| Abraham Joshua Heschel School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| New York City, United States | |
| Information | |
| School type | Private |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Jewish |
| Superintendent/ Principal Administrator |
Roanna Shorofsky |
| Team name | Heschel Heat |
| Lower School Location | 270 West 89th Street, New York, New York 10024 |
| Middle School Location | 314 West 91st Street, New York, New York 10024 |
| High School Location | 20 West End Avenue, New York, New York 10023 |
| Website | http://www.heschel.org/ |
The Abraham Joshua Heschel School (AJHS) is a pluralistic pre-K to 12 Jewish day school in New York City. Its two central values, pluralism and egalitarianism, create a tightly-knit yet diverse community. Located in Manhattan, the school seeks to follow the example of its namesake, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who sought to make the world a better place for members of the community, Jews, and everyone throughout the world. The lower school has many celebrations, including Zimryah (third and fourth grades), Purim Pandemonium, Yom Ha'azmaut and special events surrounding other Jewish holidays.
Contents |
The Abraham Joshua Heschel School is housed in three buildings: The early childhood center and lower school is located on West 89th Street, the middle school on West 91st Street, and a newly constructed high school on 60th Street and West End Avenue.
Students of the Heschel High School commute from all boroughs of New York City, as well as the from the Greater New York area, including New Jersey and Westchester. Additionally, students' countries of origin include Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, Argentina, Venezuela, Austria, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
Clubs constitute a large part of the social life at The Heschel High School. Most clubs are supervised by a faculty member. Some clubs, such as Finance and Art Appreciation, are completely student supervised.
Club List:
Also included in the clubs category are committees that exist within the High School. Such committees include Student Senate and the Fairness Committee. These groups are not open to participants, but rather representatives are elected by the Student Body.
| The Heschel Helios | |
| Official Motto | "We stand for what we utter." |
|---|---|
| Website | helios.heschel.org |
"The Heschel Helios" is the official student produced newspaper of the Heschel High School. The namesake of the newspaper follows with the High Schools heat theme (sports team- Heschel Heat). Helios is Greek for sun. The student club aims to produce four issues per school year. The club goes through a complete traditional newspaper experience. The process includes "slugging" articles, writing the articles, producing images or graphics for feature articles, peer editing of editorials and articles and finally, layout and printing, the involved students get a full experience of how a newspaper operates. The newspaper's motto, "We stand for what we utter," was chosen in the Winter of 2005 and is an original quote from the school's namesake, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
The Heschel High School believes in the "just community," a system created to ensure that students are respected. Each student has a say in his or her life at school, and although the administration may veto student decisions, students' voices are always heard. The student body votes for a council to represent them. This senate brings issues to the administration's attention during weekly "town meetings" where issues are discussed, voted on and,if approved, become part of Heschel Policy. Limitations on the length of homework assignments and the frequency of tests are two significant changes introduced by the students.
Students do not have discretion on topics related to religious policy, safety, and curriculum although they may always express their opinion.
All rules on which the student body (through the student senate) agrees are posted on the school constitution.
The High School is a "laptop" school. All students are required to obtain a laptop to use as a learning tool throughout their education. Teachers are equipped with laptops, and all classrooms contain smartboards.
All students at the Heschel School study Jewish and secular topics throughout the day. Although this leads to a longer day, students enjoy the rich and varied education and the ability to learn in Hebrew and in English.
The Heschel Heat is the name carried by the various sports teams that play for the High School. The teams include boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball, tennis, soccer, girls floor hockey, track and field, and ultimate frisbee. The Heschel Heat boys JV 08'-09' basketball team won the schools first Yeshiva League basketball championship.
Other "Heschel Schools" are located in Los Angeles, California and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Despite having similar names, the three schools are not related at all, albeit by name.