Congratulations to several students at Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School for their award-winning dreidels in the 3rd Annual International #DoYouDreidel Design Competition hosted by Akiva School in Nashville, Tenn.

The school invited students from Jewish day schools, both nationally and internationally, in grades K-8 to take part in the competition in December as part of a STEAM challenge, combining creativity and ingenuity around a central theme:

“Kavod: Honoring Ourselves and Others.”  

Students were challenged to build a dreidel to be judged on the length of its spin and a creative design that incorporated the positive impact made by a selected Jewish-American hero. For example, 6-8th graders were asked to pick one Jewish person or group of Jews who demonstrated (or demonstrates) pride in their Jewish identity and has made one of the greatest contributions to our universe. The dreidel needed to be designed to reflect this person or group of people.

A panel of nine artists and Jewish community leaders judged the entries.

“We thought this competition would be a great fit because of the way it involves Judaics with STEAM education,” said Patty Bloom, director of admissions and marketing at Mirowitz school, adding that students from grades 4 through 8 participated in the competition.

Akiva School received a total of 84 entries from throughout the United States and Canada. 

In the 3-5th grade category, Mirowitz students Shira Dean and Dahlia Goldstein Larocco tied for first place while Josh Cohen, Gage Wibracht, Max Kushnir and Eden Raviv all received an honorable mention.

In the 6-8th grade category, Mirowitz students Zahava Kiernan came in second — her dreidel paid homage to Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow, an American author and  political activist associated with the Jewish Renewal movement, Yeshara Reznikov placed third — her dreidel was modeled after former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and Avigail Inberg received an honorable mention.