Milken Community High School

Coordinates: 34°07′31.91″N 118°28′40.38″W / 34.1255306°N 118.4778833°W / 34.1255306; -118.4778833

Milken Community Schools
Address
15800 Zeldins' Way Bel Air, Los Angeles, CA, 90049 USA
Information
Type	Private, coeducational 7-12
Motto	Developing students with sharp minds, generous hearts, and kind souls
Religious affiliation(s)	Jewish
Established	1990
CEEB Code	051727
Principal	Limor Dankner (Middle School) Kimberly Schwartz (Upper School)
Head of school	Gary Weisserman
Faculty	approx. 120
Enrollment	approx. 750
Color(s)	Blue and white
Nickname	Wildcats
Newspaper	The Roar
Yearbook	Visions
Website	www.milkenschool.org

Milken Community High School

Milken Community Schools, colloquially Milken, is a private Jewish high school. It is located on Mulholland Drive in the Bel-Air area of Los Angeles, California.

Milken's middle school encompasses grades 7 through 8, while the upper school spans 9 through 12. About 200 students are enrolled in the middle school, while 600 students are enrolled in the upper school, making it the largest Jewish day school in the United States.

Long affiliated with Stephen S. Wise Temple, a Reform congregation, the school is officially non-denominational, and became independent from the temple in July 2012.

History

The school began as the Golda Meir School and was renamed the Einstein Academy. When the school became affiliated with Stephen S. Wise Temple, it was renamed Stephen S. Wise High School. After a large donation from Lowell Milken & Michael Milken's Milken Family Foundation the school was named Milken Community High School. At the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, the school was renamed to Milken Community Schools, with the intention of creating a name that encompassed both the middle school and the high school.

The Upper School was held in temporary trailers, on the lot where the new Middle School now stands, from 1994 to 1998 until the current Upper School campus was built in 1998. Until the Middle School campus was completed in 2009, the Middle School occupied temporary trailers on the parking lot of the Bel Air Presbyterian Church from 1981 to 2008.

The Middle School and Upper School have historically had the same name, yet after the completion of the new Middle School campus in 2009, the Middle School was officially renamed the David and Hillevi Saperstein Middle School of Milken Community High School after a subsequent donation from David and Hillevi Saperstein, while the Upper School remained the Milken Community High School Upper School.

On March 25, 2011, Milken Community High School and Stephen S. Wise Temple announced that the school would become independent from the temple, effective July 1, 2012. ^[1]

Judaism

All students are required to take four years of Hebrew, of which 18 different levels are offered. Four years of Jewish studies are also required, offered at regular, honors, and high honors levels (9th-Jewish Law, 10th-Chumash, 11th-Jewish Law, 12th-Jewish Thought). Minyan takes place once a week, with varied options such as traditional-egalitarian, yoga, social action, meditation, liberal, doubters, and others. An optional daily Mincha minyan is also offered. Through the Advanced Jewish Studies Center (AJSC), numerous Judaic electives are offered, including comparative religions, intensive Talmud study, comparative film, and others. The Kivun program, in which guest speakers lecture students on topics relating to Judaism, is offered throughout the year; students are required to attend one Kivun each semester.

Milken, unlike Stephen S. Wise Temple Elementary School, does not directly affiliate itself with Reform Judaism or any stream of Judaism in specific. It aims to cater to all streams and levels of observance of Judaism.

Tiferet Israel Fellowship

Tiferet Israel Fellowship

In partnership with the Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education (AMIIE), MCHS offers an opportunity for students to learn and live in Israel for the Spring semester of the 10th grade. Through a full academic program, schedule of tiyyulim (field study and trips), personalized Chuggim (individualized activities) and partnership with Israeli teens, Tiferet Israel Fellows learn inside and outside of the classroom and build relationships with the land and people of Israel. The semester abroad is followed by two years of additional programming. The junior year focuses on public presentation skills, training fellows how to best advocate for the State of Israel. The senior year concludes with an intensive seminar based at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, examining Israeli cultural and political issues.

Extracurricular activities

The FIRST robotics team, the Milken Knights, has won a number of awards, and in 2010 the team became one of the first American robotics teams to compete in the Israeli FIRST robotics regional.^[2][3]

The school has won at least one Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award for every year that the competition has been running.^[4][5][6]

Sports

The track team, after expanding to over 60 team members in 2008, won the league champions for the third consecutive year. The Milken basketball team has 10 league championships and one CIF SS Championship.

In fall 2011, after the previous year held an undefeated season and championship for the Wildcats' flag football team,^[7] Milken began to play tackle football in the Heritage League. They play their games on Thursday nights instead of the traditional Friday night because the latter is the Jewish Sabbath.^[8]

Notable alumni

• Benjamin Benditson, soccer, Los Angeles Galaxy^[9]
• Amir Blumenfeld, comedian^[10]
• Michael Greenberg, soccer, plays professionally in Israel^[11][12]

See also

• History of the Jews in Los Angeles

References

External links

• Milken Community High School