#16 Budowsphere

As Pesach approaches I find myself reflecting on the many achievements made by our students during this year. I always say that Abrams is blessed with the finest teachers, and our children’s many accomplishments are proof that AHA “educates for success.”

Our math department continues to provide an excellent foundation for the future, and Abrams’ students perform at the highest level in competitions with their peers from other schools. Approximately 140,000 students participate annually in school MATHCOUNTS competitions, and ten Abrams students qualified to compete in this year’s competition. Seventh grade student Joshua Beigman finished 9th in the Bucks County competition where he competed against 111 students.

Every year our middle school students participate in the Bucks County Math League competition, and this year AHA 7th grade student Joshua Beigman ranked 14th in the state (78 schools participating), and ranked 2nd in Bucks County. In 8th grade, Marc Lubman also ranked 2nd in Bucks County. These successes are great achievements for all of our hard-working students and teachers.

Our science program continues to expand in creative directions.  For the second year the middle school students participated in an engineering design challenge organized by Thermo-Fischer and K’nex. Abrams held a school-wide competition in which 20 students comprising 5 teams competed for 2 places at the county level competition. The 6th grade team “Power Up” and 7/8 grade team “Spring has Sprung” were chosen as the school winners, and on March 10, 2016 the two teams traveled to Doylestown for the county competition. Abrams students vied with 63 teams of students from all over Bucks County. We are proud to announce that “Spring has Sprung” won first place in the event, and the team will head to Harrisburg on May 13, 2016 for the state-wide competition.

Abrams students in grades 4-8 participate in the Bucks County Reading Olympics each year. The Reading Olympics competition is the culmination of the program that has teams of students reading books from a prepared list for several months prior to the final event. Each team consists of 8 to 16 students who agree to read from groups of 45 books appropriate for their age and reading level. The book lists are prepared the previous year by interested teachers and librarians. During the competition evening, all teams participate in three rounds of questioning. The competition is intense, and I am happy to announce that each of our two Abrams teams won blue ribbons at the event.

I am incredibly proud of our entire secular staff and their ability to teach and inspire our students to excel in many areas. Our teachers and our students are truly champions in every way!

Chag Sameach-

Rabbi Ira Budow