Milken’s Jason Ablin to blend Judaic, General Studies here
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
April 2, 2012
After successfully implementing a vision of integrated Judaic and General Studies curricula at Milken Community High School, Mr. Jason Ablin, currently head of school there, will seek to do the same at Shalhevet when he begins Aug. 21 as part-time Coordinator of Curriculum Development. As Director... (more...)
Rabbi Leubitz leaving next year to be head of Oakland Hebrew Day School
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
March 26, 2012
Judaic Studies principal Rabbi Ari Leubitz is leaving Shalhevet at the end of the school year to be Head of School at Oakland Hebrew Day School in Northern California effective on Aug. 1. “It’s a hard decision,” he said in a news conference with Boiling Point staff on March... (more...)
Fairness Committee votes 6-5 not to block Facebook
Leila Miller, Editor-in-chief
March 21, 2012
According to Fairness co-chair David Fletcher, Acting General Studies Principal Mr. Roy Danovitch lost the Fairness case he brought against the entire school advocating the banning of Facebook usage in school by a vote of 6-5. David Fletcher declined to comment further, saying that Fairness... (more...)
Shalhevet Drama finds an unexpected mirror In ‘Pride and Prejudice’
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
December 23, 2011
This story is a National Winner in the Features Story category of Quill and Scroll’s 2012 International Writing and Photo Contest, judged by the American Society of News Editors. Innuendos, fluttering eyelashes and sweetly spoken backhanded insults are familiar to all teenagers, even on a... (more...)
New Sephardic minyan lets students feel at home
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
December 22, 2011
Their voices rolling with a North African lilt, students in the two-month old Sephardic minyan sing to a different melody than Shalhevet’s two Ashkenazic minyans. For the first time since about 2001, Shalhevet’s Sephardic students have a minyan they can call their own. Although there is... (more...)
Hallway mania: Students watch live streaming of Houston basketball tournament
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
November 21, 2011
Shouts, whoops, groans and clapping filled the halls last Thursday as for the first time ever students in school could watch online live streaming of a Firehawk basketball game. As the hallways echoed with “How are we doing?” students, teachers and administrators crowded around the flat-screen... (more...)
As readers and as writers, students brave the blogosphere
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
October 31, 2011
Blogging,” like “Tweeting,” “Facebooking,” and “Googling,” is a web phenomenon so popular that it’s turned a noun into a verb — a verb that describes condensed news and opinion that in turn form communities based on common interests online. But what exactly is... (more...)
Poland-Israel trip moved back to May
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
October 4, 2011
Previously scheduled vacations, co-curricular conflicts, AP exams, and fundraising and teaching schedules caused Rabbi Segal to move this year’s senior Poland-Israel trip back to its usual time slot in May instead of the February date he announced earlier this year. In an e-mail sent to senior... (more...)
For Eli Schiff, an eight-week dash to remodel
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
August 27, 2011
Whether by carrying heavy boxes, wheeling carts through the hallway or staying until 9 p.m., Eli Schiff was going to have school ready for students. Mr. Schiff, the new Director of Facilities, started working at Shalhevet the third week in June and spent much of the summer supervising this... (more...)
Coach of a different ‘Flava’
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
August 26, 2011
When Coach Ronnie Winbush was younger, he always did things a bit differently – with a different “flavor,” one could say. If his friends were walking on the sidewalk, he would walk in the street, and they would shrug and say, “That’s just the way he goes.” His quirky style caused... (more...)
E-mailed schedules incorrect, school starts at eight
Leila Miller, Editor-in-Chief
August 21, 2011
Personalized e-mails sent out Aug. 8 gave students their class schedules before school started. But the times of the class meeting periods were wrong, causing confusion among students who thought administrators had repealed the 4:45 ending time and eight-period class day students fought hard... (more...)
Principal Tranchi taught, led, inspired students
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
June 29, 2011
When General Studies Principal Phu Tranchi moves out of his well-organized office next month, he will leave behind deep bonds forged with students, faculty and families over 11 years at Shalhevet. From the complexities of AP Chemistry and the world-broadening challenges of Model U.N. to the... (more...)
Four new Judaic teachers have wide range of educational backgrounds
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
June 29, 2011
Three rabbis and one rebbetzin, whose backgrounds include studies at Harvard, Columbia, Yeshiva University, Stern College and Israeli yeshivot, are among the replacements for five departing Judaic Studies faculty members. Rabbi Ari Segal, head of school as of August 1, introduced the new... (more...)
Spirit, spunk and a nudge toward the gap year
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
June 29, 2011
Known for hosting Friday night onegs for her classes, shopping with students online and infectious energy when advising SAC events, Student Activities Director and Israel Guidance Counselor Natalie Williams — called “Natalie” by most students — will be leaving for to start a... (more...)
Where weeds once grew
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
June 29, 2011
aaaaaaa VEGGIE CREW: Maintenance worker Javier Sanchez waters the new vegetable garden outside the Music and Math Departments on the north end of school June 17. For their senior project, seniors Jenny Newman and Jaclyn Kellner planted 88 vegetable plants in what had been dry and... (more...)
Warmth and ruach that got students on their feet
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
June 29, 2011
“You have to rely on the administration,” school founder Dr. Jerry Friedman told The Boiling Point a few hours after students stopped classes May 19. “But the administration has to appreciate students’ feelings and take them into account.” The occasion was a sit-in for Rabbi Naftali... (more...)
Sophomore wins Israel scholarship in art contest
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
June 29, 2011
Sophomore Emilie Benyowitz has won third place in the Jewish Federation’s city-wide The Future is Now art contest, earning a $500 scholarship toward an organized trip to Israel, which she will use this summer. The theme of the competition, which celebrated the Federation’s centennial, was... (more...)
Nakba Day protests breach Israel’s borders
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
June 3, 2011
By Leila Miller, Outside News Editor Protestors crossed the borders from Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank into Israel May 15, resulting in deadly clashes with Israeli soldiers . The protests were part of annual Nakba (“Catastrophe”) Day demonstrations throughout the Arab World that... (more...)
Jewish community of Japan works fast to offer quake aid
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
April 18, 2011
Despite its small size, Japan’s Jewish community of 2,000 organized unique relief-efforts when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan on March 11. Besides raising funds to supply refugees with clothing, hot food, and ice cream for the children, community members... (more...)
A Jewish teen’s account of the earthquake
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
April 18, 2011
It was during a game of floor hockey in P.E. when the gym floor in Tokyo’s American School in Japan began shifting sideways. At first, 16-year-old Hannah Rosenfeld thought that it was just a minor earthquake and her classmates pretended they were “surfing” on the floor, but then their... (more...)
Online from afar, LA Muslim teens back Egyptian protests
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
March 11, 2011
A 16-year-old girl’s hand, painted in the colors of the Egyptian flag with the Arabic word “enough,” can go a long way on Facebook. “That picture has spread everywhere,” said Reem Motaweh, an Egyptian-American teen in Los Angeles who created a Facebook group during the recent protests... (more...)
Wave of recognitions supports a state of ‘Palestine’
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
March 10, 2011
Athough usually attuned to news about Israel, most students didn’t notice when eight South American countries recognized a state of Palestine over the last three months. Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Guyana, Paraguay and Peru have now joined 111 other countries – more than... (more...)
L.A. Muslim teens juggle Islam and school while fighting misconceptions
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
January 6, 2011
Most teenagers don’t have to explain to their classmates that they aren’t terrorists and are not related to Osama Bin Laden, but the youth group members of the Islamic Center of Southern California sometimes face that challenge. “Muslims don’t really have a good name here,” said Dunya... (more...)
Local rabbis apply Modern Orthodoxy to tough issues
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
January 2, 2011
At a first-ever school Modern Orthodoxy symposium, three rabbis who lead shuls that are home to many Shalhevet families captured students’ attention when they agreed that they wanted to welcome gays into their synagogues. Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky of B’nai-David Judea Congregation, Rabbi... (more...)
BP wins NSPA Multimedia Story of the Year, 1st Place
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
November 15, 2010
With screams of delight and high-fives, Boiling Point staff learned last Saturday that coverage of Rabbi Weinbach’s resignation had been named Multimedia Story of the Year by the National Scholastic Press Association and American Society of News Editors. The announcement was made at the... (more...)
U.S. official in Mexico says bond is close, strong
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
November 1, 2010
“Good fences make good neighbors,” wrote the American poet Robert Frost in “The Mending Wall.” However, this statement promotes the opposite of the spirit that USAID – the United States Agency for International Development — wants to project in its relationship with Mexico. In... (more...)
Israeli team saves Gazan baby in acclaimed new film
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
November 1, 2010
In a room in Tel HaShomer Hospital near Tel Aviv, just a two-hour drive from the Erez checkpoint on the Israel-Gaza border, a young Palestinian woman wearing a hijab and a loose-fitting robe leans over the crib of her four-month-old son. The boy was born with no immune system and needs a costly... (more...)
Jewish teens in Mexico respond to drug violence
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
October 31, 2010
In Mexico, a country plagued by violence for decades – most recently in its ongoing drug war – people learn to adapt. “We hear about violence related to organized crime, related to the narco-trafficers,” said Lili Magidin, who works for the Tribuna Israelita, the Jewish community’s... (more...)
Peace talks have started between Israel and Palestinian Authority
Leila Miller, Outside News Editor
August 30, 2010
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian authority resumed Sept. 20 after 20 months, after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton worked with the United Nations, European Union and Russia – in a group known as the Quartet, which promotes peace in the Middle East – to clear the... (more...)
Argentine film paints torn relationships, elusive justice
Leila Miller, Arts Editor
June 30, 2010
By Leila Miller, Arts Editor In The Secret in Their Eyes, an Argentine movie that won Best Foreign-Language Film at this year’s Oscars, an unspeakable crime left unpunished causes all involved to be stuck in time, unable to move forward with their lives until justice is reached. A romantic... (more...)
A boost for teens, trees and water conservation
Leila Miller, Arts Editor
May 23, 2010
Rachel Lester’s platform, which she posted on the SoRo website before her election to the South Roberstson Neighborhood Council, focuses on forming a “teen task force” to unite the community’s teenagers in volunteering activities, encouraging water conservation and tree... (more...)
Rachel Lester elected to SoRo neighborhood panel
Leila Miller, Arts Editor
May 23, 2010
In her black Shalhevet jacket with its blazing red letters, sophomore Rachel Lester assertively approached one of the desk clerks inside the Robertson Recreation Center, where the South Robertson Neighborhood Council (SoRo) election was in progress. Peering at papers on the table, she looked... (more...)
Kol Sasson teaches Shalhevet choir new techniques
Leila Miller, Arts Editor
May 23, 2010
Standing in a circle, the Shalhevet choir and Kol Sasson, the University of Maryland’s Jewish a capella group, started off chanting softly: “Energy, energy, coursing through my body” then, gaining momentum grew louder… “energy, energy, coursing through my body,…” and then, jumping... (more...)
Scenes from childhood become ‘Collective Memory’ in drama’s One-Act Festival
Leila Miller, Arts Editor
May 23, 2010
Young people, especially teenagers, sometimes find it hard to identify with older generations, and vice versa. Collective Memory, Shalhevet’s very strong recent One-Acts production, tried to weaken age-based prejudices, offering seven student-written short plays featuring particular moments... (more...)
The moment when science and religion went to war
Leila Miller, Arts Editor
March 18, 2010
Few people can claim to have “killed God,” but in a scene from the British film Creation, T.H Huxley, a colleague of Darwin’s, gives the legendary father of evolution that distinction. Science and religion cannot be mixed, he says, at least not without one taking precedence over the other... (more...)
Jewish teens reach out to help Chile cope
Leila Miller, Arts Editor
March 18, 2010
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile on Feb. 27 left the world stunned, especially after Haiti. But the Jewish community there, having experienced little damage itself, immediately started organizing aid, sending tons of supplies and dozens of young Jewish Chileans to the coast to help the... (more...)
Photos of Poland-Israel trips bring back memories
Leila Miller, Arts Editor
March 18, 2010
“It’s important to capture the moment,” says Eddie Friedman, who photographed Shalhevet’s annual Poland-Israel trips from 2002-2009. “You blend, fall back, let the moment be, let the people experience,” he continued. “There’s contemplation, there’s indifference, there’s... (more...)
Prop lists and perfectionism: Taking ‘A Shayna Maidel’ from the page to the stage
Leila Miller, Arts Editor
January 5, 2010
This story is a National Winner in the Feature Story category of Quill and Scroll’s 2010 International Writing and Photo Contest, judged by the American Society of News Editors. “It’s the most stressful thing ever,” said junior Nathaniel Kukurudz, who played the father role... (more...)