CJHS juniors worked on community service projects, lobbied members of Congress, and gained insight on how thinking big can change the world for the better while in Washington for four days this week. This is the sixth year that CJHS students have participated in Panim, a national program that encourages high school students to apply Jewish values to social action and empowers them to be active in the political process.

 

 
 
The entire CJHS junior class attended the seminar, along with students from the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School in New York City.  The seminar focused on issues of service and advocacy, with a special emphasis on homelessness. Students heard from many speakers, including individuals who have emerged from homelessness. The students brought winter clothing items and toiletries and passed them out to members of the homeless community. After these experiences, junior Mark Weiss said, "Panim made me realize I'm not afraid of homeless people--I'm afraid of homelessness."

 
 

Another highlight of the trip was touring with Mr. Gross, who was born and raised in Washington, DC. Our monument tour was enhanced by a visit to the tree in which he perched during Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 on the National Mall. (Please see picture on p. 926 in The American Pageant, our A.P. US History textbook.)

 
The seminar culminated in a trip to Capitol Hill, where students lobbied according to their congressional districts. Groups met with Rep. Mark Kirk, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an aide to Senator Dick Durbin, and an aide in the Illinois Senator's office (formerly Barack Obama's office). The students lobbied on issues pertaining to genocide in Darfur, energy independence, homelessness, and more.

Thank you to Reps. Kirk and Schakowsky for personally meeting with our students. Thank you to members of the junior class, who were terrific during the seminar, and to faculty members Dr. Miller, Mr. Gross, Mr. Marchenko, and Ms. Musin. Special thanks go to the Community Foundation for Jewish Education for allocating a subsidy for this program, and to Panim for providing subsidies through their Target City/Chicago program.

 

Last weekend, 29 members of the freshman class spent Shabbat at the Daniel M. Soref Retreat and Education Center in Fredonia, Wisconsin. The Shabbaton began with students discussing the ingredients they would each contribute to a successful Shabbaton, such as community, friendship, being open-minded, fun, loyalty, ruach, respect, etc. With a full schedule of tefillah, delicious meals, various team-building games, and reflective sessions, the students worked hard to create a community of caring. On Saturday night, following havdalah and s'mores, the students determined that they had met the goals they had set for themselves the day before, that they had gotten to know more students in their class, they had shared a wonderful Shabbat together, and that their Freshman Shabbaton was a huge success.
 
Many thanks to all the students who assisted in the planning and implementation--especially to Danny Hochberg, who served as chair of the Food Committee, and Benji Fleischacker and Noah Weinberg, who coordinated all aspects of tefillah for the Shabbaton. Thank you to Rabbi Barkan, Dr. Auslander, Ms. Musin, and Andrea Leventhal of the Response Center for staffing the Shabbaton, and to Ms. Musin for envisioning and supervising the program.

 

On Wednesday, December 3, at 7:00 p.m., juniors and their parents will receive information on how to begin building a college list based on your academic record and personal preferences. We will demonstrate Naviance Family Connection, a customized website that enables CJHS students and parents to research college and scholarship options, view application statistics for prior years, track applications, and much more. We'll also interpret PSAT score reports and talk about the "big tests" - ACT, SAT I, and SAT Subject tests - that most colleges require as part of the college application process.
 
Director of College Counseling, Bruce Scher, and College Counselor, Ellen J. Rostker will also give an overview of the CJHS College Counseling program, and review the college admissions timetable.