Message from the President – December 2018

One of the strengths of our school is our strong Akiva community. As we reach the midpoint of our school year, I’d like to take the opportunity to recognize some of the remarkable Akiva highlights which really underscore the amazing community that is an integral part of our school.

We kicked off the year with a wonderful Back to School 50^th Birthday Party Picnic celebrating our school’s 50^th anniversary and welcoming everyone back from the summer break. We gathered again as a community in October for a beautiful Friday night dinner as we warmly welcomed in Shabbat at the Shaar Hashomayim. Over 300 people participated in an inspirational evening of learning, song and prayer, which was an incredible reflection of the beauty of our community.

In November, we also held a very successful Akiva Open House during which our teachers, parent volunteers and students worked together to tell the Akiva story and promote our school to prospective new families.  The Open House took place this year in our new Akiva Innovation Lab, a space designed to support incredible new creative programming for our students. The Lab was made possible by the generosity of our Akiva community through the funds raised in last year’s Annual Giving Campaign and is yet another example of how we, as a community, all play a role in our children’s education.

Later in November, we participated in yet another inspiring Akiva program unique to our school – the Akiva Parent Day, this year it was called “Under the Big Top – Celebrating Akiva 50th”.  On this day, an amazing team of Akiva parents organized a school wide program while our dedicated team of professionals participated in the staff retreat, learning new ways to make our students’ school experience even better.

In December, we celebrated Chanukkah together with many special events such as the parent run annual Akiva Chanukkah Concert where students with musical talents are each able to shine in individual musical performances.  This month, all Akiva families also received the very first edition of the Akiva Chanukkah Handbook to help in their Chanukkah celebrations and which included contributions from our Akiva community. Later that month we were treated to the Akiva Play, which is another event that makes our school so special and exemplifies the commitment of our students and parents to Akiva. 

I would like to thank everyone who is part of our special Akiva community, our team of professionals, my fellow board members, our donors and all of our parents who are engaged in their children’s educational experience. I also want to say a special thank you to our new Head of School, Rabbi Grossman, who has stepped into his role this year with such energy, enthusiasm and a genuine love of learning that is inspirational to us all.   

Wishing everyone a restful upcoming winter break!