Yavneh Academy (New Jersey)
The Yavneh Academy is a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school located in Paramus, New Jersey, United States. It educates over 700 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Yavneh's graduating class of 2011 consisted of 80 children. The school's motto is "Stimulating the mind, Nourishing the soul." The school was originally established in Paterson, New Jersey.
Yavneh's current principal is Rabbi Jonathan Knapp.[1]
In 2006, the SINAI Special Needs Institute, an educational program for Jewish children and young adults with special needs, opened its first full-time Jewish elementary school program in Northern New Jersey at Yavneh Academy.[2]
Awards and recognition
Yavneh Academy has received many awards including: winning the Stock Market Game in New Jersey for middle school students in 1995, 1996, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012 led by math teacher Howard Goldberg.[3] They have also won numerous awards for chess, basketball, hockey, law fair, and debate.
Athletics
Yavneh Academy has a basketball team, and a fairly new hockey team. The hockey team won the Yeshiva League 2006 floor hockey Championships beating SAR Academy, and were the runner ups in the 2007 league losing to SAR Academy, and making it to the championship game in 2008, against Moriah School of Englewood, which they eventually lost in a close match. The Girls basketball team won the 2003 championship, going undefeated. Now, they also have a girl's hockey team.
Yavneh's boys hockey team beat Ramaz in the championship in 2012 by the final of 7-3. Led by star players Daniel Levy, Ari Fuchs, Jordan Soclof, and Matty Reinhart, the team bulldozed through their opponents on the way to a banner season. They were defeated by Moriah in the semifinals in 2013 on a controversial call that ended the season. In 2014, the Yavneh team managed to go 5-5 led by captain Benjy Feintuch, after being predicted to go 0-10. An astonishing and record breaking 28 goals by Feintuch helped Yavneh make it to the playoffs only to be defeated by YNJ by a lopsided score of 12-3. Feintuch had all three goals in a heartbreaking loss for the captain who was the only sixth grader on the 2012 championship team and was first line as a 7th grader.
In 2013-14, Yavneh had a terrific basketball team led by star captain Noam Kuritzky. Recognized as a top player in his age group, Kuritzky lead the team all season with his stellar play and outstanding attitude toward the game and the other players. Yavneh went on to beat Ramaz in the quarterfinals in a 58-44 victory and defeated Moriah 59-39 in the semifinals to make it to the championship game. They lost to SAR in a hard fought championship game to end the season but none the less put together an outstanding season. The team then thanked their outstanding coach, Coach William Calise as they really felt a strong connection to each other for he had been their gym coach for the past 10 years.
Eric Gulch led the soccer team to an undefeated championships in the first soccer league year and setting records that are unbreakable, with 42 goals in 8 games.
Chesed
In addition to hosting Chesed Fairs for its students, Yavneh Academy arranges Chesed outings for its students. One such example is Yavneh's participation in the Hebrew Free Burial Association's Cemetery Clean-Up Project (Pictures of Yavneh Students cleaning Silver Lake Cemetery). Another example is the JCC Sukkot program. Yavneh also participates actively in the Salute to Israel Parade on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. Two years ago the theme that Yavneh was given was "Holidays Enlighten Our Lives", and the theme for last year was "60 Years of Patriotic Pride".
References
- ^ 5767 - Yavneh Academy Board of Education - 2007-2008, Yavneh Academy. Accessed April 3, 2008.
- ^ Goldrich, Lois. New resource for special needs youngsters, Jewish Standard, September 14, 2006.
- ^ Search on "Yavneh" "Stock Market Game", Google News Archive. Accessed August 28, 2007.