June 9,2004
newsbriefs compiled by Michal Bornstein, Daniel Getz, Jack Kider and Tamara Slater

Watkins-Chow to be Math Chair next year
After three years as a teacher at JDS, math teacher John Watkins-Chow will assume the position of Math Department Chair for the upcoming school year, in place of current Acting Department Chair Joshua Himmelsbach, who will not be returning.

Watkins-Chow, who taught math for four years in Detroit after graduating from MIT with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a bachelor’s degree in math, admits that he has a tough act to follow.

“Himmelsbach leaves some mighty big shoes to fill,” he said.
“I do not expect to wield The Mighty Fist of Power with the same gentle grace and humility, so I am hoping my colleagues will be patient with me as I grow in the new position.”

As one of his ideas for next year, Watkins-Chow said, “I am a fan of stealing ideas from others, so I plan on visiting classes often and will encourage the other math teachers to do so also.”

Eisner invites three guests to enhance class experience
In an effort to expose his classes to new ideas and ways of learning, photography teacher Jerry Eisner invited three outside photographers to lecture and instruct his classes over the past six months.

One of the photographers Paricia Phillips, held a two-day workshop where she introduced Polaroid film and taught students to work with the new medium in order to achieve different types of results in their photos, according to Eisner.

Pictures taken by these students are currently being exhibited throughout the school building.

Another photographer, Amy Stein, half sister of math teacher Susan Fain, discussed and displayed her portfolio, the majority of which contained pictures of women using guns.

“With her exquisite portfolio she also brought a special message that women can be and cover anything they want,” said Eisner.

Additionally, over the past month alumnus Robert Lavenstein (’04) has spent many hours assisting in all five of Eisner’s photography classes.

According to Eisner, Lavenstein originally returned to the photography lab to work on his own project, but ended up as an assistant co-developing a new project which required students to produce pictures similar to those that would be printed in a variety of magazines.

The students judged one another’s projects acting like a Board of Review.

Lavenstein said that “the highlight for me was getting the chance to get to know and interact with kids from younger grades. I met some really amazing kids that I would not have gotten to know otherwise.”

According to freshman Rachel Genderson, “[Lavenstein] and the other people that have visited have really helped to make our class more fun and interesting.”

Eisner explained that “the point of bringing in different photographers was to open the students to new ideas and try to make them understand that their work is art, and that there are a lot of different ways to learn.”

Feith speaks, gives Pentago tour to juniors
by Michal Bornstein

A group of 18 juniors and five teachers visited the Pentagon and were given a tour by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and JDS parent Douglas Feith, who led the group into the Secretary of Defense’s private office, among other areas, and answered student questions regarding Pentagon policy, on May 16.

“The trip was a great opportunity to see the work and opinions of the administration and their policy workers,” said History teacher Jane Michael.

photo by Julie Brinn Siegel

Undersecretary of Defense Douglas feith points towards special tinting on the windows of his E-ring Pentagon office.

“The highlight of the trip was going to all of the special offices and rooms that are not typically open to the public,” said junior Sarah Ifft.  

The group stopped for question-and-answer sessions in Feith’s office and in the conference room used by the Pentagon’s leadership to meet with military commanders around the world via video teleconference.

According to Michael, “the students asked all sorts of questions, even about the Iraqi abuse scandal” adding that “we also addressed many other topics including the United States handing over power to the Iraqi government on June 30, and the possibility of more terrorist attacks.”

The group was also able to visit the Press Room and greatly enjoyed the visit to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s private office.

“Visiting Rumsfeld’s office gave everyone the sense of him as a person, not just as a policy maker,” said Michael.

The majority of the students on the trip are considering enrolling in a foreign policy course next year, according to Michael. Because of the students’ interest in foreign policy, many interesting discussions took place regarding the current state of affairs, she explained.

“For many of these students, Feith put a personal face on the Pentagon,” she said.

"Drisha' re-evaluated
The drisha minyan program, which began this year as an experiment to find alternative types of prayer for those students not motivated by traditional prayer, will continue next year with several changes.

Despite a generally positive response, Interim Principal Roslyn Landy said that not all programs from this year will continue, and not all proposed ideas can be executed.

“Although there are many great ideas for new topics to be taught, it is very difficult to find teachers to teach all the different possible classes,” said Landy.

Some classes that are going to be offered next year are Jewish cooking, music, art, experiential prayer, theater, yoga, politics and Jewish leaders.

“Also, since every student in the program has participated in all of the different classes, a new curriculum and cycle must be made. We are thinking that for next year, we will decrease the number of subjects being taught” and organize it as a 2-year cycle “so that the teachers would only have to write a new curriculum every other year,” Landy said.

Next year, students will be required to lead minyan at least twice, and another proposed option involves allowing students to visit other minyans on days assigned to organized prayer, said Landy.

There are also potential changes involving the number of students enrolled in drisha.

According to Landy, “if many more students apply for drisha next year, the current eighth-graders will not be able to participate.”

This past year, over 200 students participated in the drisha program.

Eigthth-graders present legislation
In culmination of its year-long civics curriculum, the eighth grade participated in a Model Congress on May 19.

The program consisted of the presentation of mock articles of legislation designed by students.

photo by Zachary Krame

History teacher Michael Connell presides over eighth-graders participating in Model Congress on May 19.

“We got to experience how Congress really works,” said eighth-grader Abra Fein.

According to History Department Chair Natalie Levitan, the new program was meant to tie together government and economics issues which the eighth grade studied over the year.

“We’ve been studying U.S. government,” she said, additn that “this is really a culmination of the section on Congress.”
History teacher Janet Collier noted the importance of understanding how the government works.

“Until the kids took this class, they didn’t really have a sense of what was going on, what Congress did, what it is to make a law,” she said.

Some students felt that one problem with the program was its length, something for which representative government is actually famous.

“I thought it was interesting to see the process but it got a little tedious because it was so long,” said eighth-grader Jay Kaplan.

Memorial Day theme downplays controversy
The Memorial Day ceremony, held at the school on June 1, focused on the recent generations of fallen American soldiers, specifically focusing on soldiers from World War II, the Vietnam War and the current conflict in Iraq.

This year, the History Department handed over the ceremony’s preparations to Student Life Coordinator Victoria Rothenberg who involved juniors and Student Council officers in the ceremony.

According to history teacher Jane Michael, the History Department decided not to plan the Memorial Day ceremony because they are “trying to move away from the History Department’s heading so many assemblies.”

Avoiding controversy was a main priority in planning the assembly, according to Student Council co-President Ian Solomon.

“I didn’t want to make any political statements because I didn’t want to offend anyone,” he said.

In addition to avoiding conflict, the planners of the ceremony strived to make it meaningful.

According to Student Council Vice President Dena Kranzberg, a goal was “to make sure that people recognized it as a Memorial Day even though we were not doing the things people usually associate with Memorial Days at JDS like lighting candles and saying Kaddish.”

Michael said that she saw a new sentiment reflected in the poetry and general feel of the assembly.

“I think people are now focused on the serious aspects of Memorial Day this year due to the world events that have occurred rather than on just a patriotic observance.”

A large part of the ceremony consisted of PowerPoint presentations of pictures of soldiers in various wars, according to Kranzberg.

The juniors “really felt that the whole visual aspect of it kept people involved,” she said.