A Visit Is Worth A Thousand Words

Dear DKJA Families, One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is the opportunity to visit with our students and interact with them. I truly love experiencing their learning — and being a part of it too! Last week, I had the honor of visiting all of the Kindergarten and first-grade classes. Reading has always been a passion of mine, so I had the best of both worlds when I read one of my favorite books to the captivated students, I Love You Because You’re You. I really enjoyed these visits, as I was able to interact with all of the students. In particular, I expressed to them how special each individual is — and that it’s important to recognize this in each other. We recently welcomed a sweet new year, and the students and I celebrated our learning and the connection to the goodness we must see in each other. The culmination of my visit was my giving of a small token to the students – chocolate kisses to be exact ‑ to symbolize this message. We will continue to rejoice, begin anew and celebrate Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah on Monday and Tuesday, marking the completion of the annual cycle of weekly Torah readings.  As a K-12 school, sharing learning experiences and accomplishments is so important, as it enables us to realize the great strides made by our community of learners. This is the perfect opportunity for me to transition to praising our most senior students, in every sense of the word. Beginning the sweet new year with pride and honor has already been achieved! I am proud to announce that four Claire and Emanuel G. Rosenblatt High School seniors have been recognized as Commended Students by National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Brett Cohen, Jordan Nakdimon, Matthew Ribacoff and Asher Gritz (pictured left to right) have earned recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program for the exceptional academic promise demonstrated by their outstanding performance on the qualifying test used for program entry. Over 1.5 million students took the 2014 PSAT with only 34,000 of them earning Commended Status. Each student received a Letter of Commendation with a congratulatory message. Asher Gritz and Brett Cohen also have been recognized as National Hispanic Scholars through the National Hispanic Recognition Program. These students scored in the top 2.5% of the Hispanic and Latino PSAT/NMSQT test takers in our region. Mazel tov on another wonderful week. I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday (school will not be in session on Monday and Tuesday in observance of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah). Shabbat Shalom, Helena Levine Head of School