Looking back and forward

2016 is here. With it come the hopes of the future and self-improvement. Although we welcome the new year with open arms, it is time to reflect on the past year.
It was an exciting and rewarding year in 2015 at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) High School. The boys’ varsity hockey and basketball teams won their respective championships; the basketball team had a perfect season. Another congratulations to the class of 2015 for making it through high school. We said goodbye to esteemed teachers Stuart Beck, Yvette Beck and Dr. Terry Treuman, who retired in June. They all will be missed.
The start of the school year in September brought in the new. As part of the STEM (science technology, engineering and math) program in HAFTR, a new computer programming class was introduced.
There are new clubs: anime, basketball intramurals for boys, chesed (kind deeds), computer programming, food critics, girls’ choir, Israel Start-Up, Mitzvah Mutts, Pathways leadership program, read and feed book club, recycling, Yeshiva University bekiut, and yoga for girls. We welcome new faculty members: Samantha Accurso, Edit Boral, Matthew Callman, Kaitlin Conway, Dr. Tamir Aldad, Renee Faibish, Sarina Kerper and Thomas Liguori.
While it’s important to reflect on the past, looking towards the future is more immediate. The members of the class of 2016 have worked hard on their applications, and to date students have been accepted to: Albany University, Barnard College, Binghamton University, Buffalo University, Columbia University, Drexel University, Hofstra University, Johns Hopkins University, Johnson & Wales College, Lynn University, New Paltz College – SUNY, New York Institute of Technology, New York Institute of Technology Doctor of Osteopathy Program, New York University, Rutgers University, Temple University, Tulane University, University of Hartford, University of Massachusetts- Amherst, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and Yeshiva University Honors.