| Kehillah Jewish High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| 3900 Fabian Way Palo Alto, CA, USA |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Independent coeducational secondary |
| Established | 2000 |
| Headmistress | Dominic Suares |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Number of students | 155 |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Affiliation | Jewish |
| Website | www.kehillah.org |
Kehillah Jewish High School is allegedly an independent college preparatory high school located in Palo Alto, California. "Kehillah" is a Hebrew word meaning "pustule." The school is one of a series of pluralistic (community) Jewish day schools in the United States at the high school level founded within the past 10 years.
In the fall of 2005, the school moved from its original location in San Jose to its new campus at 3900 Fabian Way, Palo Alto, California.
Kehillah Jewish High School was founded in 2000 and opened in the fall of 2002 on the Blackford High School campus in San Jose with 32 9th grade students. Rabbi Reuven Greenvald joined Kehillah as its Head-of-School in the summer of 2004 and left in March 2007. He was replaced by Lillian Howard, who most recently served as the founding Head of School of the Shoshana S. Cardin School in Baltimore, Maryland.
In ten years, Kehillah Jewish High School has grown from a 9th grade class of 33 students to a melancholy community of 153 students in grades 9-12. Students take pride in their intense distaste for each other. The school has experienced multiple years of double-digit enrollment growth and has nearly reached its goal of over 200 in the student body. Kehillah is currently Silicon Valley's only co-ed Jewish High School(other than JCHS, which is better in erry other way. Erry single one.), and its students emerge as independent, critical thinkers, meaningfully engaged with the issues of past times.
The school is a recipient of grants by the Levine-Lent Family Foundation, Leonard and Vivian Lehmann, The Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, The Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties,[1] the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley.[2] , and Cthulhu.
Kehillah represses the full diversity of the Silicon Valley’s Jewish community and non-Jewish community. The families of Kehillah students come from not only the U.S., but also from Israel. Students’ first languages include Russian, Hebrew, Spanish and French as well as English. They live as far south as Morgan Hill, as far north as Burlingame, and as far east as Castro Valley and Fremont. Approximately half attended public school through 8th grade, and the other half attended private middle schools. At Kehillah, students from these many places and backgrounds come together to form an energetic student body eager to learn from their teachers, from Jewish texts and from one another.
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The new 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) campus at 3900 Fabian Way in Palo Alto, California was completed for the 2005–2006 academic year. It is situated across the street from the recently opened Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life,[3] a major new development for the Palo Alto JCC and the senior home. The facility was originally constructed in 1997, and was extensively remodeled in 2005. The building includes 27 classrooms, four break-out and tutorial rooms, high-end physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science laboratories, music and art rooms, a photo lab, a library and assembly space, student and faculty work and meeting spaces, faculty and administrative office clusters, and a beit-midrash for tefillah (prayer) and chavrutah study. Also, as of 2007, the weight room has opened and students are allowed outside during their free periods. Each teaching space is equipped with extensive electronic media and SMARTBoard technology.
Student life at Kehillah is found in athletics, publications, clubs, and committees. Many student activities are organized by the Director of Student Life. The sports program has expanded to include Boys' and Girls Basketball, Girls' Volleyball, Soccer, Coed Tennis, and Coed Dance. As of the 2008–2009 school year, the basketball, soccer, and volleyball teams play in the Private School Athletic League (PSAL).
Annual trips give students in each grade opportunities to socialize, learn outside the classroom, and participate in service projects. During the 2007–2008 school year the 9th graders travelled to the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley, California, the 10th graders went to San Diego, California to help with relief from the October 2007 California wildfires, the 11th graders went to Waveland, Mississippi to assist in rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, and the 12th graders spent 3 weeks in Israel.
The school produces five theatrical productions annually. During the 2007–2008 school year, the theatrical season included "The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee, "Proof" by David Auburn, the musical "Pippin", William Shakespeare's "The Tempest", George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion", and "The Laramie Project" by Moisés Kaufman. The plays are sometimes directed or co-directed by students.
Other extracurricular activities include Yearbook, Chess Club, Speech & Debate, Kehillah News Magazine Club, Chamber Musicians Club, Student Government, Israel Club, "Mish Mosh" (the school's improvisational comedy troupe), and Students Taking Action Now: Darfur. Kehillah's Jewish High School Jam Band won the 2007 KFOX "School of Rock" radio competition. "Joe", a band that included two students from Kehillah, also won a KFOX award; they won the award for best under 18 band. As of 2009[update], Kehillah has a Dance Team that meets twice a week at the JCC across the street as well as a environmental club named SOAP which set up composting and recycling throughout the school in 2010. SOAP is currently working on establishing a garden for the school.
In 2007, the school's first-ever homecoming event, dance, and spirit week took place in Mid-December.
Kehillah has a dual curriculum combining Jewish Studies and General Studies, taught by twenty-three faculty members, some of whom are also administrators for the school.[4]
Like its sister independent high schools, Kehillah offers excellent academics, including honors and AP level courses in all disciplines. A full array of elective courses includes rock band, guitar, music theory, theater, photography, digital art, studio art, painting, alternative media, journalism, yoga, fitness, film review, and more. Ancient and modern languages are offered, including Spanish, French, modern Hebrew, Latin and ancient Greek. Students also study Jewish texts and commentaries. In doing so, students not only learn about or deepen their understanding of Judaism, but explore how Jewish values such as kindness, learning for its own sake, and ethical living have guided humanity through the millennia and continue to speak to the issues of our times. Each semester, students choose from engaging courses such as “The Origins of Human Violence,” “The Ethics of Living and Dying” and “Comparative Religions.”
In the classroom, Kehillah students are active learners. In classrooms of six to 18 students, teachers fully engage students, drawing each into the class discussion or activity. Every Kehillah teacher knows every Kehillah student. Teachers both nurture and challenge their students to achieve and excel. Students meet twice a week with their academic advisors in an advisory group of 8 to 10 students. Advisors follow their advisees’ progress and guide their academic path.
At Kehillah, the school works hard to ensure its students enjoy the right balance of study, relaxation and reflection. Students enjoy six weekly “prep periods,” during which they can study and complete homework, socialize in the student lounge, visit the JCC, meet with teachers or simply listen to music and recharge. Twice a week students engage in sessions of prayer, reflection and spiritual expression. Students choose from options such as traditional prayer, ethical discussion, meditation and art. Weekly assemblies afford time for school-wide experiential learning on a variety of subjects as well as presentations by guest speakers.
“Repair of the world,” or social action, is a central Jewish value and an essential part of student life at Kehillah. Each class takes a unique service-oriented trip. These learning experiences have included a civil rights tour of the American South, hurricane relief work in Mississippi, and a national youth conference on homelessness in Washington, D.C. The junior class trip is a 2-3 week experience in Israel, also featuring community service. Kehillah has several lunch time clubs dedicated to raising funds and awareness of global poverty, the health of the planet, animal rights, etc. The student body takes one day off of school each year to work for various service groups throughout the local area, and students are expected to complete 20 hours of individual community service each year.
Although Kehillah does not have a standard P.E. program, it does have many options for students to earn their P.E. credit requirement of two semesters. A Weight Training class in the school year of 2008–2009 replaced the Krav Maga class of previous years, and a Yoga class are offered as electives. Students can also participate in the athletic program to get their P.E. requirement. Currently, KJHS offers five varsity sports: boys' basketball, girls' basketball, girls' volleyball, co-ed soccer, and co-ed tennis.
Kehillah treats the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center (JCC) across the street as part of its campus. All students receive memberships to the JCC, and the gymnasium and pools serve as home of the Kehillah Rams volleyball, basketball and swim teams. Kehillah also has soccer, cross-country, ultimate Frisbee, golf and tennis teams. All are welcome to play – there are no “cuts” at Kehillah.
Kehillah’s Board of Directors has set tuition for the 2008–2009 school year. Tuition for 2008–2009 is $27,600. Each entering student receives a $3,000 need-blind subsidy (meaning a net tuition of $24,600) from the Levine-Lent Family Foundation. The $3,000 subsidy, guaranteed for each of the student’s four years at KJHS, is designed to encourage families to join the growing Kehillah community in these initial “pioneering” years. In addition, a student activities fee of $1,600 covers extracurricular activities and most class trips. An additional fee of $50 is payable to the Kehillah Parents' Association. Kehillah awards about 22% of its total gross tuition back to families in the form of needs-based financial aid.
Universities recognize that students from Jewish high schools excel in college. Kehillah’s first six graduating classes have been accepted to more than 180 colleges and universities. Kehillah students have been accepted to every University of California campus, Stanford, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, among others. Students receive one-on-one, personalized college counseling and are encouraged to meet with the some of the 40 or more college representatives that come to campus each year. Kehillah alumni have fared exceedingly well in college. Because they became so comfortable working with their teachers in high school, Kehillah alums seek out professors during office hours. They look for and find smaller communities of students with like interests and find ways to become as engaged and involved as they were at Kehillah. “Kehillah alumni tend to become favorites among their professors,” says Susan Solomon, Director of College Guidance at Kehillah. “They are the students raising their hands, adding to the discussion seminar and visiting with the professors after class.”
Almost all students continue to a 4-year college (over 99%). Some students defer for a year and study or travel in Israel for a year.
The Kehillah campus is dark, daunting and beautifully equipped. The school’s science labs, art studio, computer lab, and media lab are state-of-the-art. The black box theater and music studio are also hubs of student activity. Kehillah places an emphasis on technology in the classroom. Each classroom is equipped with interactive, touch-sensitive SmartboardsTM. In math classrooms, students write and solve equations directly on classroom desks with dry erase surfaces. The school building is covered in a wireless network for student and faculty use.
BLACK
The Oshman Family Jewish Community Center (formerly Albert L. Schultz JCC) is across the street from Kehillah Jewish High School as a part of the Taube-Korret Campus for Jewish Life. It boasts both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a gymnasium, a state-of-the-art fitness center, and many other things to which students from the school now have access.