AIWA COMMINTART The Entire Detroit Jewish Community Should Be Proud Of Akiva's Accomplishments MICHAEL N. GREENBAUM Special to The Jewish News ulie Wiener's article about Akiva Hebrew Day School ("Akiva: The Roads Ahead" Jan. 1) is sadly misleading, ignoring that the best way to measure the success of an organization is by its "product" — in Akiva's case, its graduates. Academically, Akiva graduates are consistently represented on the list of National Merit Scholar finalists, and last year's graduating class had an average SAT score of 603 in math and 663 in English (out of a possible 800). In addition, our graduates are regu- larly accepted at the college of their choice, whether it be the University of Michigan, Columbia, Barnard, Bran- deis, the University of Pennsylvania or Yeshiva University. Our alumni have achieved successful careers as physicians, lawyers, accountants, professors, rabbis and teachers. Moreover, many serve as leaders in our Jewish community, in their synagogues, schools, the Agency for Jewish Education and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. Akiva parents are dedicated to instill- ing Jewish values, respect, giving and caring in their children. On any given day, they can be found at Akiva, assist- ing in school projects, cooking hot lunches or overseeing Pzedakah and holi- il Michael Greenbaum is president of Akiva Hebrew Day School, Lathrup Village, and a member of the graduat- ing class of 1974. day programs. Every one of Akiva's 135 families plays a vital and active role in our success. There are no exceptions. Many Akiva teachers have been with the school for so many years that they are teaching family members from a sec- ond generation. Some have left to make aliyah in Israel, serving as true examples of the kind of Zionism and love of Israel that Akiva tries to instill in our students. Others have relocated due to a spouse's professional demands. In fact, two-thirds of our secular high school teachers have been at Akiva for five years or longer and one-third of the teachers has been here in excess of 10 years. Akiva takes great pride in our high school. Some of our students spent their "time off" during winter break working with special needs children in a camp set up by the Friendship Circle. Most of these students say they benefited more from the experience than those they helped. Others can be seen regularly helping out at Yad Ezra, the community kosher food bank. These activities, strictly volunteer in nature, are performed because of the lessons Akiva students receive on the necessity and virtue of ahavas Yisraeh the love of Israel. Our school's chapter of the National Honor Society has organized a Chesed program, where students bring Judaism to non-denominational nursing homes. offering Jewish patients the opportunity to celebrate the customs of the Jewish holidays. This program has received commendations from the Jewish Home and Aging Services. This year's high school student has the option of taking AP courses in both American and world history as well as English. The history courses are taught as self-study with individualized support and those students in the program have experienced a high success rate. The English course is worked into the gener- al curriculum of the school and those students last year electing to take the year-end exam all received 4s and 5s on a scale of 1-5. In addition, our high school students participate in a wide variety of programs outside of Akiva to further their educa- tional experiences. Panim el Panim — Face to Face — is an intense, four-day program in Washington, D.C., spon- sored by the Washington Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values. This pro- gram, involving 100 students from vari- ous cities plus faculty, teaches our Jewish youth the relationship between their Jewish education and the secular world. Participants enjoy briefings from gov- ernment officials and obtain a hands-on session with their senators, gaining first- hand knowledge about the inner work- ings of our government. This was our fourth year attending Panim el Panim. Next month, our high school stu- dents will attend our ninth model U.N. where 600 students and 200 staff con- vene for three days in northern New Jer- sey. While there, each school represents a country and is divided into committees to solve real, everyday problems. The conference culminates with a General Assembly where decisions are made and resolutions are adopted. Many of our students have been recog- nized with the Best Delegate Award based upon teamwork and excellence in debating the issues. Akiva will once again participate in this year's March of the Living where Jewish students from all denominations come together to walk through Poland and visit sites where crimes against Jews were perpetrated. The trip culminates in Israel as the students celebrate our inde- pendence and our Jewish state. This program, strongly represented by Akiva, requires classes be taken in addition to their normal workload. Those students who have attended have come away with a learning experience impossible to teach in any classroom in the world. Finally, Akiva couldn't be happier with its choice as principal, Rabbi Karmi Gross. Rabbi Gress has instilled a sense of spirit and family that we haven't seen in years. Rabbi Gross comes from a family of educators who were always involved in their communities and who espoused the modern centrist Orthodox views of their institutions. The manner in which the teachers, parents and students have rallied around Rabbi Gross and his family is to be commended. Why shouldn't we be proud of our school and why shouldn't the Detroit Jewish community be proud to count our school as one of theirs? Clearly, Akiva may be small in size. However, it has left a deep and positive imprint on its students, staff, parents and the Detroit Jewish community. We believe the best is yet to come. 1-1 It makes no sense for the commu- nity to support substandard education. And the results of the tests should be distributed' to the community so that synagogue "shoppers" might utilize the information in making membership decisions. The principle is a simple one: We need assurance that the community receives "bang" for its education "buck." Laurence R. Imerman Bloomfield Hills The Teitel residents, like all the Jewish Apartments and Service build- ings, are a very tight-knit and caring community. The residents work together to keep their community safe and they look after one another when s they are sick or recuperating from surgery These residents share in the grief over the death of a child, spouse or fellow resident. They share in the joy of the birth of grandchildren or great- grandchildren. The residents are elected to an executive board, which consists of equal numbers of American and Russ- ian-born residents. Do the residents have differences in opinion and culture? Yes, but isn't that what makes a community interesting — the differences? Unfortunately, your writer missed LITTERS Report Card - Winter 1999 JEWISH DAY SCHOOL EXCEEDS Expectations MEETS Expectations Teachers Support philosophies, goals of school Possess adequate formal academic training and experience Participate in ongoing staff development Curriculum Gives instruction in Hebrew language, Bible, prayer, Jewish life and observances, rabbinic literature, Jewish values, Jewish history and social studies Has a challenging, coherent, relevant program providing all students with suitable courses of instruction and expectations Offers variety of teaching strategies that actively engage students Using a variety of data, school examines how well students perform and regularly informs all its constituencies of results Some of the standards the Los Angeles Bureau of Jewish Education uses to evaluate Jewish day schools. 1/15 1999 30 Detroit Jewish News BELOW Expectations Residents Are Caring Your Jan. 8 article on the Teitel resi- dents, "Worlds Apart," created an inac- cutate view of resident relations at the Harriet and Ben Teitel Apartments. 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