A native of Motor City U.S.A, Detroit, Yavneh's latest edition to the Math department,  Chris Northrup, plays his own tune both in and outside the classroom.  The son of Robert and Christine, and brother to Sean and Robert, in December Mr. Northrup celebrated his first anniversary with his bride Pierre.  He hopes to go to graduate school at some point and, in the meantime, spends his off-time playing the guitar, riding his bike, tricks and all, and traveling.

"I didn't grow up a 'math kid,' I really wasn't good at it but it finally clicked," said Mr. Northrup, who received a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of North Texas.  "I started out as a philosophy major and that was just too much 'what if.'  I like being able to prove that I'm right and in math, there's a right and a wrong."

"I had to work much harder in college than I had before, and much more than I expected but I liked it and I enjoyed learning what I wanted to," said Mr. Northrup. "I took my time figuring out what I'd do but once I did, I loved it and I love teaching math and helping students figure it out."

 "Mr. Northrup is awesome and he takes time to help us out whenever we need," said Sahar David '10.  "Before class, after, during lunch - whenever we need help, he's there and he helps math make sense."

"I love being at Yavneh and I'm amazed at what this school has to offer its students.  I wish there had been a school like this for me when I was in high school," said Mr. Northrup.  "The teachers here take their students education very seriously and the kids really work hard. "

Mr. Northrup is a great teacher with wonderful ideas on teaching that stick with me," said Rachel Rudberg '13.  "Mr. Northrup is an outstanding teacher and he is very understanding - always there if you don't fully understand what is being taught."

"It's cool seeing the relationships between the kids and the staff be so close - there's so much to work on together from the classtime to all of the extracurricular activities and it seems the kids never get tired of being on campus," said Mr. Northrup.  "So much togetherness really gives me, as a teacher, time to guide and relate to the kids and that's great."

Always one step ahead in the concept of chesed and performing mitzvot, Yavneh students found themselves already scheduled to be "on the road," on January 18, Martin Luther King Day, the President's proclaimed National Day of Service. 

 

Some students visited Lake Highlands Farms digging for the next season's potato patch while others sorted donations at a Goodwill Store or prepared the soil for an outdoor garden at the Roseland Academy.

 

For Yavneh students and faculty, EVERY DAY is a day of service!

Lt. Colonel Volkey ~~

Retired Lt. Colonel Colby Volkey, a leading military attorney, visited Yavneh Academy, sharing his history as lead counsel for "Omar," a Canadian teenager, held on murder and terrorism charges in Guantanamo Bay since he was 16-years-old as well as for Staff Sgt. Frank Woodard, a Marine squad leader, who was charged with 13 counts of murder, stemming from an incident in Haditha, Iraq.

Lt. Col. Volkey, who served for 21 years including in Desert Storm, was the chief prosecutor at Camp Pendleton, California, the busiest trial team in the Department of Defense and Marine Corps defense counsel in the Western half of the United States and in Iraq.  He received the Meritorious Service Medal by the Secretary of the Navy and, as a prosecutor or defense attorney, he has tried hundreds of cases.  He is now an attorney with the Dallas firm of Fitzpatrick Hagood Smith & UHL LLP.

"We are living in amazing times and it's all of you who are going to decide what this world will become," said Lt. Col. Volkey.  "It's a complex world and I wish us all the best."

USD Legal Aid Dinner ~~

Yavneh Academy's Uniting Students of Dallas raised more than $15,000 to benefit the Texas Access to Justice Foundation.  The January 25 event, hosted at the school's Pollman Hall, featured keynote speaker Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson of the Texas Supreme Court, as well as presentations by State Bar of Texas President Roland Johnson and Texas Young Lawyers Association President Cori Harbour.  Yavneh's Uniting Students of Dallas participants were joined by students from Garland High School and H. Grady Spruce High School, both of whom have been represented at numerous USD events.

The evening was organized by USD's sponsor Chad Baruch and board members Ilan Attar '10, Leigh Bonner '11, Jake Greif '12, Ethan Prescott '10, and Mina Pulitzer '12.

"Upon familiarizing myself with the Texas Access to Justice Foundation's mission statement, I recognized that it reverberates with the essence of Judaism and the values that pervade Yavneh's classrooms," said Leezi Greenberg '10 in welcoming the audience of more than 200. "This organization is committed to the vision that all Texans will have equal access to justice, emphasizing the fundamental Judaic belief in individual worth. A quotation from Pirkei Avot, Ethics of Our Fathers, serves to illuminate a core component of both the Texas Access to Justice Foundation and Uniting Students of Dallas. It states, 'Al tehi vaz l'chol adam v'al tehi maflig l'chol davar sh'ein lecha adam sh'ein lo sha'ah v'ein lecha davar sh'ein lo makom.' 'Do not condemn any man, and consider nothing impossible, because there is no man that does not have his hour, and no thing that does not have its place.' The Texas Access for Justice Foundation's charitable efforts know neither race nor creed, ensuring that each individual has his or her 'hour.'"

The Texas Access for Justice Foundation has raised $250 million to ensure that the poorest Texans can obtain access to the justice system. In 2008 alone, legal aid programs funded by the Foundation helped more than 246,000 poor Texans in situations including domestic violence, landlord-tenant issues, foreclosure defense, issues involving the elderly, and many other legal matters.

"Although the world as a whole is currently in a precarious state, in Jewish thought there are three indestructible pillars that the earth stands on," said Leezi.  "The first is Torah, making the Bible a central part of our lives; the second is avodah, service to G-d, and the third pillar is gemilut chasadim, performing acts of kindness. Lying at the crux of the final pillar is charity. Though at the darkest of times it appears as though these pillars are going to crumble, it is in the merit of philanthropic organizations that act as the mortar holding the pillar together. The Talmud declares that, 'Charity is equal to all the other commandments combined.'"

"We hear a lot these days about access to medical care. You can read the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the ratification debates, and not find any mention of the importance of health care to a republican," said Ethan Prescott '10, USD's President.  "You will however find repeated discussions of the idea that you cannot maintain a vibrant democracy unless all citizens have meaningful access to the courts and that is why we are here. This event was not about raising money - though we certainly will do did that.  Instead, this event was about focusing a group of young people on a critical problem, and creating lifelong activists for the access to justice movement."

"Sacrifice means you give back and it's a passion for the citizens of our community that has each of us doing what we do," said Chief Justice Jefferson who was introduced by the Solicitor General of the State of Texas, Jim Ho.  "We have an opportunity to live a life, not only for ourselves, but for our family, faith, and the world.  I know this message isn't lost on the student of Yavneh, as they give me hope for the future!  To you Mr. O'Quinn and your faculty, I thank you for instilling those values in the next generation."

"What our constitution gives each of us is the opportunity, regardless of family history, to overcome all hurdles and to give back," said the Chief Justice, the great-great-great grandson of Shedrick Willis, a slave to a judge in the late 1800s.  "'Access to justice,' is only a term unless we make 'access' available."

"Programs like Uniting Students of Dallas, with their student empowerment, are the hallmark of Yavneh Academy," said Head of School, Don O'Quinn.  "We are committed to our community, locally and globally, and, with little guidance, our students have raised over $350,000 in recent years, all to make a difference in the lives of many.  Yavneh transcends its reputation and I can't imagine a more appropriate time, to raise funds for a more worthwhile organization, then today, on this campus."

1 Phyllis Beilue  3 A.J. Burk  10 Dylan Kaye  15 Rachael Chanon  19 Micah Steinbrecher

22 Avi Bracha   23 Keren Bar-Haim & Carly Bierman  26 Coreen Golan

Yaakov '12 and Tova '08 Stolovitsky and their family on the passing of their grandfather, Harry Stolovitsky.

Gabby '10 and Micah '10 Steinbrecher and their family on the passing of their grandfather, Buddy Kulick.

Millie '12 and Mitch '10 Blumka and their family on the passing of their mother, Susan. 

Naomi Smith, and her family on the passing of her brother-in-law Martin Pfeffer.

Peter Bokov '09, and his family on the passing of Gita Sosya Gurkova.

to Gavi Wolk '03, his bride Talia (Volk), and their families on their January 7 marriage.

                         to Michelle Cheirif '04,
                         her groom Ori Raphael, 
                         and their families on their
                         November 25 marriage.

Shimon Lachterman '02 and Ravit Tam on their recent engagement.  The couple will be married, in Israel, on March 14.