Spanning the Grades
Fall 2006. The Solomon Schechter School of Westchester
has a flourishing chess program that spans the grade spectrum from Kindergarten to Middle School and perhaps soon will enhance
the High School's chess club by getting the High School Students involved in tournaments as well.
The program has been spurred in recent years by parent volunteers Donna Reis and Neil Goldfarb.
Their children Alexander and Jared participate in the NSCF Middle and Lower School programs.
The success of the Solomon Schechter chess program is attested to by the fact that Alexander, Jared and Max Steinberg are all
NSCF Grand Prix winners.
To learn more about the program, where it has been and where it is going, your webmaster conducted a brief interview with
Donna and Neil. This interview was conducted in December 2006,
directly before the Solomon Schechter Middle School chess team left to compete in the
National Scholastic K-12 Championships.
When was the program first started? It was started by parent
Dan Moskowitz in 1992 when his son Ari was a student at the school.
(Headmaster and Rabbi) Doctor Elliot Spiegel has been very supportive of the program ever since.
I became involved with the program when my son Alexander came to school in Kindergarten. That would be 1998
Donna, how would you describe your duties? People refer to me as the "chess engine."
I facilitate the chess program and keep it moving forward. I facilitated the addition of a chess "supervisor."
For the past two years Chris Delmonico, from our athletics department, has been available to supervise our tournament players at
local and state tournaments, at no cost to our students. This allows our chess players the opportunity to attend the tournaments.
We promote the idea of inclusion, and foster a sense of community and team spirit. Chris teaches kids how to win and lose in a
respectful way. By providing a chess supervisor it also eases the burden on parents' busy schedules.
And you, Neil, how did you get involved? I have been bringing Jared to tournaments for four years, since first grade.
When Alexander left the Lower School for the Middle School, Donna asked me to help out.
The idea is to enhance communication; to bring the school together and unify the team.
Together, along with our school's webmaster, we post information about our chess clubs and tournament participation.
Best success to date? That would have to be the
2006 Elementary National Championships.
We finished 8th in the K-6 under 1000 section. Next week we go to the 2006 K-12 National Championships.
That's going to be a challenge. How many kids are you bringing? Hannah Steinberg will compete in the 6th grade section
and a team of four ( Josh Abady, Ben Gershenov, Alexander Reis, and Max Steinberg )
will compete for a team trophy in the 7th grade open section.
Goals for the future? For one thing, we'd like to expand into the High School as the kids grow older.
They have a student led chess club, but it is not active in chess tournaments as of yet.
We'd like the Middle School kids to get involved in organization once they move to the High School.
At the same time, we plan to promote chess involvement in the lower sections to build up the core of players going forward.
We aim to develop the depth of the team. Retention of player's interests throughout the grade levels is a primary focus.
This is done by providing many opportunities to play chess and compete in tournaments
What are your plans for the Lower School program? We have two Lower School programs.
The Kindergarten and 1st grade students receive classroom instruction as part of our school curriculum by
(Fide Master and NSCF Executive Director) Sunil Weeramantry, while
Jim Santorelli teaches the 2nd grade curriculum program and the K-5
after-school club.
We hope to broaden and strengthen the Lower School program. We have had up to 30 students in an after school club,
and we have been discussing the possibility of dividing it into K-2 and 3-5 sections, to provide more individual attention.
These programs are a launch pad for the Middle School program.
In fact, the stronger players from the Lower School are allowed to participate in the Middle School club program.
I see the Middle School program is currently coached by
(Fide Master) Adnan Kobas.
How is he doing? Great. The kids love him.
With teachers like that, you're sure to succeed. Thank you, and good luck in the Nationals.
Postscript: Solomon Schechter had an outstanding result in the 2006 National K-12 Championships,
finishing in fourth place in the 7th Grade Championships and winning a big trophy.
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