NSHAHS Open House

On Sunday November 1st, North Shore Hebrew Academy High School hosted its annual open house for prospective students and their parents. Although calling it an “open house” might be a mislabel, it was a spectacular event that gave an opportunity for prospective students to get a feel of what NSHAHS is all about. The event was more of an “open campus,” where students and their parents drove in their cars, received complimentary breakfast boxes and handouts for them to follow along with the program. They then pulled into the parking lot and got ready for a special program that they not only watched on the massive screens that were set up, but heard through their car radios, since North Shore was streaming on the radio waves.

The people who spoke at the event consisted of our Headmaster, Dr. Vitow, Principal Rabbi Weinberg, and three student speakers: Aaron Baruch on academics, Talia Dror on an average day at North Shore, and Kayla Hutt on extracurricular activities. All speeches were phenomenal and really gave students and parents an idea of what to expect when coming to North Shore. One thing that stood out to me was the words that Dr. Vitow quoted from Rabbi Miller who spoke in the video, saying that the best way to describe North Shore is an “elite prep school and a warm yeshiva.” In my opinion, that pretty much sums up what North Shore Hebrew Academy consists of, and that is the standard that we live up to every day. In addition to the speeches that were given, parents had the opportunity to ask questions of a student panel chosen by Dr. Vitow and Rabbi Weinberg themselves. Parents would send their questions in to Rabbi Weinberg and the students had an opportunity to give an honest response in order to enlighten students on the topics they asked about. Some examples of questions that were asked were: “What’s one word to describe NSHAHS?” and “How long does a typical night of homework take?”

Personally, if I was an incoming ninth grader scouting out my options for high school and I attended this year's North Shore “open campus,” I would have already made my decision about where I want to go to high school: it would be North Shore Hebrew Academy. The administration, board, and students did a great job of portraying the school in a positive light and the proof is in the pudding; North Shore is one of the top private schools in Long Island and is only improving. Now, in comparison to the open house that I attended four years ago, this year's event couldn't be more different, yet the feelings I got leaving the school were almost identical- North Shore is the place for me.