Friends of HBHA - February 2, 2010

State of the Union Offers Hope to Some
David H./The Academy Voice

    The voices of the congressional master-at-arms boomed over the chamber on, Jan. 27, as they announced the presence of the President of the United States Barack Obama whomade his way to the Speaker’s podium to deliver his first State of the Union to the full Congress, Supreme Court, cabinet, and invited guests.
    Before the State of the Union, I held the beliefs of many citizens across this nation. Over the past year, aggravated by months of continued job loss and failed Congressional promises, thousands of Americans have protested the actions of the government; due to a lack of tangible economic stimulation and job growth. More recently, Americans have grown further annoyed by the ongoing campaign for health care reform, where after months of slow progress, it is currently stalemated in Congress, due to the loss of the Democratic supermajority in the Senate.
    During the 2008 election, I ardently supported the presidential campaign of then Senator Obama, despite the fact that at the time I could not vote. Over this past year, I too have become aggravated by the lack of leadership the president has shown in congressional affairs. Although I am still a loyal Democrat, I was disappointed with the President.
    As I sat listening to Obama’s thunderous voice in the Congressional Chamber, I was filled with hope as I listened to the man who has aged so much over the past year. When we elected Obama in 2008, I thought he was a demigod, sent to clean up the failures of the previous administration in the blink of an eye, but as I watched the State of the Union, I realized that Obama is just a guy. He is a human being who is trying to serve this nation as best as he can. What we do not realize, is that national recovery is not something that can be achieved in an instance; it is a march that will take a long time if we want lasting change.
    The State of the Union gave me hope. It buoyed my spirit as I heard Obama address the issues that are continuing to face his administration. Listening to his speech, I realized that even though the problems facing this nation are monstrous, there is still hope. We just need to hold on to hope.

HBHA Raies $3 Million
David H./The Acamedy Voice

    On Dec. 31, 2009, the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy announced that they would be receiving a $3,000,000 endowment.
    Issued in Jun. of 2008 by The Sosland Foundation, The Menorah Legacy Foundation and the Jewish Heritage Foundation, challenged the HBHA to raise $1 million dollars by New Year’s Eve 2009. Then each of the foundations would match the funds resulting for a total of $3,000,000. To raise the needed funding, the school quickly began a fundraising effort.
According to Head of School Howard Haas, “Our board came through in a way like they hadn’t before”, contributing nearly $590,000.
    The rest of the money came from throughout the community and a national network of alumni. In a special event in Chicago, former alumni collected nearly $5,000. Through the work of nearly 130 donors, the school was able to raise enough funding by the Dec. 31 deadline.
    Director of Development Martha Atlas described her feelings as a combination of euphoria and relief, saying “I don’t think we doubted ourselves, but until you reach our goal, you wonder.” Principal Gayle Gray said, “I was really excited because for the first time we have our own endowment that can be used wherever and whenever we need.”
    The school will use the interest from the endowment to help offset the general operating costs associated with the school, including paying teacher’s salaries, benefits, rent and several other school expenses.

Helping Haiti
Hannah C./The Academy Voice

    During the week of Jan. 25, Lower School students had the chance to donate money to help the people in Haiti. The students, grades K-5, could donate any amount they wanted.
    Third-grader Josh K. said "I think it's really helpful (for us to raise money) for the people of Haiti because it will help pay for supplies to fix the damages the earthquake caused."
    If the students have raised three hundred dollars, by the end of the week, they would earn a "Jeans Friday". The goal was three hundred dollars, but if the students raised more, they also got popsicles.
    Fourth-grader Autumn B. said, “I think raising money for Haiti is a really good cause. We have to raise at least three hundred dollars, but I think we will raise more than that. I will be very excited if we get to wear jeans on Fri.”
    Fifth-grade teacher, Nancy Franks said, "I was very overwhelmed with the participation of the Lower School and by how much they care about other people."

MLK Scavenger Hunt
Hannah A./The Academy Voice

    On Jan. 22, the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy Upper School Student Council held a family program. This family program was different than the normal program HBHA students’ experience. It was a scavenger hunt throughout the HBHA and the Jewish Community Center.
    The scavenger hunt was based off of a story about Martin Luther King, that was read during the usual Taste of Shabbat program. The story, Happy Birthday Martin Luther King Jr., was a short biography of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. After the story was finished, the first question was given to everyone, and the families were to discuss before they could leave on the scavenger hunt. The questions were based off what the story said. Everyone had to pay attention to the story or then the families would not be able to make it all the way through the scavenger hunt.
    “I thought it was really fun. I learned a lot about Martin Luther King Jr. and what he did for our country. I really enjoyed the scavenger hunt we got to do with our families,” said fourth grader, Sarah C.
    Each family received a sheet of paper, telling them what their locations would be after the families got the questions right. The questions consisted of: When was Martin Luther King Jr. born?, Why was MartinLuther King Jr. so famous?, What was Martin Luther King Jr. dad's name?
    At the end of the family program, or whenever each family reached their last location, the family discussed what they just did and what they learned.
    “I thought it was great having kids from Kindergarten to twelfth grade explore such an important subject all together. I think it shows the younger children how important this issue is,” said English Department Chair, Cynthia Knight.

Hot Dogs for Haiti
Elana G./the Academy Voice

    Hot dogs, hot dogs, get your hot dogs.
    On Tues. Jan. 21, the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy sold hot dogs to students and teachers in the Jewish Community Campus lobby during lunchtime. Each
hot dog sold for $1.00 and the proceeds went to the earthquake relief in Haiti. They raised a total of $60.
    Amy Shapiro, HBHA parent, and Debbie Davis organized the event. HBHA Librarian and First Grade Jewish Studies teacher, Civia White, also helped Davis and Shapiro serve hot dogs.
    White said that she was asked to assist them in serving hot dogs and added, “I didn’t have anything else going on and I was happy to help”.
    HBHA parent Renana Abrams, who was volunteering in the Café during the hot dog sale, said that it was, “a huge success and they sold out of hot dogs. It went over really well”.
    Many of the senior boys were very enthusiastic about the meat lunch. Seniors Ethan K., David H., Joel M. and Ben W. all purchased hot dogs.
    Ben W. said that his hotdogs, “were tasty, all of them were tasty”.

A Trip to Kaliedascope
David H./The Academy Voice

    Last Friday, the kindergarten class at HBHA traveled to Kaliedascope, a place, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, where children from ages 5 to 12 can explore their artistic creativity and imagination through various outlets.
    Founded in the 1960s by Hallmark Cards, Kaliedascope is a place reminiscent of a Dr. Seuss novel, filled with multiple rooms featuring different themes such as space or flight. There are also several art projects throughout the building where students can interact within the different rooms and explore creatively. Eitan J. said that some of his favorite activities were "...the airplanes, being able to paint his own fish and the puzzlemaker". Gilli G. added to Ethan's comments saying "The glow in the dark room was awesome".
    Kindergarten Hebrew teacher Nira Solomon said that the kindergarten class was very excited about the field trip. "They liked it very much. There were all sorts of arts and crafts, cards, birthday stuff, etc." Solomon also commended the classes excellent behavior and conduct. Expressing the general opinion of his class, Jed L. said "I love Kaliedascope. I have been there a bunch of times and it is just awesome".

Getting Ready for College
Jonathan E./The Academy Voice

    "What schools are you looking at?"
    This six word question has been flying at me for the last few months. Even though I am already a junior, it still has not completely registered in my mind that I will be going to college in only a year and a half. Answering this six word question is not as easy as it seems. College is a big thing! Where I spend those four years of my life will completely change the course of my life. That is a lot of pressure.
    Thankfully, Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy College Guidance Counselor Todd Clauer is here to save the day! Throughout my Junior year, Clauer will be helping me and my class to figure out what we want to do when we graduate from high school. On Jan. 21, Clauer met with the HBHA junior class and their parents to discuss the college process. The two hour meeting taught us how the process will work over the next few months. I am still overwhelmed with how complicated the process is but I am confident that I will be able to get it done in the end. I was glad I attended the meeting because in the end, I hope it will help me get into the college I want. And for those of you who were wondering, I am looking at Skidmore, Knox, and The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

HBHA Art On Display
Elana G./The Academy Voice

    Next stop, the Louvre.
    The Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy is displaying students’ and teachers’ artwork in the Jewish Community Campus Art Gallery from Mon. Jan. 9 until Fri. Feb. 26.
    The exhibit features painted furniture, sculptures, original paintings and student interpretations of famous paintings. Head of school Howard Haas, HBHA principal Gayle Gray and art teacher Kelly Reichman all have paintings featured in the current exhibit.
    The works of art will rotate throughout the entirety of the HBHA exhibit. Reichman said that she is trying to represent all grade levels and feature artwork from all of her classes.
Reichman added that, “it is a great exhibit and a great draw for the school”.
    Fifth-grader Kyle G. just finished a cartoon project in his art class. He recently heard about the HBHA Art Gallery and said, "I hope that my project goes up in the art gallery".
    Senior Sahar E. participated in a collaborative project along with the other members of her art class: Jake R., Shandra H., Josie T., Avery P. and Mike I. Each student was in charge of making six squares of a Picasso painting.
    Sahar E. said, “Picasso is hard to copy because he is such a great artist so we decided to do it as a class project. It turned out to be really cool”.
    The finished project is currently hanging in the gallery.

Going On Display
Josie T./The Academy Voice

The Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy is currently displaying students' artwork in the Jewish Community
Campus Art Gallery for the next six weeks. I am one of the few that gets to have two art pieces in there. The painting I created was based on the painting of Cezanne’s “Still Life”, which is held in the Art Gallery. I painted this last semester in 20th Century Art class, and I’m proud of myself for working hard on it because I am lucky enough for it to be in the Art Gallery. I liked this one a lot because I enjoyed painting and I learned more about mixing colors together to get the correct shade. There was also another piece of artwork being held in there and it was based on Picasso. I worked on this piece of art with the rest of my art class and it took probably a month or so to finish it. The people in my class that I worked on it with were Mike I., Jake R., Shandra H., Sahar E., and Avery P. This one was probably my favorite pieces overall because it had different pieces of art all put together to make one picture, which made it very unique.

Budding Poets Perform in the Poetry Cafe
Maggie H./The Academy Voice

Every second-grade student is a poet and they didn’t even know it! The Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy second-grade class participated in a Poetry Café on Thurs. Jan, 21 in the second-grade classroom.
The Poetry Café gave students the chance to present one of the poems they have written, during class, to their peers and parents. “The Poetry Café was the finale to our five point poetry unit,” said second grade General Studies teacher Marsha Cowen.
    Second-grade students have been studying poetry for the past month. Students were instructed to study poems about five different topics: humor, sadness, nature, animals and internationalism. The students were instructed to find famous poems related to these topics. Students reflected on
their chosen poem and then led a short class discussion about it. The second-graders then
wrote their own poems about each topic.
    Students complied all of the poems together and created their very own anthology. Each student had the opportunity to select their favorite poem and put it in the class anthology. “It is a pretty nice book. I am going to keep it forever. I wrote a poem about sewing and it is really cool,”
said second-grader Shilo B.
    For the Poetry Café the second-grade room was arranged to resemble a coffee house. Complete with a microphone, donuts and of course coffee for the parents. Students each got to step up to the microphone to read their favorite poem. Afterwards parents and students shared positive feedback about their poem. “I really liked sharing my poem on poisonous frogs. My parents
and friends were there to listen. But the best part was eating the donut holes
afterwards,” said second-grader Maya T.

Kindergarten Round Up Attracts New Parents
David H./The Academy Voice

    On Wed. Jan 20, an open house was held for new and potential Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy kindergarten parents to gather information about the admissions process and school life. The presentation, lead by Head of School Howard Haas, Principal Gayle Gray, and Director of Admissions Tamara Lawson Schuster, introduced parents to life at the HBHA.
    The meeting, which was attended by several current HBHA families and several new and potential parents, showed parents the atmosphere of the lower school environment through a brief film, described the daily schedule of a kindergarten student, touted several recent events at the school, like the $3 million grant and the new technology throughout the school. They were also introduced to kindergarten teachers Nicole Hollingsworth and Nira Solomon. Parents also watched a prerecorded message from Head of Jewish Studies Avi Weinstein, who described the school as "...the Jewel of the Midwest."
    Several new parents, like Paul and Lisa Katz, cited "... the education, the arts, the religion and the human qualities that they teach..." as reason which supported their decision to send their child to HBHA. While several parents at the meeting had not decided to send their children to HBHA, like Michael and Beth Liss, they named similar reasons which are helping to influence their decision.
    Several parents also mentioned the lower tuition rates at the school as one of their motivations for sending their child to HBHA, a decision that was enacted last year. Schuster commented, "Last year and this year we have had very large groups come through. Although they haven't explicitly said it [the lower tuition rates], I believe it might be a factor in their decision making process." Schuster, a current HBHA parent, will also have a child in next year's kindergarten class.

Harvesters Gets a Helpling Hand
Jonathan E./The Academy Voice

    "I felt that there was a wonderful sense of community with kids and adults, of all ages, working together to give back to those in need," Fifth-grade teacher Nancy Franks said.
    On Sun. Jan. 17, students, parents and faculty of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy participated in a volunteer day at Harvesters Community Food Network.
    Harvesters is the central food bank for most of Kansas and Missouri. Forty-five percent of donations come from local donors. Harvesters purchases only two percent of the food they need and receives eight percent from food drives. Also, fifty nine percent of what the food bank collects goes straight to those in need through the help of over five hundred food pantries in the area.
    Seventy-three HBHA families and staff attended the work day, sorting meat and other perishable products. In the end, the group sorted over twenty-thousand pounds of food in only four hours.
    "There was so much meat," freshman Daniel G. exclaimed, "I was amazed that we were able to do so much in such little time. I don't think I could ever eat another hot dog again."
    Many parents also attended the day of service. HBHA parent Edna Levy said, as she refelcted on the day, "What a terrific way to help the community and at the same time get to know our own HBHA community a little better, since this is our family’s first year at the school. I always feel great when I do some kind of social action and this was a great afternoon. One unanticipated plus — I got a good workout hauling pounds of frozen food!”
    The turn out was so successful that the HBHA plans to make the volunteer day a yearly event.

Dancing the Week Away
HBHA Students Get a Break from Regular Classes
Josie T./The Academy Voice

    Middle and Upper School students at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy came back from winter break to enjoy a variety of "elective" classes during Winterims. Winterims, a HBHA tradition, is a week of arts and activities classes that provide students a break from their regular academic schedule. There were forty Winterim courses offered this year and students were able to enroll in up to eight of them.
    Winterim classes included: Computer Projects, What are you Eating?, Art Journal, Triathlon, Photography, Upper School Play, YouTube Israel, Upper School Sign Language, Making Tefilin and More, Geometry & Art, Ballet, Film as Lit, Meditation, Afro-Cuban Dance, Gallery Tours, Electric Car, Yearbook, Jewish Cooking, Moot Beit Din, Monopoly, Modern Dance, Yoga, Percussion & Rhythm, ACT/SAT Prep, Tour the Holy Temple, Dance & Cheer, Braille, History of the Blues, Boys Athletic Dance, March of the Living, Math Counts, Archery, Sketchpad Advanced, Basketball, Jazz Dance, Model United Nations, Intro Sketchpad, Beatles, Hip Hop and Woodworking.
    “I think Jewish Cooking was my favorite class because we got to make different foods I have not had before and we got to eat it," said senior Hannah G. "I also liked Yearbook because I got to make my senior page. It was a good idea to make it a Winterim class to get stuff in before deadline”.
HBHA had special guests from a local dance studio, The Culture House, to teach the students different dances. The different types of dances were Ballet, Afro-Cuban Dance, Modern Dance, Percussion & Rhythm, Boys Athletic Dance, and Hip Hop.
    “I took the Hip Hop and Jazz classes", said Justin R., junior. "They were not as good as last year and I didn’t like how they were mixed with the middle school and upper school. The dance classes were still enjoyable and I was very enthusiastic to do the activities”.
    Most of the classes were taught by HBHA teachers and staff. Upper and Middle School Math Teacher Julie Pellman taught ACT/SAT prep, Geometry & Art and Math Counts. Math Counts was a class with only middle school students and the students played the Countdown Round, which was a game where the students were challenged one on one to do a math problem. Geometry & Art was a class with different art projects and the students used Geometry to make the art.
    “The ACT/SAT prep was a good class because each student got more individual attention since there was a small class,” said Pellman, “I think overall Geometry & Art was my favorite because the students enjoyed the projects and it was new to me. In Math Counts, the students enjoyed the challenges and all of the math problems we did”.
    Cynthia Knight, HBHA English teacher, taught the class Film as Lit. In Film as Lit, students got to watch movies and understand that literature doesn't just have to be read, it can also be watched as a movie. One of the movies they got to watch was The Lion King.
    “Film as Lit went really well because the students saw that film was as literature and it didn’t just have to be read, it can be filmed or watched, said Knight. During The Lion King, Middle School students learned a literary term, Bildungsroman, which means "a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education". On the last day of the Winterims, Tues. Jan 12 at 2:45 PM there was a showcase held in the Social Hall. All of the dance classes, as well as Percussion & Rhythm, performed in front of friends and families. The Showcase was coordinated by Suzanne Ryan.

High School Heros
Elana G./The Academy Voice

    On Tues. Jan. 5, Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy high school students got the chance to be a High School Hero, by donating blood in the annual blood drive. In total, the participants donated thirty pints of blood. Along with HBHA students; alumni, teachers, community members, and parents participated in the blood drive.
    Senior Ethan K. felt very proud after giving blood. He said, “I felt really good giving blood knowing that it is going to save someone’s life”.
    Lower School Administrative Assistant, Pat Caldwell, said, “I originally was terrified to give blood. Elisa Pener convinced me, and now I give blood five times a year. It’s easy and painless”.
Eleven people gave blood for the first time. However, some people who were eligible to give blood chose not to, for various reasons.
    Senior Rebecca B. said, “I didn’t give blood because I am deathly afraid of needles, they freak me out”.
The drive lasted from 8 a.m to 4 p.m. and took place the social hall of the Jewish Community Center. It was administered by the Community Blood Center of Kansas City.
    Each donor received a High School Hero t-shirt. On Fri. Jan. 22, HBHA students and teachers who participated in the blood drive are encouraged to wear their High School Hero t-shirts to school.

The Joy of Snow Days
Maggie H./The Academy Voice

    Finally, redemption! What a great way to start off the 2010 school year, not one but two snow days, possibly making up for the lack of a snow day in 2009. I would have to say, there is no feeling that can compare to a snow day. A snow day is a day of freedom, a day when you have an excuse to stay in your house and do absolutely nothing. You get to sleep until noon, drink hot chocolate and watch television all day. Really, can you imagine anything better?
    When I first found out about the snow day I was a little upset we would be missing Winterims. Winterims are the only chance we have during the school year to take different arts classes, such as dance and music. However, I was ecstatic when I found out that the administration decided to extend the Winterim week. I am glad that the middle and upper school students to be able to experience this great opportunity.
    Not to complain or anything, but I was a little puzzled by the snow days. The first word that comes to mind from “snow day” would be snow. Snow, which there was none of, on Wed. So why exactly couldn’t we go to school? I really enjoyed taking two days off, but I just hope we don’t have to make up school at the end of the year because of this seemingly unnecessary break.