Photo: PJA fourth-grader Hadley builds a teepee. Portland Jewish Academy was thrilled to re-introduce the Makerspace to the PJA community this school year. Our new Maker Educator, Nicole Surbaugh, joined PJA’s faculty this fall after working for several years as a science educator at The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Nicole has brought…
By Michael Alberty | For The Oregonian/OregonLive Jake Chisholm didn’t set out to publish an award-winning recipe booklet. He just wanted a big party. Chisholm is an 8th grader at the Portland Jewish Academy in Southwest Portland. He also isn’t Jewish. Last year, as many of his friends were hosting bar mitzvah celebrations, Chisholm…
By Sean Bartlett “For every dollar Oregon invests in afterschool programs, $4.60 is returned to our state through reduced drug and alcohol addiction, increased graduation rates, reduced crime rates, and lower healthcare costs due to increased physical activity.” Afterschool in Oregon Return on Investment Study – March 2021. Since March 2020, we have been…
Photo: Heather Clark, Ph.D. This year, Portland Jewish Academy launched an initiative to examine Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA). Originally undertaken as a follow-up to our most recent reaccreditation, the work is a natural extension of previous efforts. In 2015, the school began to examine its curriculum through an anti-bias lens. In 2016-17,…
Portland Jewish Academy is thrilled to introduce their new Director of Afterschool Programs, Sean Bartlett! Sean grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area before attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he received a degree in American Studies. After moving back to San Francisco, Sean got his credential to teach history and…
This fall, school will look very different for Oregon students. Maybe it’ll look a lot like this spring. Maybe it’ll be more like last fall. Or very possibly, school will be somewhere in between. The Oregon Department of Education released a blueprint for how schools should operate amid COVID-19. And it’s up to individual schools to…
PHOTO: Song of Miriam 2019 Honorees: (Front standing) Cheryl Richards; (from left, seated) Sarah Orzech, Beit Am Corvallis; Marissa Richardson, Congregation Neveh Shalom; Andrea Sanchez, Mittleman Jewish Community Center; Liz Stanley, Congregation Shaarie Torah Sisterhood, Linda Veltman, Oregon Jewish Museum & Center for Holocaust Education; Abbey Vanderbeek, Temple Beth Shalom, Salem; Jennifer Zeidman, Portland Jewish…
PHOTOS: On April 14, 2019, Ruthie Zeidman, pictured above with father Ken, will host a community-wide program with Dr. Brian Druker on cancer. Right, On May 15, 2012, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and Mittleman Jewish Community Center presented “The End of Cancer is within Reach, An Evening with Dr. Brian Druker.” From left:…
On Purim people gather to hear “the Megillah,” also known as the Book of Esther, which tells how the Jews in ancient Persia were saved from the wicked Haman through the leadership of Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai. When the name of Haman is read, people stomp their feet, hiss, boo or shake noisemakers…
PHOTO: PJA student Liana Kressel with Wholistic Peace Institute Executive Director Nancy Spanovich and event guest speaker Rabbi Arik W. Ascherman. By Elana Cohn-Rozansky First there was a letter. Next was a play. Then there was a friendship. Portland Jewish Academy seventh-grader Liana Kressel fondly remembers the first note she received from her pen…
