For Yom HaAtzmaut this year, we had two different programs. In the morning, our very own Benci spoke to the students about his experiences as a chayal (soldier) in Tzahal (Israel Defense Forces). He spoke about his experiences in an elite unit. Benci took out a satchel, which contained in it the things that he always had with him, no matter what. These were his talis, t’filin, siddur, and a special Mi SheBeirach prayer that he said before he went on a mission. He also told the students about how careful each of the members of his unit was around these items, and how they would say the special t’filah even though they were not necessarily religious. It was very moving.

On Wednesday, May 15, Bnos Malka Academy hosted the Michael and Irina Kimyagarov Math Tournament. Seventh and eighth grade girls from all over the tri-state area participated in the event along with their school coaches. Schools in attendance were Barkai Yeshiva, Bnos Malka Academy, Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, Yeshiva of New Jersey, and Yeshiva Shaarei Tzion.

This past Wednesday evening, Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe presented its Holocaust memorial film project at the Young Israel of Queens Valley to the Queens community. The film documents the lives of three survivors of the Shoah, HaRav Moshe Walkin, Professor Asher Matathias, and Mrs. Blanche Fixler. Their stories and experiences were shared with 17 of the yeshivah's eighth graders.

When a delegation from the Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central) visited YU’s Innovation Challenge in March, the group’s aim was to merely observe the pitch night event. So how did this group – freshmen Camryn Brunner, Sarah Galanti, Maya Goykadosh, Maayan Kotkin, Emily Segall, and Hudis Schnur – go from observers to first-place winners, competing against both college and graduate-level entrants at YU’s Innovation Challenge on Wednesday, May 8? It’s a story for the books.

On Monday evening, May 20, the YCQ Parent-Teachers Organization (PTO) held a beautiful superette honoring beloved longtime faculty members who are leaving at the end of the school year. Morah Sharon Korn, our beloved Preschool Director, as well as long-time kindergarten teachers Morah Janet Koenigsberg and Morah Rhona Lipetz, are retiring at the end of the school year. Mrs. Allison Blass, beloved first grade teacher, will be leaving YCQ for an administrative role in another school.