Can you imagine sitting in your sukkah while it’s raining and still fulfilling the mitzvah? It is no longer just a figment of your imagination, Mr. Zev Steen says, as he regales me with the fantastically creative ideas and inventions of his Bnos Yisroel high school STEM students. This invention actually works, and the pertinent halachos have been discussed with Rabbi Heinemann.

Bnos Yisroel, TA, TI, and Bais Yaakov have all injected their curricula with a creative new class within the past four years, called STEM. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and, according to Wikipedia, “is a broad term used to group together these academic disciplines.” Mr. Steen tells me, however, that his STEM class not only stretches the mind in math and science but also involves significant amounts of creativity.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. When Rabbi Aharon Gross, Bais Yaakov’s Director of Development, told me that the Bais Yaakov High School’s parking lot was fuller than he’d ever seen it, I didn’t doubt him, but I was still astounded when I saw it for myself. When I finally found an empty spot and crossed over to the high school building, it was as if I had entered a different world: a world of laughter, hard work, persistence, and friendship; a world where toothpicks, dice, and medicine bottles form breathtaking mosaics; a world where glue guns, staple guns, and black fabric are the most precious of commodities.