With a revamped lab, a list of guest speakers and a new instructor, Torah Academy of Greater Philadelphia has beefed up its middle- and high school science programs. The Rubin Science Center, which opens on Tuesday, Sept. 6, with the start of the school year, will now boast two high-powered microscopes, new computers, a new projector and a new teacher-guided Internet system, along with the more traditional slew of gas lines for Bunsen burners, laboratory tables and cabinets full of gadgets.

"It's a completely stocked science lab!" declared principal Rabbi Joshua Levy. "We already have a great science program. This is a way to get it up a couple of notches."

The redesign of the center, which has a capacity for roughly 25 students, was funded by a grant from Dr. Raphael and Rene Rubin.

'Volumes of Information'
While Torah Academy has had Internet access for a while now, according to Levy, this is the first time an entire science classroom will be able to hook up to the World Wide Web.

That kind of connectivity, he added, offers a wealth of possibilities.

"They'll be able to research topics and get volumes of information," he said.

Along with the new equipment, the school plans to send its budding scientists on a number of field trips.

"We'll go to science centers around New York, to research pharmaceutical facilities and visit some laboratories," relayed Levy.

The school also plans to call in the professionals.

"The speakers that are going to be [addressing] the children are experts in science and medicine," said the principal.

To help launch the center, explained Levy, the school hired a new instructor - Kim Ragazino - who with a background in natural and environmental sciences will "expand this program way past the textbook."