High School
Welcome to The Abraham Joshua Heschel High School. The pages of this web site will give you a wealth of information about the High School. You will find out what courses we offer, what student life activities exist for student growth and development outside of class, and the sports activities in which students engage. What you won't hear is the sound of students at prayer, developing a governance plan during Town Meeting, cheering for their teams during practice or a sports event, or practicing for one of the debate tournaments at which they excel. For this you have to visit the school, walk our hallways, and enter our classrooms and lounges. I hope you will do that. 
The High School is a special place. Built and structured to honor the memory of the sage for whom it is named, The Abraham Joshua Heschel High School seeks to embody Rabbi Heschel's philosophy that one ought to build one’s life as if it were a work of art. To that end, we welcome a student body of diverse Jewish backgrounds and affiliations. Once here, we meld into a "just community" in which students and faculty participate collaboratively in the governance of the school; where student activities increase and change to meet student need and interest; where Rosh Hodesh (new month) programs help not only to celebrate the cycle of the Jewish year but increase the students' awareness of the world around them; and in which opportunities for Hesed (acts of loving kindness) abound, are integrated into the curriculum, and take our students out into the community as well.
Our curriculum is the product of intense collaboration among faculty in all our disciplines. Intense and elaborate preparation underpin the informal environment you will note in our classes. Students in art classes imagine the classical world about which they read in ninth grade English. Science students discover that science and religion ask different questions and provide different answers. In Limudei Qodesh, students grapple with many of the social and ethical issues of today's world as they explore the texts of our tradition. Hebrew classes include Israeli movies and discussion of the differences between American and Israeli culture as seen through film. Discussion of Israeli culture leads students to understand the complexity of a multi-ethnic society that includes immigrants from so many diverse countries. One of our social studies electives focuses on co-existence and inter-religious understanding. The school maintains a one-to-one laptop program. Each student and each faculty member carries and works with a computer. Classrooms are outfitted with interactive Smartboards; faculty use a digital course-management system. Many of our classes use discovery-learning techniques to enhance learning and participation.
Outside of the classroom, students engage in a full range of activities, from participation in the annual edition of our award-winning literary magazine Epitome, to a fashion design club, to a capella singing, ensemble, and jazz band, to mock trial and debate. Our athletic teams compete successfully in both Yeshiva and private school leagues.
The goal of our young and growing High School is to send our students off to college and out into the world proud of and knowledgeable about who they are as Jews and humans and how they can participate in the world community to make the world a better place for others. We attempt to inculcate a life-long love of learning, seeking, and creative relationship building so that our graduates will be able to set priorities, know the importance of respecting all members of the human family, and build their personal and communal Jewish lives with dignity and personal meaning.
Ahuva Halberstam
High School Head
