Kansas City Mayor Sylvester “Sly” James made his first visit to Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy on Thursday, Feb. 24. The Kansas City Mayor is being honored by HBHA at the upcoming annual Civic Service Award Celebration. James entered the Jewish Community Center rotunda to greetings from HBHA board members, student council members and many curious students.
One of the first students to welcome the mayor was third-grade student Brianna Katz. She promptly told him that she had a petition to stop puppy mills and asked if he would sign it.
James’s visit was appreciated by President of the HBHA Board of Trustees Eric Kaseff, who said, “We wanted to honor him as he is a strong supporter of education in Kansas City. We wanted to give him a feel of what our school is like and show him the high value of education we offer at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy.”
After the reception, James moved on toward the lower school. A strong supporter of the arts, James made a quick stop in the art room to look at the students’ work and chat with HBHA Art teacher Kelly Reichman. James praised the school for its work in education as that is one of his main focuses for the city as a whole.
Senior Jacob Mehari who was photographing the mayor’s visit for the yearbook, said, “Mr. James was very friendly and interested in the interworkings of HBHA. It impressed me to see how much he cared. He elaborated on his love for his job and he seems to be a trustworthy man that I am glad to see as the mayor of Kansas City.”
“The mayor was great with all the little kids. He seemed like a very personable guy as he was not only shaking hands with students, he had little personalized conversations with each and every one of them,” said senior Shoshanna Margolies.
James toured the lower school hallways stopping at a few science projects before going into the fourth-grade classroom for a question-and- answer- session with the students.
After his visit, James seemed impressed with Kansas City’s only Jewish day school. “The quality of education [at HBHA] is something to be proud of. [Mr. Haas] is doing a wonderful job here, the students who graduate from [HBHA] will have an advantage over many other students in the Kansas City area,” he said.
This article was originally published in The Academy Voice, the student newspaper of HBHA and is reprinted by permission. HBHA’s 46th Civic Service Award Celebration will be held Sunday, April 1, at the Sheraton kanas City Hotel at Crown Center.