Academic and activity hubbub resumes

After a well-deserved winter break, students at Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School are already hard at work. With the beginning of the second school semester, students’ demanding classes have resumed, and their weekly schedules have once again become filled with various programs and activities.

Although students are busy with their own academic and extracurricular activities, they continue to sustain their interest and involvement in interscholastic projects as well as other community affairs.

In an effort to foster fellowship within the community, students from HAFTR’s junior class recently visited the Five Towns Community Center to meet with a group of students from Lawrence High School. This meeting was a follow up to the Youth Bridge Leaders to Leaders Youth Summit, which was sponsored by the UJA Federation last November.

Together, the students are planning a fundraising event in order to benefit the youth center. They hope to coordinate a basketball tournament to take place this spring, which will involve members of the boys’ basketball teams from both schools. In this way, students will be given an opportunity to participate in an enjoyable social activity while also having the chance to learn more about one another, ultimately reaching a common goal.

At HAFTR, the students on the Prevention of Distracted Driving Committee have been selling T-shirts throughout the week to raise awareness regarding the potential consequences of driving while using one’s cell phone. The money collected from the sales will be donated in order to aid victims of accidents that have resulted from distracted driving.

Additionally, HAFTR will be hosting the fourth annual Girls’ Choir Competition to benefit the Israel Fire Fund with representatives from schools such as HAFTR, Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, Shalhevet, Central, and Stella K. Abraham.

The boys of HAFTR High School stayed at the Holiday Inn in Orangeburg this past Shabbat for the Boys’ Shabbaton, along with their peers and teachers. The students experienced a memorable and meaningful weekend, and are already looking forward to next year’s Shabbaton.

At HAFTR High School, it hasn’t taken long for students to re-acclimate. As always, they continue to strive for academic excellence while maintaining active ties to their community.