In one of the most exciting days in DRS sports history this past Sunday the JV Wildcats defeated the SAR Sting to win the MYHSL Championship! The excitement at the Frisch school was obvious as two bus loads and many carloads of students came to cheer on the JV. The commemorative cowbells given out to all the fans in attendance were ringing from the opening face-off.

And the team did not disappoint. The team got off to an early lead with two first period goals from Yoni Fein. But the SAR Sting showed why they were 9- 1 in the regular season by fighting back starting with a goal late in the first. The second period saw a slight shift in momentum as SAR scored two consecutive goals to take a 3-2 lead. But one can never deny the heart of a champion. Coached by Larry Gross And DRS alum Michael Davidman the team never panicked. They stuck to the game-plan and assumed the players would step up. This is when MVP Elie Margulies took over. First he tied the game 3-3 on a goal from right in front. Then two minutes later Elie, fed brilliantly by Max Ganz scored on a breakaway.

The team was leading 4-3 entering the 3rd and dominated the period. Srulie Beitler's play along the boards, Max Ganz's excellent defensive play and Yehuda Neuman's superior goaltending kept the sting at three goals. With three minutes left to play in the game Margulies put home an insurance goal for his Hat Trick and the only thing left to figure out was how to celebrate. The crowd counted down the final seconds and then it was mayhem. Approximately 100 students joined in the pile on of Yehuda Neuman. It was a victory not just for the team but for the entire yeshiva. The team was then handed their trophies, championship T-shirts and Larry took home the team trophy. It was a day the boys will never forget.

On March 8th over 450 high school students from 57 Long Island high schools presented their research projects at the annual Long Island Science and Engineering Fair held in Woodbury, New York. After a laborious day of being questioned, challenged and tested by four independent judges, approximately 25% of the students were selected to return and compete in the second round, held on March 30th. Once again, there was rigorous judging where students had to present their research, explain their hypothesis and defend their findings and results. Equipped with laptops, research samples, science boards, abstracts and supporting documentation, students competed for prizes and awards.

Walking away with the First Place win in the Environmental Science category team competitions was Daniel Hefter, a DRS junior. Daniel, and his lab partner, Aryeh Sokolov, a senior at HAFTR, researched environmentally safe self extinguishing polymers by substituting phosphorous and adding functionalized clays to engineer environmentally safe polymer blends. This methodology is useful with any base polymer and has been granted UL-94V0 Certification by Underwriters Laboratory; a patent disclosure has also been filed.

As First Place winner at LISEF, Daniel will join the rest of the science team representing Long Island in an all expense paid trip to the Intel-sponsored International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Arizona. Daniel was also presented a special award by the ASM Materials Education Foundation for the Most Outstanding Exhibit in Materials Science.

With two events in the last week and a half, the debate team is riding high! Last Thursday, in a special Novice Debate event at the Flatbush Yeshiva for first year team members, the students debated on the topic of steroid use in Major League Baseball, and whether players who are rumored to have used performance enhancing drugs should have their records altered in any way. The DRS team performed beautifully, finishing in 3rd place overall, and Freshmen future stars Jordan Kantor and Yisrael Kalker were declared the 1st place team overall after a stunning debate performance.

On Wednesday, DRS hosted a debate, and the nine participating schools argued on the relative merits of a national medical database. We are very proud of our squad, as they finished 4-0. Special thanks go to Debate Coach Mr. Gerald Schmuger and Captain Yoni Weinberg for the outstanding work in preparing the team. We know we will continue to see great things from our debate team!

By Mrs. Miriam Fisher, DRS English Department

Sophomores in Mrs. Fisher's English class stepped up to the podium to stage a series of dramatic readings based on the two funeral orations in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. They praised Caesar and paid homage to Shakespeare, one of the greatest speech writers of all time. Each member of the class was assigned one of three roles: orator, coach, or critic. The orators were encouraged to go for authenticity of delivery based on the purpose of the oration and its psychological and rhetorical underpinnings. They needed to match sound and sense. Coaches prepared their speakers by offering advice on the meaning and mechanisms of the speech, with line by line prompts. Orators had the right to overrule their coaches' instructions but needed to offer plausible reasons. All this was explained in the in the debriefings which took place after the performances. Then the critics officially weighed in, indicating the perceived strengths and weakness.

So how did this all play out? Well, the sophs literally rose to the occasion as orators showed up holding "official" copies of Caesar's last will and even a schmatteh replete with ketchup stains representing the cloak through which Caesar was stabbed thirty three times. (Everyone had been warned that no "corpses" of Caesar would be permitted as props!) Perhaps in deference to the DRS dress code, neither Brutus nor Antony orators wore togas, but it could be seen in a few cases, that their knees were knocking in nervousness. Their coaches described the give and take prep sessions that had proceeded and how they and their partners ended up agreeing to disagree. The critics weighed in on their fellow classmates with as much honesty and perception, and far more restraint, than the pros at The New York Times.

The boys began this unit by talking about the speeches given at the Siyum HaShas back on March 1 and why some of them were particularly memorable and inspiring - a combination of message, delivery, and sincerity were seen as the key factors. We ended by talking about the speech given by Mrs. Sherri Mandel about Kobe and how she was able to reach an audience of adolescents and leave them with an inspiring message when the topic was murder of her own son. It is to be hoped that our DRS boys will develop the ability to take center stage and speak out on behalf of themselves, their communities, and the Jewish people.

We are pleased to announce that once again, DRS will be offering a comprehensive learning program for alumni and any one else returning from Israel for Pesach. Many of our own Rabbeim will be offering shiurim throughout the day, starting on Wednesday, April 13, through Wednesday, April 20. We are once again planning two exciting sports events, a varsity alumni vs varsity hockey game, as well as a varsity alumni vs. varsity basketball game. Download the schedule below for full details!