Schechter Shoutouts: November 2024 :: Solomon Schechter Day School

Schechter Shoutouts: November 2024

/ Nov 1, 2024 /

Dear Schechter Alumni, I’m happy to share the third issue of the Schechter Shoutouts with you! A lot is happening at Schechter. Our enrollment has grown for six straight years; we are now at our biggest since the 2015-2016 school year. We are more committed than ever to meeting the needs of each of those students, and enabling each of them to thrive. Even as our parent body has grown more diverse, our sense of community is as strong as ever. Please check out our Annual Report, linked at the bottom of this issue, to learn more!

But the main purpose of the Schechter Shoutouts is to celebrate your connection with former teachers and fellow students. Enjoy the interview with Pat Fleming, who taught at Schecher for over two decades! See the Alumni News for updates on classmates and other alums; the Class of 2014 is especially well-represented, a nice way to mark ten years since their graduation.

If you haven’t been to Schechter in a while, please reach out (jberger@ssds-hartford.org) and let me know when you might be around! I would love to meet you, and would be happy to welcome you back for a visit.

As always, I’m grateful to Audrey Sobel, Director of Communications, whose dedication and hard work makes this newsletter possible.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving,

Yoni

Rabbi Jonathan Berger
Head of School

Faculty Spotlight: Mrs. Pat Fleming

How long were you at Schechter? What role(s) did you have?
I taught math at Schechter for 22 years. I retired after the 2017-2018 school year. I was a math teacher for grades 6-8 during my time at Schechter. In addition to teaching grade-level math courses, I also taught high school courses of pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, and Algebra 2 to the middle schoolers who were at those advanced levels.

What is a favorite Schechter memory of yours?
Seeing the school renovated in 2000. I remember that Sharon Conway headed that project.

What are you doing now?
I love visiting my daughter and son and their families, including five granddaughters in New Hampshire. I go swimming every day in the summer, play Mahjongg with friends once a week, and I enjoy going to the movies. I am also renovating my house!

What do you miss the most about being a teacher?
I miss feeling so proud of my students when they are able to really understand a concept and apply it to solve a word problem or do a proof.

What lesson/message/idea do you most hope your students took away from learning with you?
I hope they always felt comfortable in my classroom and appreciated that I encouraged them to see different options for analyzing a problem and then solving it.

Who is a colleague you learned a lot from? What did you learn?
I learned so much from Deborah Starr. She observed my teaching and enjoyed the atmosphere in the room; she encouraged my positive comments to students' responses.

Alumni News

Yael Krieger (1996) Lives in Berkeley, CA with her husband, Rabbi Joshua Ladon, and their three kids: Elisheva (12), Zohar (9), and Yona (6). Yael is the Associate Head of School at Oakland Hebrew Day School, a Modern Orthodox Day School. ( see photo)

Ronit (Krieger) Bendett (2000) lives in West Hartford with her husband and two daughters (ages 7 and 4). She works as an Executive Assistant at LAZ Parking in Hartford. ( see photo)

Mazal tov to Jennifer (Garfinkel) Sadowski (2000) and her husband, Bryan on the birth of their son! Jackson "Jack" Sadowski was born on Tuesday, August 6, 2024 and joins big brother Cameron. ( see photo)

Kol hakavod to Rabbi Jacob Chatinover (2003), who was ordained as a rabbi in May! He is currently the Director of Learning and Assistant Rabbi at Bonai Shalom, the conservative synagogue in Boulder, CO. And we wish a huge mazal tov to Jacob and his wife, Julia, on the birth of their daughter. Liba Hana was born on August 12, 2024. (see photo)

Sara Danitz-Steinhardt (2003) is a clinical psychologist in private practice (Sara Danitz-Steinhardt, PhD LLC). She also does consulting work for the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System. Sara lives in Western MA with her husband, Noah and 2 young children, Solomon ("Solly") and Estelle ("Elle"). ( See photo)

Mazal tov to Rebecca Chozick (2004) and her husband, Karl Frankenfeld! Their son, Arlo Norman Chozick-Frankenfeld, was born on July 20, 2024.

Ean Gorlick (2004) is Town of West Hartford Operations Manager and Recreation Specialist for the Veterans Memorial Ice Skating Rink. We were thrilled to have Ean stop over at Schechter for a visit and tour earlier this fall! It was both fun and insightful to hear his memories of 20+ years ago! ( see photo)

Mazal tov to Ben Danitz (2006) , who was married on July 6, 2024 to Liza Weinstein. They live in NYC, where Ben is a Senior Enterprise Client Partner at Uber. Zach Lenkiewicz (2006) was the co-best-man at the wedding, along with Ben’s brother. Also present at the wedding were Daniel Chozick (2006), Daniel Levy Schulwolf, (2006) , and Sara Danitz-Steinhardt (2003). (see photo)

Mazal tov to Daniel Levy Schulwolf (2006) , who was married to Emma Wolf Schulman on August 31, 2024! Schechter grads in attendance included Ben Danitz (2003), Jesse Abels (2003) , and Zach Lenkiewicz (2003). (see photo)

Zachary Rausch (2008) is an Associate Research Scientist at New York University's Stern School of Business. As the Chief Researcher for the international best-seller The Anxious Generation: How The Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness , Zach now is helping run a global movement to "roll back the phone-based childhood" and is the managing editor of the Substack After Babel . Zach lives with his girlfriend in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Schechter is so excited that Zach will be speaking about his research at West Hartford Town Hall on Thursday, December 12th! Registration is required here. There is a suggested donation to the Solomon Schechter Scholarship Fund of $18. ( see photo)

Arielle Landau (2010) lives in New York city and is the Program Manager at Jewish Book Council. She is passionate about fighting censorship and is proud to be working at an organization that provides a platform to promote and market all authors and books regardless of their political beliefs. ( see photo)

Emily Gershman (2012) is currently living and teaching in Brooklyn, New York. This is her fourth year as a Special Education teacher in 6th grade integrated co-taught classrooms for English and Social Studies. ( see photo)

Matty Berson (2013) currently works as a software engineer on the customer support team for aPriori, a manufacturing insight company. He fields inquiries from customers and helps them maximize savings opportunities. He enjoys traveling and just returned from Morocco! ( see photo)

Gabriel (Gabi) Silver (2013) recently joined EAB Global, an education consulting firm specializing in software for recruitment, data & analytics for higher education and college/universities. He moved to DC recently and enjoys taking part in social action and other events there.

Noah Sobel-Pressman (2013) is Supplier Relationship Manager at Gopuff. He also writes a weekly newsletter called "Retail Is Not Dead?" that covers the trends at the forefront of retail's future. When not at work, Noah enjoys all things NYC, including playing/watching sports with former Schechter Scorpions teammates and trying out local restaurants and Farmer’s Markets (see photo, center, with Matthew Patchen 2014 and Matty Berson 2013) ( see photo)

Jason Buckman (2014) received a graduate certificate in management & leadership from Stevens Institute of Technology and a graduate certificate in Big Data & Analytics from Keller School of Business. He now works as a Master Data Analyst at Estee Lauder Companies. ( see photo)

Ariel Bykoff (2014)attended Hunter College and now works as a barista in NYC. She loves cooking and spending time in Central Park.

Sossi Bykoff (2014) attended Hunter College and now works as a maitre d in NYC. Sossi and her sister, Ariel, live together in New York.

Noah Ehrlich (2014) graduated two years ago from Stevens Institute of Technology with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He works at General Dynamics in the Berkshires. In his free time, Noah loves to go running, biking, hiking and skiing; he is currently gearing up for the Manchester road race on Thanksgiving. (see photo of Noah, on right, atop Mt Greylock at sunrise) ( see photo)

Matthew Patchen (2014) attended the University of Wisconsin, double-majoring in Economics and Mandarin. Since Graduation, he has been working at Stanley Black & Decker in Corporate Finance and Accounting. He is an avid New York sports fan who loves to play sports in his free time (see photo above with Schechter basketball teammates Noah Sobel-Pressman and Matty Berson)!

Maddy Pliskin (2014) is a consultant for Life Sciences companies at Deloitte in New York. She feels passionately about contributing to the development of curative therapies. (see photo)

Hannah Pliskin (2014) is pursuing a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy at Tufts University. She hopes to improve the quality of life of children with special needs and those facing end of life challenges.

Josh Shafer (2014) graduated from Wheaton College in 2022 and is following his passion for sports of all kinds! In the winter, he is a ski instructor at Ski Sundown, where he also works on the Terrain Park; during other seasons, he is an assistant coach of soccer, basketball, and lacrosse at the Kingswood Oxford School. ( see photo)

Noah Silverman (2014) is working in finance and living in Chicago.

Ezequiel (Zeke) Unger (2014) studied at UConn and then attended the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC to pursue his pasión for cooking. He is now working as an executive sous Chef in Altro Paradiso in Soho. He is the youngest at that position in NYC! ( see photo)

Kol hakavod to Victoria Boustani (2017), who is president of PsiChi, the international honor society of psychology’s University of Rhode Island chapter! Victoria is planning to pursue a Masters’ degree next year. (see photo)

Jamie Cowan (2017) is studying marketing and sales at the University of Connecticut. He is also president of the UConn club soccer team…. Go Huskies!

Sari Eisen (2017)is putting her Jewish leadership skills to work as Hillel President at Northwestern University! She is majoring in Data Science and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS) and last summer was a Data Science Intern at AbelsonTaylor Group in Chicago. (see photo)

Liora Silverman (2017) is studying fashion & merchandising in a business program at Johnson and Wales University.

Russell van der Hulst (2017) is in the mechanical engineering program at UConn and interned last summer at Eversource.

Harry Gold (2018), a student at Yale University, lived in Israel this summer to participate in an Archeological Dig. Jack Resnick, Harry's classmate, was sworn in this summer to the IDF’s Givati Brigade. Harry arrived in Israel early so he could attend Jack’s special ceremony! (see photo)

Mazal tov to Jack Resnick (2018)! He recently completed his Masa Kumta (Beret Graduation Ceremony) from the Seyeret Givati combat unit in the IDF. Scechter sends good wishes for Jack’s safety and peace in the entire region. (see photo)

Kol hakavod to Jeremy Eisen (2021), who was named among Hall High School's PSAT/NMSQT Commended Students, a recognition of those students who scored among the top 2% of all test-takers on the PSAT. His high scores reflect his dedication and commitment to academic excellence.

Yasher Kocheych to Lily Temkin (2021), who was elected as the 2024-2025 HaNer USY Regional President Social Action/Tikun Olam Vice President after serving in 2023-2024 as the Social Action/Tikun Olam Vice President. (see photo, right)

Kol hakavod to Ellie Kay (2022), who was elected as 2024-2025 USY Regional Social Action/Tikun Olam Vice President! (see photo, left)

Share your Alumni News!

Annual Report

Check out Schechter's new Annual Report to get a review of our past year! See the latest trends in Enrollment, Development, and more!

Click HERE to read the Annual Report 2024!

Want to learn more about what's happening at Schechter?

Schechter is excited to report that this year marks our sixth consecutive year of increased enrollment! This year, the demand for Early Childhood was so great that we added another classroom of Nitzanim (our youngest two-year-old students). The new addition signifies a continued growing interest in Schechter; it also enables younger students to start at Schechter while still staying on track to follow the new CT Kindergarten age cutoff.

Our beautiful new Makerspace continues to foster students’ enthusiasm, investigation, and imagination! This year, a lucky group of middle school students are making beautiful wooden challah boards under the tutelage of Schechter graduate Koreen Shoham MacDonald (2005) , Koreen’s husband, Colby, and Schechter graduate Ben Shoham (2008). They are learning techniques including gluing, how to properly clamp the board to prevent warping, using a circular sander, and burning a design onto the board. We can’t wait to see the treasured finished products!

Schechter’s teaching strategies enable us to ensure that all students learn in ways that suit them best. For example, in Alim (grades 3-4), some students thrive as independent learners, while other students benefit from being in a supported group. Erica Moses, Joni Harris, Trish Dabney, and Jane Rossi are all on hand to teach and guide the students as needed.

From the Yearbook Stash....

Who do you recognize from 1994 and 2003?

If you know anyone in this photo, share the Schechter Shoutouts with them! We want to know what they're doing!

Mrs. Dunn's Advisee Group 1994

Top Row: Ian Zweig, Ethan Greenberg, Ben Fishman, Jon Kronick, Matt Novarr
Middle Row: Eliana Levine, Jennifer Stanger, Alison Levine, David Dreilinger
Front Row: Lauren Kaplan, Hava Dunn, Danny Baram

Rabbi Chatinover's Havurah 2003

Top Row: Rabbi Chatinover, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Kara Haller, Michael Kaplan, Sloane Sheldon, Bekka Rostowsky, Brian Solinsky.
Front Row: Chana Lapidus, Sarah Stuart, Ma'ayan Reuven

The Anxious Generation

The findings released in the new book The Anxious Generation are making a huge impact. Join lead researcher Zach Rausch, a Schechter 2008 graduate, to learn more about the impact of technology on young minds and where we go from here.

Registration is required HERE. Suggested donation to benefit the Solomon Schechter Scholarship Fund: $18 Register for Book Talk with Zach Rausch

Thank You!

Special thanks to Schechter Alumni parent Laurie Silverman, who reached out to many members of the 2014 and 2017 classes for updates!

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