NOVEMBER 18 • 2021 | 17

Jeopardy game, capture-the-
flag, camp crafts and drawing 
murals representing each house 
are just some of the activities 
students participated in during 
the week.
Each day was planned to 
include a dress-up, an active 
activity and a passive activi-
ty. Passive activities included 
everything from guessing the 
amount of candies in a jar to 
finding hidden trophies around 
the school.
Fundraising was also incor-
porated into the spirit week. 
On Friends of the IDF Day, 
students dressed up in camou-
flage and did a penny war to 
raise money for Friends of the 
IDF. A toiletry drive also took 
place throughout the week. In 
their Hebrew classes that week, 
students also wrote letters to 
IDF soldiers.
“We were touching on our 
core values throughout,
” Taylor-
Abt said. “Everything we did 
has this concept of our value 
system within it, even spirit 
week.
” 
Sesi says she and other teach-
ers overheard students saying 
they wouldn’t get this experi-
ence anywhere else, realizing 
how cool that is. 

“There was a real engage-
ment of, ‘Wow what a cool 
thing we get to do here,’” Sesi 
said. “I think sitting with a 
teacher and making a craft 
while someone else is playing 
capture the flag, while some-
one else is creating a mural to 
represent their house, it’s just 
unique and special.”
At the end of the week, the 
winning house, Galil, won cof-
fee and donuts for the whole 
house. The hope is that next 
year and beyond, House Spirit 
Week and the house concept 
as a whole will grow at FJA.
“Our hope is that as we 
transition back to normalcy 
post-COVID, that this is a 
really great on-ramp to that 
return,” Kantor said. “It’s an 
opportunity for us to put in 
place some fun and exciting 
things for our students that 
will help them build commu-
nities, learn about themselves 
in different ways and try out 
new things they may never 
have tried. Students get to 
stretch themselves in all dif-
ferent kinds of ways inside the 
classroom, and this spirit week 
was also a way for them to 
stretch themselves outside of 
the classroom.”

FJA STUDENTS
FJA freshman Caleb Starr and 
senior Leah Phillips are both 
in Galil house and won spirit 
week. Both believe the houses 
are a cool way to connect with 
others in school. 
“We really became a com-
munity and I got to know 
a lot of the upperclassmen, 
it was a really nice way to 
meet new people,” Starr said. 
“There was also some learn-
ing in it, and that was inter-
esting as well.”
Starr believes the points 
incentive has been a fun 
part of the house system but 
thinks FJA students are doing 
good deeds regardless and not 
necessarily doing it just to win 
something. 
“I think it’s a good incen-
tive, but I also think people 
are doing these things anyway, 
though it’s nice they’re getting 
recognized,” he said. 
Starr was a Galil house 
delegate for the freshman and 
was able to help plan how it 
went. 
“I got to recommend things 
and it was really interesting 
and fun to hear what other 
people thought,” Starr said. 
“We’re definitely a small 

school, and I think it’s import-
ant because of that we form a 
really strong community, we 
need to stick with each other, 
and I think spirit week was a 
good way to bring us together 
and form that bond. It defi-
nitely sets us apart, not every 
school has that.” 
While Phillips is only going 
to be able to take part in the 
houses for one year at FJA, 
she’s grateful she was able to 
experience it at least once. 
“I’m at least happy that, as 
a senior, I was able to par-
ticipate, help set this up for 
future grades and hopefully 
inspire or keep this tradition 
going as something people get 
really hyped up about,” she 
said. 
Starr will be in Galil house 
for the rest of his time at 
FJA and is looking forward 
to how the house system 
evolves. 
“I’ve talked about this with 
some friends, we said we feel 
like it’s our job to welcome 
people who are going to come 
after us and make them feel 
welcome like the upperclass-
men welcomed us,” he said. 
“It’s now our job to keep that 
tradition alive.” 

Eliyah Fradkin ’24, 
AJ Goodman ’23, 
Caleb Robbins ’23, 
Jack Beavers ’25, 
Gabriel Gordon’’23, 
Daniel Stryk ’22 
and Eli Gordon ’22

