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guest column
Best of Both Worlds and Our Future
M
addie was a state cham-
pion in debate; Seth was
an AIPAC intern; and
Hannah works for Microsoft while
Yoni is at Google. Laurenne recently
completed her service in the IDF as
a Lone Soldier; Robert was elected
ninth-grade class pres-
ident at Cranbrook;
Lily’s poem on school
shootings was pub-
lished nationally last
year when she was
in 10th grade; and
Steve
Connor spent the
Freedman
summer as a college
intern at the interna-
tionally renowned Institut Pasteur in
Paris.
Maya just started ninth grade, and
her parents report she is taking all
honors classes at her local public
high school and is doing very well,
while Jacob was one of 10 national
DECA students (tens of thousands)
recognized for his excellence in math
during 10th grade. Emma helped
establish UMatter, and Elan serves
on the Jewish Fund Teen Board.
Jeremy, a college sophomore, recently
had an opinion piece published in
the Jewish News about Israel, and he
serves as an Israel21 Ambassador on
his college campus, while Jonah was
selected as one of 52 Kleiner Perkins
Fellows in engineering from more
than 3,000 applicants.
What do all these young people
have in common? They all graduat-
ed from Hillel Day School over the
last 10 years. And they all have gone
on to pursue purposeful activities,
grounded in who they are as Jews.
It has long been understood that
families who choose schools like
Hillel want the “best of both worlds”
— a strong general education cou-
pled with a meaningful Jewish edu-
cation. Hillel provides both, and our
dedicated professional staff relent-
lessly works to ensure an excellent
learning experience for each child.
As a parent, and as head of school,
I know that you want your children
to be prepared not only for the
world they will inherit; you certain-
ly also want that world to be filled
with compassionate people who live
meaningful lives surrounded by fam-
ily and community.
In this century, strong families
and communities will only remain
intact if we make deliberate efforts
to ensure it is so. There is much data
available that gives us clues about
what kind of future may await our
children. As with any data, we can
ring the alarms or see opportunities.
The recently released Detroit
Jewish population study notes that
48 percent of school-age children
are enrolled in Jewish day schools,
with the vast majority of them in
Orthodox day schools; only 12 per-
cent are in “liberal” day schools. That
means 52 percent of eligible students
could still be in a day school, most of
them “liberal.” This is a huge oppor-
tunity for us as a school and for the
future of the Detroit Jewish commu-
nity.
Why does it matter that we get
as many of these children as possi-
ble into day schools? Because most
recent studies still support what
previous studies of the past decades
have reported — Jewish day school
graduates are disproportionate-
ly engaged in all things Jewish as
adults, from synagogue life to philan-
thropy to agency support in whatever
community in which they reside.
This kind of engagement matters
more than ever as fewer Americans,
continued on page 10
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