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New At Hillel Day School
Staff will implement new initiatives
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GABRIELLA BURMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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August 30 • 2018
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ollowing a celebratory 60th
school year, Hillel Day School
is kicking off its 61st school
year with plans to expand its Early
Childhood Center, which is filled to
capacity.
“We’ve had wait lists for the last three
years, and we know from demographic
studies that there are more Jewish
preschool students who could enroll
in a program like ours,” Head of School
Steve Freedman said.
The expansion will grow ECC enroll-
ment from 140 to 180, with room
for more “if demographics permit,”
Freedman said.
The expansion will commence in
the fall by FNI, the architectural firm
responsible for the renovations of
Hillel’s existing building. The renova-
tion will be complete in time for the
2019 school year.
Inside the building, a team-teaching
approach meets the needs of each
child, preparing students for high
school with skills that will help them
compete in an increasingly disruptive
economy, using the space and technol-
ogy that are the result of the school’s
recent renovations.
The school is also making social-
emotional growth a priority alongside
academics, since one’s well-being
“has a direct effect on learning,” said
Dean of Student Learning Dr. Jennifer
Friedman. To that end, the school
has hired a second full-time social
worker and is partnering with Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit on
its “We Need to Talk” mental health ini-
tiative to help struggling teens.
A reinvigorated focus on making
Judaic Studies “transformative” for
students, in addition to providing them
with knowledge and skills, is also in
motion. The school is ushering in two
new programs that will help students
engage in Jewish learning so that it
becomes personally relevant and
meaningful to them.
A “Yisrael b’Hillel” course for eighth-
graders, designed in partnership with
the Atlanta-based Center for Israel
Education, will take students through
the history of Israel from the Bible to
modern times, and includes the origins
of statehood, ethnic diversity and the
nuances of the Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict.
“The ultimate goal is for students
to think about their personal connec-
tion to Israel in the context of a deeper
Hillel teachers are busy setting up their learn-
ing communities.
understanding of what Israel is all
about, as they prepare for their class
trip,” Dean of Judaic Studies Saul A.
Rube said.
Eventually, the partnership between
Hillel and the center will “enable us
to weave Israel education organically
throughout every aspect of a Hillel
Day School student’s experience,” Rube
added.
A strategic partnership with a sec-
ond program, Ayeka, whose mission
is to “evoke the heart and soul of the
student,” helps to “internalize the latent
potential of our classical tradition to
make a positive difference in the lives of
our students,” Rube said.
The approach will be integrated
into minyan for fifth- through eighth-
graders so that their experiences “will
be more soulful,” he said.
Rabbi Nate DeGroot, who joins
the Hillel staff from IKAR, a Jewish
Renewal congregation in Los Angeles,
will engage meaningfully with fifth-
through eighth-graders through Judaic
programming and prayer as well.
The investment in the physical
expansion and the school’s programs
demonstrates the school’s commitment
to ensuring a vibrant Jewish Detroit.
“For 60 years, a high-quality educa-
tion in both general and Judaic stud-
ies has been the core of our mission,”
Freedman said. “And we plan to con-
tinue that tradition for at least another
60 more.” •
Gabriella Burman is the communications
coordinator at Hillel.