Hannah Caplan is a special person. Her parents know this; Laura Hewitt, who nominated her as a Salute to Youth honoree knows it … and now the rest of the Jewish community can learn why.
“I have known Hannah since she entered kindergarten,” said Hewitt, the director of testing and teacher development for the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. “I have watched her grow into a remarkable young woman. Hannah has demonstrated leadership inside and outside HBHA.”
As a leader, Hannah served for a year as the president of her Saadia BBG chapter. She had no intentions of becoming a leader when she joined, but found it an organization she loved.
“A few of my friends and I joined thinking that it would just be for fun,” Hannah said, “but when the seniors only had a year left and there were no juniors to take higher positions, we all decided to choose our best-fitting roles. By this time, I loved Saadia and was ready to make a further commitment to the chapter and the girls in it.”
Hannah’s experience as president was important to her as it taught her how to work with others and to delegate responsibilities. From this experience she has taken on other leadership roles. She has worked as a camp counselor at Barney Goodman camp and also led Shabbat services for children.
Volunteering is important to Hannah. She helped with the Ally’s Runway event during her freshman year of high school. Due to her efforts, four girls from HBHA participated in the event which is sponsored by the Ali Kemp Foundation, with the help of the Natalie M dress store.
She is also a volunteer at NewHouse, a domestic violence shelter. Her favorite activity there is to work in the daycare center. But she has also done other jobs at the shelter in the two years she has been a volunteer including preparing bags for events, sorting used cell phones to ship off for recycling and the annual house parties.
“I just help out with any tasks that they need done,” she said.
A senior at HBHA, Hannah credits her experiences there and her parents for her commitment to volunteering.
“My parents are a major reason I volunteer,” she said. “I have watched them participate in tons of the events in our synagogue (Kehilath Israel) for years, and I think it rubbed off on me. It got to a point where I saw them doing so much, so I wanted to do activities with them. Now they don’t have to ask me to do it. Now I choose to do it on my own.”
Hannah’s parents, Cathy and Craig Caplan, are proud of her as well.
“Hannah is a wonderful, very special person and I don’t just say this because she is my daughter,” stated Cathy. “She truly is!”
Besides her volunteering and work, Hannah is also an athlete. She has lettered in both soccer and basketball for the HBHA, and is running cross country this year.
“Soccer is the sport I do for fun and to stay in shape in the off-season,” Hannah said. “My true love is basketball. I have always played basketball. I really enjoy it because of the competition and because I love being able to put my physical energy into something.”
A member of the National Honor Society, Hannah writes for both the school’s yearbook and the Academy Voice, the school newspaper. She also tutors lower school students.
“I take what I do seriously and I work hard to do my best,” Hannah said, “but I couldn’t do half of the things I do without the support of my family and friends.”
Hannah is looking to attend college somewhere in the southeast, but has no definite plans just yet. She thinks she might like to study athletic training. While she doesn’t know where she wants to attend college, she does know what she wants to do for a while after college and it involves staying in the volunteer spirit. She and a friend have promised each other they would find a volunteer activity in Africa and spend some time there helping others.