SKA val, sals and Keter Shem Tov

Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls in Hewlett Bay Park named their class of 2017 honorees. Nicole Israeli is the valedictorian. Shani Axelrod and Sarah Meira Weissman are the co-salutatorians and Chaya Levin is the Keter Shem Tov award winner. The award recognizes distinction in scholarship or community service.

Israeli was the Hebrew language editor of the senior yearbook, and has received several awards for her skills in Judaic textual analysis, including the Tanach Award for excellence in study. Her peers voted her the Keter Torah Award winner for outstanding character.

She is a member of the Torah Bowl championship team; her coach refers to her as “the heroine of the team,” praising not only her work ethic but her generosity with her teammates and superb sportsmanship.

A math team member, she volunteers at the Levi Yitzchak Library and is a youth leader at her synagogue. Interested in studying math and science in college, she is currently interning with a local veterinarian. She plans to attend Michlalah in Israel after graduation, and then the Scholars program at Queens College.

Axelrod was the art editor of the school’s literary journal and a member of the art academy. She is a two-time winner of peer-voted awards for outstanding character. She has also been awarded the SKA Tanach Award for her breadth of knowledge in Judaic Studies.

She was a finalist in the Celebrating Art competition and one of her drawings was published in an art publication, which included artists from around the world. She is a member of SKA programs that promote meaningful prayer and Judaic learning, and she volunteers with the Friendship Circle and the Jewish Education Project.

She does a work study with a fashion illustrator in the city. She plans to study in Israel next year at Michlalah, and then attend the honors program at Stern College for Women.

Weissman was captain of the debate team, editor of the school Holocaust Journal and a founder of the Political Science Club. She has worked with the national Yachad organization for children with disabilities, was the recipient of a Yachad Fellowship in her junior year, and is on the Yachad Youth Leadership Board.

A contributing writer for The Looking Glass school newspaper, she is a member of the Science Olympiad Team, a participant in the Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education engineering fair, and a trained medical clown. She is currently interning at a Long Island-based law firm for her senior work study program.

A winner of the peer-voted Keter Torah Award for outstanding character, she will be studying at Shaalavim in Israel after graduation, and will then attend the Macaulay Honors program at Queens College.

Levin served as the student government vice president, an associate editor of the school newspaper, and captained the debate, soccer and poetry slam teams. She is also an SKA ambassador, a dance head in the annual production, a business editor of the senior yearbook, editor of the Holocaust Journal and a head of Pink Day for Breast Cancer Awareness.

In ninth, 10th and 11th grades, Levin was chosen by her peers to receive the Middot Award for Outstanding Character, and this year, was chosen by her classmates to be the Keter Shem Tov speaker at graduation.

She is devoted to helping others and last year collected more than 200 books for the St. Janes de Chantal orphanage in Johannesburg, South Africa. The summer after 10th grade she travelled to Israel on an inclusive touring program with mainstream teens and people with special needs.

She is a intern at Kings County Supreme Court. She plans to study at Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim in Israel after graduation, and then attend the University of Pennsylvania.