared his passionate words about why he supports Israel and expressed to the audience his commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship, receiving a long standing ovation as well.

Throughout the various general sessions, which welcomed all attendees of the conference, AIPAC invited organizations and individuals to speak about their special connections to Israel. One of the many presentations was titled “Israel in My State.” In this segment, select members of the House of Representatives shared how Israel benefits their individual state. Multiple Israeli companies presented and explained how technologies they have developed have helped Israel, the U.S., and the world.

On the arts and culture front, the lead actor and the screenwriter of Fauda, a new television series about an elite undercover Israeli army unit operating in Palestinian society, shared insight into the show and its success.

The AIPAC Village was a gigantic room that had food and places to sit. In addition, there were booths set up with Israeli technology. “This was my favorite part of AIPAC. It allowed me to see how unbelievable the country that I stand for is,” said Avery Sholes ’20. They displayed a machine that produces water from thin air through condensation, a phone invented for a person with paralysis that can be controlled by someone's eyes, and many more technological inventions.

During the day, all conference attendees were assigned to smaller sessions. During these breakout sessions, specialized presenters spoke to anywhere from 40 to 200 people. Congregants of Kehilath Jeshurun, which had the most attendees of any synagogue present at the conference, joined together to hear Israel’s Minister of Education Naftali Bennett, the leader of the right-wing party Jewish Home.

The Ramaz Upper School brought a group of 20 juniors and seniors to AIPAC. Darbie Sokolow ’18 said, “the AIPAC experience would have been incredible no matter what, but being with my peers was the most educational and meaningful part for me.”

Freshmen: Pre-Pesach Adventure to Brooklyn

Zachary Buller '20

Venturing beyond the walls of Ramaz, the freshmen went on an exciting gradewide trip to Brooklyn in the spirit of Pesach.

Dr. Aharon, freshman grade-coordinator, said, “The Pre-Pesach trip to Brooklyn is a spring tradition for the freshmen that was started many years ago by Ms. Benel. One of the most special aspects of the trip is the incredible people that we visit… Ms. Benel has an amazing talent for finding them.”

At the start of the trip, the freshmen had the incredible opportunity of visiting the matzah baking factory at Bais Midrash Ateres Shloime. Rabbi Mordechai Twerski taught them about the halachic requirements for baking matzah and led them through the matzah baking process. The freshmen went through two 18-minute rounds of baking matzah and were given the matzah they made after the rounds were complete. During the process, some students rolled the dough for the matzah and others used special tools to poke the holes and put the matzah in the oven.

“It was so fun! I really enjoyed having the ability to understand what making matzah feels like,” said Sophia Kremer ’20. Josephine Schizer ’20 said, “I had a great time hanging out with my friends at the matzah factory. Making holes in the matzah was a fun job to have.” “I enjoyed the hands-on experience that matzah factory provided,” said Hannah Doft ’20.

Doft continued, “It was a great supplement to what I am learning in my Talmud class now!”

For the rest of the day, the freshmen split up into groups. Some students had the chance to work at Masbia, a non-profit pantry and soup kitchen, others went to Tiferes

Stam Judaica, where the students were introduced to the world of a sofer. The rest of the students went to the Living Torah Museum, a place where Jewish history is brought to life through artifacts and demonstrations.

For lunch, the students walked around the Flatbush neighborhood, which has a great assortment of restaurants. Many students had a great time exploring the Flatbush and Boro Park areas of Brooklyn over the course of the day; it was an adventure that allowed students to see neighborhoods they might not have visited on their own.

At the Living Torah Museum, Rabbi Shimon Deutsch taught the students that history can in fact come alive with his unique collection of ancient Torah artifacts and taxidermy. Rabbi Deutsch had rooms of stuffed taxidermy, both kosher and nonkosher animals. With them, he taught the freshmen the laws of kashrut and showed them how they applied directly to the animals before him. Elsewhere in the museum, Rabbi Deutsch showed the freshmen his room of antiquities that came from various periods in ancient history, including Persian, Greek, and Roman times.

The Rabbi had a collection of coins, weapons, and jewelry on display. Rabbi Deutsch’s museum was unique in that rather than having the artifacts left for observation only, the Rabbi allowed the students to touch, use, and even wear all of the artifacts present. The students had sword fights with ancient Roman weapons, put on Greek warrior helmets, and even wore 3,000-year-old eyeliner! Ben Silverman ’20 said, “It was pretty cool to wield an ancient trident...I truly felt like a Greek warrior.”

There was even a competition in which each The last group of students went to participant was required to lift a 43 pound Tiferes Stam Judaica. Rabbi Ziv Chaim PinAncient Roman ballistic stone over his or her cus taught the students about the many head for nine minutes. While no one was able halachot for making tefillin, as there are many to succeed, everyone had a great time trying. details in this process. Additionally, students “It was an exhilarating experience!” said Jack were taught about Torah scrolls and mezuzot, Fisher ’20. “Rabbi Deutsch taught me that it namely the intricate design that is required is important to learn about our history with for manufacturing these items properly. artifacts that we know are legitimate. The Throughout the adventure in BrookRabbi allowed me to experience history by ac- lyn, the freshmen participated in a wide tually touching these artifacts. He let me put variety of activities and events while expea 2,000-year-old Roman golden crown on my riencing neighborhoods and cultures that head and even let me use an actual Roman were somewhat foreign. As Dr. Aharon put sword. I had a great time!” continued Fisher. it, “Baking matzah with Rabbi Twerski,

The other groups spent their time either the tefillin workshop with Rabbi Pincus, at Masbia, where they helped clean for Pesach, and the Living Torah Museum with Rabbi or at Tiferes Stam Judaica, where they learned Deutsch are one of a kind experiences. For about the writing of tefillin and Torah scrolls. the freshmen, it's a wonderful day shared as

At Masbia, the students cleaned aprons a grade to relax and have fun while learning and packed boxes. One participant, Elizabeth interesting things outside of the classroom.”

Newman-Corre '20 said, “It was really fulfilling to help Masbia clean for Pesach.

Even though I performed the somewhat tedious tasks of washing aprons and unpacking boxes, I felt that what I was doing was helping Masbia do the great work that it does.”

A photo of the Living Torah Museum. Photo Credit: The New York Post.

Features

The Rampage • Mar./Apr. 2017

Color War 2017? Probably Not. Abigail Huebner '18

A Closer Look at the Reasons for Getting Rid of the Fun Two-Day Competition

Students sometimes claim that there is a lack of “fun” at Ramaz. This complaint can especially be heard in Ramaz’s hallways when Frisch or SAR have Shiriyah or color war, even more so when these events take place during midterms at Ramaz, or in a particularly stressful week of tests. To many Ramaz students, the intense focus on academic rigor often feels like it is ruling out any sort of fun.

Yet looking at the situation from a different perspective - one that students might not always take - the supposed lack of “fun” may not be all the school’s fault.

“I think Ramaz isn’t necessarily less fun. I just think that people care a lot more about academics,” said Brianna Rubinstein ’18.

Julia Levi ’18 agreed, saying that “honestly, I used to think Ramaz was less fun than other schools that are always having spirit week and whatnot, but I’ve kind of gotten over that at this point - school is really what you make of it whether or not the administration is providing you with spirit week and things like that all the time.”

And until recently, there was also col-

Basia Fellner-Dublin '20

or war at Ramaz, with battle of the grades taking place each year. Last year, the G.O. decided to make the switch from battle of the grades to a color war with two teams rather than four, without divisions by grade.

Shelli Cohen ’17, G.O. Vice President and last year’s Secretary, explained that this switch was made because it seemed like a good way “to integrate grades and have a nice schoolwide competition. It would be an activity where different grades could become friends.” This initiative was not a success - color war was cancelled because, as G.O. President Nancy Toussie ’17 said, “Color war last year really lacked participation. 85 kids were in school until the end of the day.” It is clearly hard to plan activities when the majority of students do not even come to school unless there are classes. “No one showed up last year,” said G.O. Secretary Naomi Freilich ’18. “Just because the students didn’t receive the activity that they necessarily wanted (color war as opposed to battle of the grades), it doesn’t mean that they needed to respond so immaturely to

color war and not show up. It’s difficult to plan activities when the students don’t respond to the ‘fun’ activities,” she explained.

Julia Levi ’18 thinks we should have another chance with color war this year.

“No one came to color war last year. I think this could be because people prefer battle of the grades or because, to be honest, people would rather have a day off. It was kind of a mindset of school is for school work and when I don’t have any, I shouldn’t come to school, which is kind of sad. But it seems like this is changing this year, which is good.

This is why they should definitely have color war this year to reflect the new environment they want to have in the school,” she said. Levi, along with many other students, thinks a potential color war this year should be a battle of the grades because then each grade would have an opportunity to bond and unite as a team. Rubinstein also thinks we should have color war again this year because “we all need a break from school,” but continued to say, “but who knows if anyone will show” in the event that col-

Ballerina Body by Misty Copeland

On March 21st, Misty Copeland, the second African-American ballerina soloist and first African-American principal dancer, spoke and had a signing of her new book, Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You at Union Square in Manhattan. The book is about health and fitness, including workout routines, meal plans and advice on how to achieve a perfect body for you. “So much of the book’s structure stems from the ballet technique that is such a huge part of my life,” Copeland said. In addition to writing Ballerina Body, Copeland wrote a children’s book Firebird and a memoir Life in Motion.

Copeland ended up signing not only her new book, but also pointe shoes, barbie dolls modeled after her, photos, and her book Firebird. “There has been a shift in recent years in which women no longer desire the bare bones of a runway model. Standards have changed: what women do want is a long, toned, powerful body with ex-

cellent posture,” Copeland writes in her book. Her aim is to show that being thin should not be a goal with which everyone is obsessed. Listen to your body and treat it the way it should be treated, says Copeland. She will be signing her book in Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York (for a second time) as well. When Copeland was asked what inspired her to write her third book, she said, “I’d get lots of question about how I trained, what I ate. I wanted to show that dancers are athletes. People see us twirling on stage and the beautiful costumes. But there’s an intensity to what we do. It takes focus and dedication.”

Copeland is an Under Armour Athlete as well. She was featured in a campaign by Under Armour called “I Will What I Want,” as well as the “Rule Yourself” campaign. “I think that what Under Armour has always represented is so incredibly diverse. And I know that that’s what they stand for,” Copeland said. Copeland will appear in American Bal-

let Theater’s production of Giselle as Giselle in April. During the company’s spring season, she will star in Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, and Whipped Cream. “I’m learning I have to manage my physical workload. Kitri in Don Q and Giselle are some of ballet’s biggest jumping roles.

I’ve been rehearsing them every single day for three weeks while also working on Whipped Cream,” said Copeland.

Ballerina Body is divided into four sections. The first section covers mindset. The second section describes basic ballet exercises that everyone can do. Next, Copeland shares her favorite recipes, and finally, the book ends with a section about mentors that help one on his or her way to success.

“Ballerina Body is not about urging women to fit some cookie-cutter mold conjured up by the word ‘ballerina,’ but to show women everywhere how to reach their body goals and achieve what they see as their best selves,” said Copeland.

New Club:

The Misadventures of Shia Labeouf

Amedeo Hasson '20

"He Will Not Divide Us" is a campaign led by former Transformers actor Shia Labeouf. In response to the recent election of President Donald Trump, this campaign aimed to continue for all four years of the president’s current term in protest of his policies and rhetoric. The campaign set up a livestream at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York. In front of the camera, protesters were supposed to repeat the phrase "He Will Not Divide Us" as many times as they wished. Internet trolls from the notorious online message board 4chan saw this as a great opportunity to anger Labeouf and rushed to ruin the stream.

When the stream first went up on Trump's Inauguration Day, many protestors came to chant the words.

The trolls had their own words to share.

Over the next few weeks, the trolls hosted dance parties as well as various other provocative forms of expression in front of the camera. On February 10th, Labeouf was arrested for physically assaulting one of the trolls, and

or war is scheduled. Cohen also explained that even when color war was a competition between the grades, “there was not a very high percentage of participation by students,” and therefore the administration and G.O. “aren’t going to supply the students with a day they’re just going to ditch.”

The administration and G.O. have other activities planned. It has already been decided at SFAC that there will be no color war this year. “The school felt that it was best to think of something else to do this year,” said Toussie. “The administration is still willing to give us two days of ‘fun.’ So we will have something else ‘fun’ towards the end of the year,” she said. Freilich said that because no one showed up for color war last year, the G.O. would rather plan different activities that people would actually participate in and enjoy. The nature of these “activities” is still a surprise, and the G.O. has decided not to disclose any specifics until a later date.

the museum aborted the project.

Defeated yet hopeful, Labeouf was determined. He restarted the stream a few days later at the El Rey Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Trolls from nearby soon flocked to the livestream, but Labeouf learned from his mistakes and just ignored them. However, the stream was taken down once again. Trump protesters had brought firearms to the venue threatening Labeouf’s supporters , and gunshots were heard nearby a few days later. Promptly, the theater avoided further violence and closed the stream.

Labeouf tried again and restarted the stream, but this time, he changed it. Instead of a public livestream, all that was seen on camera was a flag with the words "He Will Not Divide Us" waving in the wind with the sky in the background in an unknown location. This stream led to possibly the world's greatest game of capture the flag. When the stream went up on March 8th, 4chan trolls were determined to take it down as soon as possible. Using complex trig-

onometry and the study of flight patterns and cloud movement, they were able to triangulate the location - a small town in Tennessee. One of the trolls drove around the town honking his horn for others to detect how close he was to the stream, and they found the flag within 24 hours of it being put up. Over the next 12 hours in the middle of the night, they raided the flag pole and replaced the flag with a "Make America Great Again" hat.

Labeouf was furious and decided to move his project abroad to the U.K.

On March 22nd, the flag was raised at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in Liverpool, England, and it was secured on top of the building. The next day, a masked trespasser appeared on the stream, and the flag as well as the stream disappeared. There has been no word regarding a fifth attempt for the He Will Not Divide Us movement, but it is sure to happen in the coming weeks.

Will Shia ever defeat these trolls?

Arduino

Josephine Schizer '20

Every Wednesday in the computer lab, the Arduino Club is hard at work. Hadassah Brenner ’17 started the club this year after spending her summer at Bluestamp Engineering and becoming interested in Arduino. Arduino is a type of programming language and hardware with which one can build circuits and run code. The club is currently using this language and hardware to build robots. Students start with a basic robot base and then add sensors, giving the robot the ability to detect light, movement, or sound and act based on these stimuli. The club members are eager to share their work with new recruits, and the door is always open for those who want to join!

March/April 2017

The Rampage

Features 9

The Environmental Club: Netanel Kamel '18

The Environmental Club began in 2013 learning about many concerns of our generation, such as climate change, clean and renewable energy solutions, greenhouse gas emissions, dirty fossil fuels planet-wide, and making buildings more energy efficient, to name a few. Additionally, the club assessed the recycling violations that are so prevalent in the school, and vigorously pursued the goal to implement change.

The club attended evening lectures, and arranged for several guest lecturers to address our students and faculty. In 2014, the club designed a Tu Bishvat program for the entire school that included sessions offered by environmental professionals and Judaic studies faculty, who presented texts from the Torah that stress our environmental responsibility. The club then decided to begin

Recycling and Our Future instituting recycling in Ramaz and undertook a very big responsibility, understanding the importance of sustaining our earth.

The Environmental Club has gone on multiple trips in attempt to learn and brainstorm about different ideas that could potentially help fix the recycling problem that our school still faces. The club’s members attended lectures, visited recycling specialists, and invited representatives to speak to faculty about recycling. Initially, Hadassah Brenner ’17 and AJ Druck ’17, co-presidents of the Environmental Club, represented the student-led organization at a SFAC meeting to garner support from administration and student officials. The club members, including Noa Attias ’18 and Gabrielle Amar ’17, also met with Ms. Cheryl Reiter, Director of Facilities at Ramaz, and together walked

through the building to chart the needs for color-coded bins and recycling bags for the lounges, hallways, classrooms, and offices.

Labels were ordered from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and posted on every bin. Funds for these purchases were allocated and approved, and the maintenance staff was also involved so that this project would be an all-embracing community effort. After months of intense hard work, the members of the club brought recycling to our school. The business office supported the club and helped to purchase the needed bins. Additionally, special clear/blue bags were purchased to help with separation of disposed materials for the maintenance staff and the recycling trucks. Hadassah Brenner ’17 said, “It has been a long and difficult journey on our part, but I can say for each one of us that it was well worth the effort.”

One main issue that the Environmental Club faces is during daily lunch periods.

During each lunch period, certain students are assigned “lunch duty” and are expected to clean the lunch tables. The student on lunch duty is not supposed to be “cleaning” but rather implementing the rules, that is, insisting that his or her peers follow the rules of cleaning up and recycling. The reality, however, reflects the irresponsibility of the students in cleaning up after themselves.

The obvious solution is that students should be more caring and appropriately recycle their plastic plates and dispose of their waste after their meal. The correct procedure is to pour any leftover food/grime that remains on one’s plate into the black bin marked “Trash,” and then to throw away one’s plastic plate, bowl, spoon, and fork into the blue recycling bin. In a situation in which there is a large portion of food stuck on a plate that is difficult to remove, the entire plate with the food should be disposed in the black garbage bin. However, the prob-

lem remains that even after informational grade assemblies and meetings, the students still fail to follow this procedure. Additionally, even students who are on lunch duty often fail to follow this recycling procedure.

An additional problem that the Environmental Club faced was that they saw that the clear bags (containing recyclables) and the black bags (containing waste) after school are dumped together into a single dumpster. In general, the different colored bags are supposed to be separated into two piles of recyclables and waste. “Even when we do have bags that are filled correctly, they are just thrown in together with all the others,” said Gabrielle Amar ’17. The members have been told that the waste removal company Ramaz uses separates the bags at their plant, but Hadassah Brenner ’17 said, “We cannot verify that and find it difficult to accept that as a fact.” To confirm, the club has attempted to contact the waste company.

Although the club has not yet succeeded, it plans to continue the effort. but has not succeeded. The club members have surveyed buildings in the Upper East Side neighborhood in the late evening and have realized that most other buildings’ bags are clearly separated (with one pile for black bags and another for the clear ones), and New York City sanitation trucks pick up these bags, on specific trucks designated for recyclables only and other trucks just for trash.

The club has addressed the administration most recently, asking for greater support in implementing the program. Faculty members on lunch duty are equally frustrated with the students, but find that there is no recourse for students’ violations of the recycling rules, and they feel it is a hopeless task.

The Environmental Club is asking for help from the entire school and would gladly appreciate any exciting ideas from all students who want to join this initiative and help fix the recycling problem.

Photos from the Ramaz lunchroom.

Students all too often dispose their trash and recyclables into the wrong bin. Despite the signs and different colors, these two bins contain nearly the same contents.

Photo Credit: Netanel Kamel '18.

BLACK

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Opinion

The Rampage Ramaz Upper School

The Rampage • Mar./Apr. 2017

New York • Volume 48 • Issue 7 • Mar./Apr. 2017 • the-rampage.org

Print Editors-in-Chief:

Gabriel Klapholz* Elianna Schwartz*

Online Editors-in-Chief:

Jasmine Levine* Gabrielle Amar* Layout Editor

Moselle Kleiner

*

Managing Editor:

Nicole Aboodi*

Associate Editor:

Tyler Mandelbaum* News Editor:

Oriya Romano* A&E Editor:

Caroline Jaspan* Sports Editor:

Jacob Hocheiser*

Faculty Advisor:

Dr. Milowitz Contributing Writers: David Grinberg Hadley Kauver Julia Levi Josephine Schizer Netanel Kamel Naomi Freilich Rebecca Araten Suzi Dweck Paola Mattout Becky Tauber Emily Stemp Basia Fellner-Dublin Abigail Huebner Alexandra Orbuch Hannah Doft Yonatan Weitzner Natalie Kahn Esther Beck Zachary Buller Sophia Kremer Harry Shams Mark Marcus The Rampage is the student newspaper of the Ramaz Upper School. It is published on a monthly basis.

Letters to the editor may be submitted to rampage@ ramaz.org. Letters must be signed and may be edited for space and to conform to The Rampage's style and format.

Becky Tauber '19 As the fall season sports are at a close and the spring season sports are commencing, the question remains as to why Ramaz sports teams seldom receive large student crowds at their games after school. The basketball, baseball, hockey, volleyball, soccer or any other teams almost never have a sizeable crowd of students attend their games. The ultimate question is what is causing students to turn away from the after school games, as opposed to cheering on their friends from the crowd.

There are many possible reasons for the lack of student spirit in the stands at sports games. Most students will answer that their just isn’t enough time to fit an extra hour and a half into their busy schedules in order to stay in school to attend the sporting events. Since students tend to have two to three tests per week, not including other essays, projects, and homework assignments, many feel that they need to spend the extra time at home working as opposed to at the games. This is a problem that students of all grades experience, and the school will not normally do much in order to try to accommodate students’ busy schedules. Beth

Spirit at Ramaz Kahn ’20 said, “I think students just have a lot of work and teachers don’t make a big deal when announcing games at davening…” Students seem to feel that because the school does not make a “big deal” about games, they are not worth attending.

While some students

year and not so much encouragement by the school itself to attend these games, students underestimate the influence a large crowd has on a team. Not many Ramaz teams made it to the championship this past season, and getting a big crowd at games could boost a team’s

With students reluctant to stay after school, there are different measures the school can take in order to encourage attendance to the games. may not have enough time, others may not be interested in the sports being played or do not want to deal with the hassle of finding rides home if the game goes later than the 6:30pm late bus. Students may feel like the easiest option is to skip the game entirely. With a large percentage of the student body living outside of the city, it is much harder for commuters to deal with finding a ride home.

An additional problem is that the students do not realize how much a crowd of fans cheering can help a team play better. With only one pep rally during the

confidence and allow it to advance farther in the season.

With the lack of school spirit shown for the teams, it is up to the participants - the athletes - to convince their friends to cheer for them.

“Why would anyone go to a game if they have a test the next day? And when they don’t have a test, they want to have a day at home to rest,” said Tom Shemia ’19. “If they want people to come to more games, the players need to take initiative in convincing their friends to come,” Shemia said.

With students reluctant to stay after school, there are different measures the school

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.

Denotes member of The Rampage Editorial Board. *

Photo from the Pep Rally in November 2016. Despite events such as the one shown above, student attendance to sports games remains low.

can take in order to encourage attendance to the games. The first step is to try and work these events into a student's schedule. If the school knows that a team has an important game, there should not be any tests or big projects due the day after. Without these obstacles, people will be more inclined to attend games.

This practice does not work for just sports games. This year, many students had tests following the performance of the Senior Play. Perhaps, if there were no tests scheduled, more students would have free time to watch the play. The school could also allow students who show up to the games to receive a pass on homework due the next day. This pass could be given out at the game and handed to teachers the following day.

Another possible solution is for more spirit days and activities to be planned throughout the year. In November, when there was spirit day planned for the school, the boys’ basketball double header against TABC had a great turnout, with the gym filled with many more students than for an average game. This spirit night also gave students the opportunity to get home on a later bus, so fans would not have to wor-

Arts&Entertainment The Rampage • Mar./Apr. 2017

Naomi Freilich ’18

Senior Play: Hairspray

On March 1st, many seniors participated in this year’s senior play, Hairspray. Danielle BenDavid ’17 directed the play with Mr. Jason Robinson. Each year, the seniors are obligated to sell five tickets for the play. The funds raised go towards the production of the play, such

Natalie Kahn ’19

as the cost of the costumes and the set.

Although the seats in the audience were not all filled, those who did attend voiced their praise of the performance. After attending the performance, Sam Freilich ’17 said, “The play was a such a great experience, and it will definitely be an expe-

rience that I will remember. It was so great to see how the 12th grade has transformed throughout these years of high school.”

Prior to the play’s debut, the senior participants faced many challenges, as noted by the director, Danielle BenDavid. Originally, many roles were given to people who in the end did not participate in the play. Furthermore, the seniors originally planned to produce the play Grease, but they ultimately were unable to acquire the rights to the production, as they planned on charging for admission. However, BenDavid said, “All in all, directing the play was an extremely challenging yet enjoyable experience.”

Following the production, BenDavid said that the play was “an amazing performance that exceeded our expectations.”

Beauty and the Beast Reviewed

Becky Tauber ’19 and Paola Mattout ’19

The remake of the classic animated 1991 film Beauty and the Beast was excellent and captivating. The movie starred Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast.

The production has a modern feel to it, as it uses advanced technology and special effects.

Different from the original film, this version also has a diverse cast, using actors from various ethnic backgrounds. The film was also clearly more modern because of the inclusion of a homosexual character named LeFou. The movie appeals to young crowds, as well as older ones that are familiar with the original film. The remake contained some more violent, intense scenes than the original film, but nothing too scary for young children. The movie did not fail to demonstrate the classic theme of Beauty and the Beast, that there is more to people than their exterior, teaching the audience to be more compassionate to others and to look beyond one’s appearance.

Anastasia the Musical Reviewed The classic Disney animated film hits Broadway

Although it is not as well-known as some other animated movies, Anastasia is a classic, must-see movie for all diehard Disney fans, with fantastic songs. The Broadway musical version of the movie, previews of which began on March 23rd, is no less memorable. It is based on the mystery that continued for nearly a century regarding the youngest daughter of the last tsar, Nicholas II. Even though the rest of her family was executed, Anastasia’s body was never identified, so for many years, people wondered if she had somehow managed to survive, with various imposters claiming to be her. Even though it was finally concluded that she had indeed been executed with the rest of her family, the movie brings Anastasia to life, although she suffers from amnesia. She is enlisted by two con men, vying for a reward offered by the princess’s grandmother for whoever would find her. The con men, Dmitri and Vlad, at first teach her to pretend to be Anastasia but eventually come to believe she actually is the lost princess.

The score of the musical includes most of the original songs from the movie but changes the plot. Instead of a villainous Rasputin who uses dark magic in seeking to destroy the last Romanov descendant, a radical Soviet officer named Gleb pursues Anastasia. Gleb says that he wants to kill her but is secretly obsessed with her. The change certainly makes the storyline more

realistic, but it is unnecessary nevertheless. Anastasia did not even survive in the first place, so nobody should be bothered by a malicious warlock in the form of Rasputin. Taking out Rasputin as an antagonist also means removing one of the best songs from the movie, “In the Dark of the

Upon a December.” Dashing Derek Klena fully captures the character of Dmitri from the movie, bringing out both his (sometimes mean) sense of humor and his sweet and caring side. Ramin Karimloo brings stellar vocals, as usual, but the role does not necessarily show off his voice the way

Night,” which is disappointing. There are, however, several great new songs added to the score. In particular, the love duet between Dmitri and Anastasia was phenomenal, but some of the songs and reprises are very short and end a little abruptly.

In addition, the cast is extremely strong. Christy Altomare makes an excellent, adorable Anastasia with crystal high notes and an especially moving “Once

other roles like Jean Valjean from Les Miserables and the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera do. His character also should have reflected more his conflicted feelings about Anastasia and the communist cause.

John Bolton and Caroline O’Connor as Vlad and Lily, Vlad’s lover and companion of the dowager empress, are funny and energetic, but sometimes, their gestures of affection for one another on

stage seem a little exaggerated. Mary Beth Peil is excellent as the mournful dowager empress Marie, Anastasia’s grandmother.

The set design is also incredible, particularly when Anastasia is travelling from St. Petersburg to Paris on a moving train. The contraptions move smoothly, and the production glides seamlessly from scene to scene, sumptuous in the palace scenes and realistically ragged in the dirty street scenes.

The costumes are very nice and colorful, but sometimes, the sparkles and jewels on the fancy dresses are a little blinding. The choreography is also great, ranging from ballroom dancing to ballet to tap dancing.

The show is a little on the short side, but is the perfect length, lasting only about two and a half hours including an intermission. Overall, Anastasia is a funny but moving, highly recommended tale of determination and discovery.

Mar./Apr. 2017

The Rampage

Crossword 12

Crossword Sam Berman '17

Answers can be found on www.the-rampage.org

41. Parking ___ 44. Choose (on) 1. "As loathsome as ___"--Shake- 45. Eden e.g., Abbr. speare 46. Incorrect rounding 6. Joke 50. Hosp. test 9. Blood vessel imaging machine 51. Fancy edible fungus often 12. Triscuit Crackers rival used to make oil 15. Pie __ mode 52. Monster’s ____ (animated 16. These: Fr. movie) 17. Second semester senior event 55. Second semester senior event 18. Punctuation that is some58. NBA great Gilmore times found up-side-down in 59. Where to watch New York Spanish: Abbr., also the last letter sports of 64-across 60. Beatle’s “Sexy ___” 20. Oui’s opposite 61. IRS agent 21. NYC to Stamford direction 62. The person who prints out 23. Second semester senior event crosswords for Ramaz, colloqui24. SC-___ ally 25. A sprinter or NASCAR driver 63. Rows 27. Frankie or Cleo 64. Second semester senior event 28. ____-Shabbat spelled out by the circled letters 30. Something one on a diet 65. Big name in PCs would look for 32. Second semester senior event 34. Ames, Iowa campus 37. About to score, in soccer 38. Peanut butter and chocolate candy 40. Medical suffix Across:

Down: 1. Mil. commands 2. Lake ____, ski resort 3. Bad news from a Venus sighting 4. Molecule that carries energy, Abbr.

5. Home of the Cowboys, for short 6. Online help page 7. Rick’s love in “Casablanca” 8. Bruce Wayne’s aircraft 9. The year 1911 on monuments 10. Aired again 11. “I’m all ears” 13. Capital of Nicaragua 14. In ____ (working in harmony) 19. Not messy 22. Med. specialty that deals with strep 25. Computer command on word after an accidental delete 26. Louis XV, e.g.

29. Pesters 31. Pro 32. Positive energy 33. Stereotypically honors com-

puter science or honors physics 34. Prefix with dynamic 35. Card game where one matches shapes 36. Consume 39. New Year’s _____ 42. _____ a tangent (not on topic) 43. Laffy ____ 45. Italian ice-cream 46. Topic covered in Ms. Axel’s Jr. class 47. ____ Miller, former dean 48. Bottom floors in some buildings 49. Parts of mins.

52. Containing element 53 53. Racket 54. Delete, as in computer history 56. Cans 57. Speak Spanish?