The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit Give your child the After School Experience of a Lifetime JCC Afterschool Club The JCC Afterschool Club offers a kaleidoscope of creative, fun and challenging activities for children from kindergarten through 5th Grade, Daily activities and highlights for your child include: Swimming • Cooking prod ects • Tennis • Rollerblading • Arts & Crafts Supervised homework assistance • Outdoor play • Gym games Plus.... Birthday Parties .3 .4:)erstar of the week •Specid Entertaiirnent•Theme clays *The Af erschool Club takes place Monday through Friday from 330-6 pm, 'The JCC provides transportation from your child's school to our MaplelDrake Campus. *Bt.45 service varies according to registration per school, A Kosher snack is provided, * As an extra service, the JCC provides Break Days - vacation days and travel camp programs during school breaks, For additional information, please call the West Bloomfield JCC at (248) 661-7656 or (248) 661-7687. JCC Fall Classes The JCC offers over L100 classes from which to choose, including: C/) &irate • Swimming • Soccer • Baseball • Tennis • Rollerblading Arts Crafts • Dance • Theatre • Rollerhockey • Hag Football • Gymnastics • Basketball (For detailed c lass liStingS, please refer to the JCC Fall Class Catalogue) LU (JD LU - 7 H- JCS For additional Fall class information, please call (248) 661-1000 in West Bloomfield or (248) 9674030 in Oak Park. C) CC LLJ LU 72 The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit 6600 West Maple Road • West Bloomfield, MI • 48322 Jimmy Prentis Morris Building • A. Alfred Taubman Campus • 15110 West Ten Mile Road • Oak Park, MI • 48237 What's In Store? New buildings, facilities, staff and curricula greet Jewish students this fall. JULIE WIENER STAFF WRITER T he first day of school is a time for students to greet old friends and show off how much they've grown and changed over the summer. But the students aren't the only ones who have changed: DAY SCHOOLS Some Akiva Hebrew Day School students will be sticking around in the building a little longer each day to participate in the school's new latchkey pro- gram. Fifteen kids have signed up for the four-day-a-week program so far, says principal Rabbi Kan mi Gross, who adds that a home- work club is in the works as well. On the after-school and home- work front, Hillel Day School will be providing after-school homework help for fifth- to eighth- graders. The tutors will be Hillel alumni. At Sally Allan Alexander Beth Jacob School for Girls, girls in all grades will be explor- ing the sciences in greater depth in a new, fully-equipped lab donated by the Meer family. Howev- er, lest one think the students are at risk of becoming science geeks, a new set of writing and commu- nications books — stressing critical thinking and research skills — have been purchased for fifth-12th graders. Darchei Torah has hired its first director of development, Jeff Maza. Yeshiva Gedolah is ensuring its long-term financial security by starting up a scholarship endow- ment, thanks to a $250,000 chal- lenge grant from Gary Shiffman. The school hopes to raise the mon- ey — which Shiffrnan will match — over the course of the next two years. A veritable building boom of re- ligious schools is occurring throughout metro Detroit. Shaarey Zedek will be unveil- ing its new school in West Bloom- field at a dedication ceremony this weekend. The 7.5-acre facility in- cludes computers, athletic and art equipment. Congregation Shir Tikvah in Troy anticipates the completion of its synagogue building (which will include classroom space) dur- ing the coming school year. Beth Shalom in Oak Park will be breaking ground for its school wing on Sept. 7, after years of holding classes at local public school buildings, in trailers and in the basement. Education Direc- tor Shoshana Ben-Ozer says she hopes the new wing will be up and running within a year. Renovation at the Workmen's Circle has been on a smaller scale: The school combined two rooms to make for a larger, more open room for its oldest students. Beth Achim will be expanding offer- ings at its satellite school in West Bloomfield by offer- ing several Friday night family events throughout the year. And post b'nai mitz- vah students will have Tuesday-night dinner classes at stu- dents' homes. Parents at B'nai Moshe will be participating in monthly Shah- bat programming with their chil- dren. Incidentally, students of all grade levels won't just be learning liturgical Hebrew this year, but will be adding biblical grammar and vocabulary to their repertoire. Temple Shir Shalom is also altering its Hebrew curriculum by integrating it with Judaic studies and starting formal instruction at the pre-kindergarten level. "We need to tickle kids' language abil- ity early," explained education di- rector Mindy Nathan. Post b'nai mitzvah students at Temple Kol Ami will be getting out through "Eighth Grade on Wheels," exploring practices from other Jewish denominations and other faiths throughout metro- politan Detroit. New teachers at the Birming- ham Temple include two assis- tant rabbis and a rabbinic intern. While children attend Sunday school, parents will be able to at- tend a lecture series lineup that includes speakers from Focus Hope and the National Holocaust Museum. O New buildings, new people, new programs. AFTERNOON SCHOOLS Adat Shalom is continuing to look for a director of education, but in the meantime Rabbi Daniel Nevins is filling in. A new youth and education program director, Adam Schaefer, has been hired, as well as mother-daughter team Harriet and Talya Drissman, who will be coordinating art activities. New staff fill the ranks at Tem- ple Israel as well, including Rachel Erlich, the new director for the library and media center, as well as specialists in the area of Israeli dance and music. --\