Grandparents and Special Friends Dive Into Chemistry 

The CJHS Grandparents and Special Friends Organization welcomed more than four dozen people at a Meet and Greet on Thursday night. After welcomes by Mr. Frank, Head of School, and Stuart and Marianne Taussig, chairs of the organization, the group learned about many of the facets of a CJHS experience. The grandparents and special friends listened with rapt attention as senior Peri Axelrod described the impact of transferring into CJHS for her junior year and how the school has tremendously enhanced her Jewish identity. Many thanks to Judi Dworkin and Michelle Howden of the Parent Organization, who shared information about upcoming programs and volunteer opportunities at CJHS.

Grandparents were delighted to learn about the Judaic Studies curriculum from Rabbi Elliot Goldberg, Director of Religious Life. The highlight of the evening, however, took place when everyone went upstairs in the Resnick Science Lab for an overview of the science department with Mrs. Ann Levinson, Department Chair, and the group completed a chemistry experiment under Mrs. Levinson's direction. The evening ended with dessert and tours of our school. 

 

We invite all grandparents and special friends to join the organization and mark your calendars for Grandparents and Special Friends Day on Thursday, May 27, 2010, when you will have lunch and go to class with your students.

Beetle Run 

 

It was human vs. insect in Ms. Robyn Murphy's anatomy class this week, as students competed with Bess beetles to see who could pull the most weight.  Dimitri the Wonder Beetle, weighing in at just under 2 grams, pulled 45 times his own weight in pennies!  Our student champion, Sammy "The Beetle" Simon, could pull only 8 times his own body weight.  Score one for the bugs!

 

CJHS Senior Israel Experience Receives Recognition  

 
This past August, Dr. Ezra Kopelowitz, Dr. Minna Wolf, and Stephen Markowitz of Research Success Technologies Inc, published a working paper entitled, "High School Israel Experience Programs: A Policy-Oriented Analysis of the Field."  The study, sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel, found that successful Israel experiences understand that "expected benefits from the Israel trip expand beyond the participant to include the sending organization and community" (p. 35).   The paper goes on to say that "only a minority of sending organizations are developing sophisticated understandings of the benefits of the Israel trip and structuring their trips accordingly. The most sophisticated resemble the educational program pursued by the Chicagoland High School...   Most sending organizations do not reach Chicagoland's level of sophistication, impeding the development of broader support for the trips" (35).  

 

Further, the study highlights CJHS's educational philosophy which "focuses on teaching critical thinking and showing participants how to reach sophisticated conclusions through studying contemporary issues. The goal is to grapple with Israel as a complex and intricate society. A significant amount of time is spent looking at grey areas in Israel (security, politics, social problems, poverty, etc). The educators try and be as dogma-free as possible, allowing participants to come to their own conclusions" (34).

 

To learn more about CJHS's Senior Israel Experience, please contact Rabbi Elliot Goldberg at RabbiGoldberg@CJHS.org.

Winter Sports Registration 

Benji Derman, class of '06, has an article published in the Schmooze magazine, fall 2009.  The title of the article is "The creative force behind Little Kingdom: An interview with Citay's Ezra Feinberg."  The website is www.schmoozemag.com.

Write For The Prints 

 

The Prints is our student-run literary journal. Please submit your artwork, photographs, prose and poetry via email to submittotheprints@gmail.com. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Noa at noadaphne@yahoo.com.

Happy birthday to Danny Hochberg and Leah Cardona.  Many thanks to their families for sponsoring breakfast in their honor.