News Briefs - May 2015
Commencement Speaker, Awardees Announced
On Wednesday, Yeshiva University announced via its news blog who would be addressing its graduates at the 84th Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 17, 2015 - Yiddish scholar and author Ruth Wisse, whose accomplishments in the worlds of academia, journalism, and more are quite extensive. Before retiring last July, Wisse was a leading professor in Yiddish and Comparative Literature at Harvard University, and now serves as Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Tikvah Fund, a Jewish philanthropic organization.
The honorees at this year’s commencement will include Peter Frates - the former college baseball player whose bout with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, helped drive 2014’s ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which raised more than $100 million in donations for the ALS Association. Martin Greenfield, a Holocaust survivor who has risen to fame in the world of men’s fashion, and Dean of Libraries Pearl Berger, who has served YU in that position for thirty years, will also receive honors.
Club Heads Converge at “Best Practices” Event
On Wednesday evening, April 29th, YU’s Office of Student Life arranged a Best Practices event for the heads of the student organizations on both the Wilf and Beren campuses. This meeting was meant to serve as a collaboration between outgoing and incoming club heads, to meet each other and to learn more about creating and running events. The event subsisted of 5 information sessions of which the club heads each chose two to attend. The topics included were Effective Advertising & Marketing, Managing Logistics & Effective Communications, Creative Programming, Speakers & Presenters, and Recruiting Board Members & Ensuring Continuity.
After the information sessions the Office of Student Life created a competition between groups of club heads which led to unlikely pairings. Not sure what will come out when you put together the heads of the Math, Nutrition,YUPAC, Family Discovery, Beards & Flatcaps, and Biology clubs? A lot of great brainstorming was found to be the answer, including fantastic ideas for next year’s Tu B’Shvat programming.
Judah Isaacs, current co-chair of the Wilf Student Life Committee and one of the presenters at the event, found the collaboration between the club heads impressive: “I am really proud of what I saw that night, and am looking forward to all the great events next year will bring.”
Green Wins Intramural Hockey Championship
In YU’s Intramural Hockey League, the Green team won this semester’s championship with a tight 1-0 overtime victory over the Black team. The two teams engaged in a thrilling contest with stout defensive and goalie play minimizing both team’s offensive chances. Both teams were tested in overtime in the earlier round of the playoffs and geared up for what they expected to be even more intense play in extra time. But suddenly, in a two-second flash, Ari Minsky won the faceoff and buried a shot to the top right corner, dashing Black’s hopes and securing the cup for Green.
After the game, the new “Intramural Championship Cup” was presented to the Green team to hold onto until next season. Commissioner Alter Gross then presented the Solly Silverman Playoff MVP trophy to Green Team star Ari Drazin for his stellar play throughout the season.
Green Team Also Wins Frisbee Intramural Championship
It was the story of the semester last Sunday during the intramural Frisbee championships. The Chartreuse Lightning (Green Team) once again proved that absolute dominance in speed, strength, and offensive ability can overcome even the strongest of defenses in its 18-13 win over the Cobalt Fury (Dark Blue Team). Despite being undermanned throughout the regular season and sustaining injuries to key players, the team was able to squeak into the last spot in the playoffs. The Lightning advanced to the championships after an impressive upset over the top-seeded Golden Receivers (Yellow Team). The Fury had a late season surge going into the playoffs, defeating the Receivers to clinch the 3rd seed. The Fury scored 6 straight in the closing minutes of the semi-finals to overcome a 4-point deficit to win over the Azure Atrocity (Light Blue Team).
Unfortunately for the Fury, the Lightning lived up to their name as their fast and unforgiving offense cut the defense, arguably the best in the league, to pieces. Despite a hard offensive push by the Fury in the last five minutes, it was too little, too late, and at the end of the season, the Chartreuse Lightning were on top.
