Last Friday, Dr. Berliner's AP Physics class took a trip to the George Washington Bridge. When we first arrived, we were introduced to our Guide, Andrea Giorgi Bocker, who works as engineer of construction for the George Washington Bridge and Bus Station, a division of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. After graduating from Manhattan College, she earned a Masters in Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology and a professional engineering licensure in New York and in New Jersey in order to enable her to work in both states. We had a quick question and answer session in which she explained some of the physics behind the building of the bridge, followed by the screening of an old video detailing the making of the George Washington Bridge. Segments of this video along with commentary can be seen on YouTube. While we saw the original silent video accompanied only by Ms. Bocker's commentary, various engineers narrate this clip.

After the video, we took a short ride from the Administrative Building to the New Jersey side of the bridge. We were then led down to the bottom of the NJ tower. Down below, we saw two of the steel cables that are rooted into the ground in order to support the weight of the bridge. Ms. Bocker explained that there are two more cables on the New York side of the bridge, and that each cable is three feet wide and contains over 25,000 wires.         

After we visited the underground portion of the trip, we took an old-style elevator up to the top of the New Jersey tower. The view was breathtaking, and it was truly awe-inspiring to imagine how such a tremendous structure could be constructed with only the rudimentary technology available to the engineers of the 1920's. All of us have crossed the bridge numerous times, but until this tour most of us probably never understood the monumental engineering skill that the GWB is a testament to. Thank you very much to Dr. Berliner for organizing the trip, and to Ms. Bocker for the great tour!

This past Monday, the seniors gathered in the library after davening for the annual Senior Breakfast. The seniors were treated to a delicious, breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, eggs, orange juice, coffee and assorted pastries from Lake Como Pizza. After everyone began eating, the program opened with divrei torah from Rabbi Shulman and Rabbi Taubes, which included remarks about how great the past year has been, to cap off our four amazing years at MTA. Leading off as the first student speaker was the Senior Grade Vice President, Robby Steinerman. With great emotion, Robby spoke about his cherished experience over the past four years and the amazing friendships he has made.

Shai Kaminetzky then spoke about the experiences he and his teammates had during their four years on the basketball team in MTA. After Shai, Menachem Mermelstein spoke about being on the hockey team and the great experiences he had while playing for the Lions the past four years. Finally, Yonah Stromer capped off the sports memories by describing his four years on the wrestling team, and everything he gained from all of his time spent working for his team.

Following the speeches from the athletes about their teams, a few more speakers came to the podium. Zak Lenik spoke about how he made so many great new friends and has so many great memories for life from the past four years at MTA. Eli Eisenman then spoke about his experiences and cherished memories. Next, Billy Plotnick spoke about his experience transferring to MTA in middle of high school and how he was so grateful that he was treated as if he came to MTA with us from the start. He spoke of how he gained so much from MTA, be it his love of yiddishkeit or great relationships with friends, rebbeim and teachers. Finally, Daniel Goldstein humorously spoke about his great time in MTA and how he grew as a person because of MTA and all of his friends, teachers and rebbeim.     

After Daniel's speech, Rabbi Shulman presented several humorous awards, following which everyone

After Eli's speech, we all sat down and watched the video made by the senior staff of The Scope, made specifically for the Senior Breakfast. The movie was extremely funny, and we thank The Scope for that hilarious video and for all the laughs they have provided us throughout the years.