We caught up with Jonathan Edelman, Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy senior, as he was getting ready for the school’s spring formal last Sunday. Edelman said he was honored to be selected as the recipient of the first Head of School Shining Light Award.
“The Hebrew Academy is an extension of my family. When you attend a small school with the same people, from age 4 or 5 through graduation, you end up knowing one another like a brother or sister — it’s one for all and all for one. We can always turn to each other in times of need, just like we would our families.”
Jonathan will receive the Head of School Award at the Academy’s 45th Anniversary Celebration, Everything’s Coming Up Roses, on Sunday evening, April 10, at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center. Maria Devinki and Fred Devinki, of blessed memory, are the recipients of the dinner’s 2011 Civic Service Award. Sponsorships and tickets are available by calling Kerry Cosner at (816) 327-8156.
Howard Haas, HBHA head of school, said Jonathan was the perfect first recipient of the award.
“At HBHA, we are all about our kids! Since our founding families first discussed their vision for a Kansas City Jewish day school, we have focused on preparing students for fulfilling lives as Jews and honorable, contributing citizens. We are proud to say we have graduated hundreds of accomplished students who exemplify the values of Torah, mitzvah and tzedakah. Now seemed like the perfect time to salute one individual who embodies all of these attributes. Jonathan is a dynamic leader and I can honestly say I will miss him.”
Jonathan’s academic career was not always stellar. In ninth grade he struggled with mediocre grades and realized that this wasn’t the person he wanted to be. He sought help from his teachers and turned things around dramatically.
“Jonathan knew what he needed to do and took the steps necessary to achieve his goals,” Haas said. “He sets a terrific example for our younger students.”
Jonathan likens the Shining Light Award to a lighthouse, a beacon of leadership, which reinforces Haas’s comment about the example he sets.
Jonathan is most proud of his involvement in HBHA’s Naarot, Go Green program, which he was instrumental in developing under Elisa Pener’s vision.
“We are accomplishing something good for our environment. The first year, we had 10 people join, then 30, then half of the school. The program was implemented throughout the JCC campus so now we impact our entire community.”
Jonathan also remarked on the importance HBHA places on tzedakah.
“It started in kindergarten,” he said, “when we were encouraged to bring coins to school to put in those little metal boxes. We learned about giving back and it became ingrained in who we are.”
He will attend Clark University in the Fall of 2012, where he was awarded a merit scholarship. It is his Uncle David Sosland’s alma mater and Jonathan plans to follow in Sosland’s footsteps and study photography. But next fall he will participate in a GAP program, called Kivunim. The program is based in Israel but includes regular travel to other countries, including Russia, Morocco and India.