Box tops for education is a program which gives money to schools for purchasing certain brands. You can find box tops on many common brands including Ziplocs, Kleenex and General Mills Cereals. Collecting Box Tops is an easy way to get your kids involved in helping raise money for our school as well as helping their class earn an ice cream party if their class brings in the most. You can hand in box tops throughout the year to Sharon Newman in the education office. Any questions, please contact Tova Epstein, chairperson.
Samuel Halpern
258 Riverside Drive Apt. 4A
New York, NY 10025
October 18, 2013
President Barack Obama
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
My name is Samuel Halpern. I am eleven years old, live in the Upper West Side of New York, and I go to MDS, which stands for Manhattan Day School. My interests are both videogames and leading a religious life. My favorite videogame is a game that is set in the medieval ages. It is called Medieval Total War. The goal of the game is to select a faction and turn it into an impenetrable empire. My religious life includes praying every day, learning biblical texts on the Sabbath and going to a religious private school. Every day we learn the Old Testament. We learn the Bible and we learn Prophets. I would like to talk about an essay I read a few weeks ago. The article is from ten years ago, but even so, it is relevant today.
Basically, the essay is about Christopher Columbus and how he defied basic belief. For instance, everyone thought that the world was flat. They thought that if you sailed too far away from land you would go straight off the edge. He proved that they were wrong during his voyage in 1492. It was also common belief that the only continents were Africa, Asia and Europe. If you saw a map from that time you wouldn’t see North America, South America, Australia or Antarctica on the map. So when Columbus reached his destination he proved common belief to be wrong again. However, this time he didn’t realize it. You see, when Columbus set sail he was looking for India. When he reached land he naturally thought that he was in India. Therefore, he called the natives Indians, even though they weren’t really Indian at all. Instead of landing in India, he discovered North America. We learned that it is always good to push our limits. If you time traveled back to 1492 with a cell phone they would probably think that it was a weapon.
So now Mr. President, I ask you to please push the limits and improve the conditions in prison. The problem with being in prison is that it doesn’t make you not want to do bad things again. It actually makes many prisoners become hardened and better criminals. When their prison term is over, they are more likely than ever before to commit more violent crimes. I thank you, Mr. President, for taking the time to read my letter.
Sincerely,
Samuel H. Halpern