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Hillel
Stories
“We have two daughters at Hillel. The
oldest started in first grade, the youngest in kindergarten. The main
reason we looked at Hillel was to give our girls a sense of belonging, a
firm grasp of who they are. We were also confident that the academics
were top notch. We were not disappointed in the Judaic studies, but we
really realized the Hillel difference, academically, when our youngest
finished kindergarten.
Our oldest daughter attended public school for kindergarten, a school
that consistently scores in the top three schools in the county, based
on standardized test results. The difference between what she learned
there versus what our youngest learned at Hillel was night and day. Our
youngest finished kindergarten reading, and loving it.
Her math skills were impressive, let alone science and social studies.
Public school did not even come close.”
“Before we joined Hillel we were debating between public school and
private school education for our twins. The first private school we
looked at was Hillel and we felt we did not need to look further. We
discussed a number of private schools as well as local choice public
schools. When we walked down the hallways at Hillel and saw the
students’ work displayed, we were very impressed. We could not believe
that our little ones would soon be able to accomplish the same. We saw
many things we loved, from the text that accompanied the work of the
young children to the silk-screens students were working on in the art
room. The nurturing environment at Hillel convinced us that this was
the right place for our twins. We knew that our children would not get
lost at Hillel, and we felt that they would get the special and
individualized attention they needed. We were right.
My husband, who is not Jewish, is especially happy with the high level
of academics and the values and ethics instilled at Hillel. He joined
the Guiding Jewish Values Task Force and volunteers whenever he can. We
both feel very welcome at Hillel.
Private education is a financial commitment, but one that we both felt
we couldn’t afford not to make. This was a big decision for us - we
live in south Tampa which calls for a daily commute to school, and good
private school education is not inexpensive. But we both felt this was
the right decision for our family, and we never regretted making the
commitment.”
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"We have had
three children at Hillel. One is attending both Barnard University and
the Jewish Theological Seminary, pursuing a double major. Another is at
Hillsborough High School’s IB program in eleventh grade. Our youngest
daughter is at Hillel’s middle school.
We love the Hillel Experience. For us, there was no other choice for
our children. Our oldest daughter is taking Israeli dance at Columbia
University, and acts as a Gabai at the school’s conservative movement of
Hillel. She has been a counselor at Camp Ramah for two years in a row,
and is very grounded in her Judaism. Our son, while working hard on his
high school studies, is also very involved in USY. He has gone on two
international USY conventions, as well as on the last USY United States
mission. Judaism has always been a part of our home life, and we believe
that Hillel played an important role in helping our children learn and
understand their tradition and religion.”
“I
graduated from Hillel a little more than a year ago, and chose to go to
the IB program at King’s High School. I enjoyed my years at Hillel and
feel that the school prepared me very well for the rigorous classes I’m
taking. In biology, much of the information that I’m studying was
covered in middle school, which was great. I was very well prepared in
math, so much so that I tutored some of the other students. In history,
I already knew a great deal of the background information. We had a
research project at the beginning of last year that used the same method
we used at Hillel in Judaic Studies, but the Hillel project was longer!
I think Hillel was a wonderful school for me and my family.”
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