Lisa Popik Coll, Prizmah’s new board chair, knew from her first date with her husband, Arieh Coll, that if things worked out, she’d be sending her children to Jewish day school. “While I grew up in a very Jewishly identified community and loved my summers at camp, Arieh made the case that in day schools, Jewish life thrives year-round,” she said.

Coll understood what this really meant when her oldest child was in fifth grade at Solomon Schechter of Greater Boston and parents were invited to tefillah where their children chanted from the Torah for the first time. Eighth graders in the room next door were tapped to help make a minyan so kaddish could be recited.  “Without any typical adolescent eye-rolling, they came into the room,” said Coll. “You could literally see everything come together in that moment—the values the school had instilled, the sense of community, Jewish literacy, and the idea that each student in the school was truly a link in the great chain of our tradition,” said Coll.

Her path to day school lay leadership took off when she was invited in 1997 to a meeting for the new Jewish high school (now Gann Academy) that had just opened on the campus of Brandeis.  “What struck me was that almost none of the people there had kids who would benefit from this new school. Their kids were mostly beyond high school age,” she said. “It was like the midrash come to life about Honi planting carob seeds for the next generation.”  With her children still in grade school, Coll recognized that it was her opportunity to step up and take on a lay leadership role—and she hasn’t stopped since.

Coll’s leadership is powered by a passion for taking advantage of new opportunities to get involved, and she is the quintessential networker. “Through Boston-area day school advocacy and collaboration efforts, like the recently launched Stronger Together initiative, and meeting donors from across North America at Prizmah’s Investor Summits, I have found that sharing what works makes all the difference,” said Coll. As Prizmah’s chair, Coll is excited to leverage the opportunities for school leaders to continue learning from each other.

“Whether we are addressing affordability, tackling the educators pipeline, or strengthening leadership, it all starts when we share what is working in a particular school or community,” said Coll. Prizmah, for Coll, has the sacred responsibility to make sure that happens. “You will never come away more inspired about the future of the Jewish people than at a Prizmah gathering.

Caps and gowns, passionate speeches, festive music, and no doubt more than a few parental tears mark this time of year at day schools throughout North America. Our students become our graduates, and we celebrate these inquisitive, lifelong learners on the path to becoming engaged Jewish adults with a commitment to make the world a better place. As they join the ranks of day school alumni, they will continue to make us proud. 
 
Over the past year, Prizmah launched the #JDSalumniproud campaign, which highlights the long-term, generational impact of Jewish day school education. The personal stories of alumni from a variety of geographic, denominational, and professional backgrounds all share a common theme: Jewish day schools provide deep-rooted values that last a lifetime, a strong sense of Torah and Jewish pride, and an enduring love for Israel. We hope you have had a chance to be inspired through these videos and invite you to share them throughout your school community.

In this month’s Kaleidoscope, the final issue for the 2023-24 academic year, learn more about Prizmah’s #JDSalumniproud campaign, and find out about how some Jewish day schools are celebrating their own milestones and engaging meaningfully with alumni across generations. Recent graduates, alumni who have become new parents, parents and grandparents of alumni—all become a part of our greater community and can become our best advocates, new prospects, powerful lay leaders, and day school supporters.

Kol hakavod and thank you to all of you—Jewish day school professional and lay leaders, faculty and staff, for working so passionately all year long to make our students and our schools shine brightly.

Mazal Tov to all the graduates from the Class of 2023! We can’t wait to see the things you do.

The age range of your school’s alumni may vary depending on when it was established, encompassing individuals from the Baby Boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) to Generation Z (born after 1997). Each of these alumni segments have distinct values and mindsets regarding engagement and philanthropy, each bringing unique opportunities of how to engage them. The presence of a dedicated professional working with your alumni can contribute to strengthening your school’s network, fundraising efforts, engagement and overall reputation across the generations. Here are some essential areas where a school can leverage the expertise of alumni professionals to further your schools mission.

School-Community Connection

Alumni represent invaluable resources for schools. Throughout their time at your school, it is crucial to foster an environment that cultivates a strong and enduring connection between students and the school. After students graduate, a dedicated alumni professional can steward these alumni, building an alumni network. It can be as simple as organizing a get together for Shabbat dinner or drinks while they are on their college break or in the summer. 

Alumni that are building their career are a great resource for mentorship of current students, offering internships or job opportunities to other alumni just starting their career. Simply acting as a connector can play a big part as they are building their career, and simultaneously, you are deepening their connection to your school. Dedicate time to creating opportunities for alumni to connect with each other and with the school, as it forms a crucial part of a comprehensive strategy to maintain their engagement. Keeping alumni connected enhances the overall school-community relationship, deepens alumni connection to the school and fosters a sense of pride and loyalty among alumni.

Networking Opportunities 

Alumni hold positions in various industries and organizations, locally, nationally and even internationally. With a dedicated alumni professional on your team, and a strategy to engage them, schools can connect to these networks and leverage them for the benefit of current students and possibly other alumni. They can be supportive in organizing networking events, alumni panels and career fairs. Creating a space for connection can support students as they explore career options, seek advice and establish professional relationships.

Fundraising and Development 

Alumni represent one of your many donor segments. Alumni professionals play a pivotal role in leading or coordinating alumni giving campaigns, designing fundraising events and building a culture of philanthropy within the alumni community. They can share updates about the school’s achievements, initiatives and programming. With their leadership, they contribute to building a culture of shared responsibility and commitment to giving back among the alumni, further strengthening the school’s fundraising efforts.

Alumni Communication 

A dedicated alumni professional ensures consistent and effective communication between the school and the alumni. The alumni professional can manage inline platforms to share news, alumni digital newsletters or magazines, and achievements of the school and its alumni. Regular communication helps to maintain a strong connection between the alumni and the school and encourages their involvement in various activities and events.

Institutional Reputation 

A robust and active alumni network can contribute to the reputation and credibility of a school. Alumni who excel in their fields and are recognized for their achievements reflect positively on the institution that nurtured their development. Through showcasing your alumni success stories and accomplishments (personal and/or professional), a dedicated professional can enhance the school’s reputation, aid in both retention and recruitment of students, and strengthen relationships within your community.

Allocating funds for a dedicated alumni professional might not be feasible for every school. Nevertheless, at some point, every school needs to set a goal for its work with alumni and just jump in. You don’t need to do everything at once. If you haven’t started work with alumni, pick one thing that you can incorporate into your planning for the upcoming year and commit to doing it. Each year, reflect on what you did accomplish and add a bit more to expand your impact. 

Getting started can be the hardest part; an easy way to begin is to hire an alum to build up your alumni database. With summer around the corner, the timing is perfect for a college student or two to roll up their sleeves. Using the new database, you can start to create connections on social and professional platforms. By end of summer, you can have an updated database of alumni to engage with in the coming year.

We’ve just bid farewell to our students for the summer, having completed an incredible 30th anniversary school year at The Davis Academy. It was a year filled with spirit, excitement and vibrant learning. I am extremely proud of and grateful for what we’ve accomplished collectively during this school year and throughout our 30-year history.

An anniversary is a significant occasion for any school community, presenting an obvious opportunity for public relations and engagement of the generations that have been impacted: students and families, founders and board leaders, faculty and staff, and of course, alumni. To truly convey this milestone’s importance and garner our constituents’ attention, we made a deliberate effort to connect with different groups in unique ways, and especially to connect meaningfully with our alumni and their families, highlighting the stories, successes and significance of the Davis experience in their lives. At the same time, we were intentional about connecting past, present and future, strengthening connections between the generations and demonstrating the deep bonds and significant growth and achievement of our kehillah over the years. 

From a small community of a few visionaries and pioneer families, with 20 students in Kindergarten and first grade, to the largest Reform Jewish Day School in the country with hundreds of students in Mechina: Kindergarten Prep through eighth grade, and thousands of alumni now making their way in the world, we have much to be proud of. While so much has evolved over our 30 years, including teaching methods and the expanse of resources that support each student’s individual learning experience, some things haven’t changed at all since our founding, including our purpose, our priorities and our values.

Capturing Alumni Stories 

But it’s no easy task to “reconnect the dots” with graduates after so many years, and in our case, our alumni are still quite young and live all over the country. That said, once we got started, we learned that our graduates had remained connected to each other, even without the school having a formal alumni relations program, and had deeply held memories and strong feelings of appreciation for their childhood years at Davis. Our efforts during our anniversary year were just a spark that rekindled the flame for our alumni and many of our constituents who are no longer a part of daily life at the school.

We invited our alumni and their parents (and others) to submit their personal stories, and our graduates were eager to share. We published their reflections for our entire school community to enjoy, via regular emails and on our website, through a compelling series we called Davis Stories. These narratives were conveyed in the first person, capturing the diverse voices within our community, weaving a tapestry of perspectives that enriched the meaning of our mission and amplified the enthusiasm surrounding our momentous milestone. Sharing these stories created a great touchpoint with graduates of all ages living across the country and, frankly, the world, including an opportunity for “comments” and using social media as another means of creating connections.

Anniversary- Year Programs 

In addition, we sponsored a wide array of special programs and activities throughout our anniversary year for parents, grandparents, faculty, staff, board leadership and caring community members, and were intentional about creating opportunities to connect our graduates by age and stage, “meeting them where they are at.”

A first-ever Davis Day of Service brought many high school-age graduates together with hundreds of current students and families, volunteering and giving back, an integral component of The Davis Academy’s mission since its doors opened 30 years ago. It also brought an added benefit for those seeking high school community-service hours to get credit.

Visits by members of our administration to the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech campuses reconnected us with many of our alumni who are “close to home” for their college experience. And an Alumni Anniversary Reunion in New York City brought together the next generation beyond college, who are establishing their careers in the Big Apple. They were thrilled to see us and share memories with each other, with the added benefit of being treated to a free meal!

A first-ever Alumni Babies Lil Shabbat morning was a momentous experience, bringing together some of our earliest graduates who are now starting families of their own. It was the first time back on our elementary campus for many of them, and the joy and excitement of experiencing the Shabbat prayers and songs of their childhood together while now holding their children in their laps, much like their own parents did years ago, was truly memorable. An added bonus was our school rabbi leading alongside Rabbi Max Miller, a graduate of the Class of 2003, holding his own daughter who will hopefully one day be a Davis Lion.

Anniversary Weekend 

Undoubtedly, the biggest highlight of the year was the weekend of festivities, the pinnacle of a yearlong celebration, uniting more than 1400 individuals from across greater Atlanta and the country, spanning ages four years to 88 years. The weekend kicked off with a spirit-filled Kabbalat Shabbat packed with students, families and alumni singing joyfully with talented musical guest artist Jacob Spike Kraus. With a blessing for the community offered by fifteen rabbis and clergy from across Atlanta, and a special blessing for alumni offered, alongside Shabbat blessings chanted by presidents of the school’s board of trustees going all the way back to the school’s founding, it was a beautiful experience. 

The next evening’s Community Celebration was followed by a sold-out crowd and incredible joy as those of every generation in the school’s history celebrated 30 years of growth and achievement, with splendid dinner offerings and live music. Alumni of all ages were with us in person and in spirit, as photos and banners of every graduate from our 23 graduating classes were featured. There is nothing more gratifying than witnessing our graduates, who are now young adults, finding their own photo, hugging their former teachers and classmates, and going out of their way to stop me and say, “I may not have kids yet, but when I do I’m bringing them to The Davis Academy.”

This next school year, we will welcome a number of little ones into our Mechina: Kindergarten Prep and Kindergarten classes whose parents once wore the Davis uniform and walked our halls as students. This is a first for us, seeing the continuity le-dor va-dor, from generation to generation. For all of our schools, investing in our graduates after they leave us is essential, following their stories and successes and intentionally building connections and igniting memories, especially during important milestones like school anniversaries.

I can still remember the day I discovered my passion for engaging parents of alumni. I was in the chorus room of my prior school, which had been transformed for a kickoff meeting of the Parents of Alumni and Grandparents Division of our $50M capital campaign. Even though some people in the room had known each other for decades, to break the ice we asked, “What brought you to the school?” It’s a simple question, one we fundraisers use every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and one for which there are myriad answers.

I can still see Richard’s face in my mind as he talked about the importance of community and how he stays involved because, with three kids moving through a PK-12 school, it was his family’s anchor, social circle and gravitational force for more than 25 years. He and his fellow parents, some of whom were in the room, had navigated loss, celebrated countless simchas and the trials and tribulations of raising kids together. Though his kids graduated in the 80s and 90s, he and his peers had been through a lot together and continued to be friends all these years later.

He talked about how, with the benefit of hindsight and perspective, he could see the real “product” of his investment in his kids’ education in how they are living their lives as adults. He relished in sharing how prepared they were to navigate college life. When you’re not mired in the everyday minutiae of raising a family and navigating school life (“Did you remember it’s spirit day? Did you sign the field trip permission slip? Are the health forms in?“) you can see the bigger picture.

So, how do you capitalize on that good will? On the fond memories, deep connective tissue and passion for your school? Engaging parents of alumni can be good for your bottom line; they are often in a strong financial position to invest in your mission, and they can be fantastic advocates for your school, incredible storytellers and keepers of institutional knowledge. At Milton, we’re only one generation away from our founding families, and I’ve relished opportunities to connect and learn about the school’s origins and early days to better understand the culture and ethos of a school where I’m still new.

Here are some strategies to engage parents of alumni in the life of your school today.

Events

Create unique events and engagement opportunities just for parents of alumni. At my last school, we hosted an annual Cocktails and Conversation event each May for them. It was often held in someone’s home and included a host committee from different generations to build attendance. This was a school without a spring gala; this event was one of the most well attended events of the year.

At Milton, we had great parent turnout for our Purim Ball this year, but lower than expected from parents of alumni, so we decided that next year, we’re going to engage a larger committee to strengthen turnout for next year.

If you have an alumni reunion weekend, think of ways to bring in parents of alumni. Host a multigenerational brunch, or even something as simple as a playground afternoon playdate.

Many former trustees fall into this category. Plan an annual “special insiders” event for former trustees. If you have an annual state of the school meeting or if you’re releasing a strategic plan, this is a great way to give former trustees a sneak preview. Get more bang for your buck by combining this with a major donor event, since there is a lot of overlap in those groups. Be willing to get vulnerable with them and share what keeps your school leaders up at night; they remember other hard times and will be able to bring perspective and hope through challenges.

Engagement

Get together with parents of alumni in a small group or 1:1 meetings. Ask for their advice on how to engage with their peers and with alumni, and they’ll become more invested in your success. Remember that their experience is colored by not only their child’s experience as a student, but what their child’s alumni experience is like.

If you’re starting a capital campaign, or even within your annual campaign, activate a parents of alumni committee to solicit support, open doors and identify prospects.

Think about opportunities for multigenerational get-togethers. Whether you have a robust group of legacy families or your numbers are growing incrementally each year, this is a group deeply invested in your school. Once you have a critical mass, develop programs to engage alumni parents who are also grandparents; cut out the middleman of the current parents. It’s a win-win.

Engage alumni parents as admissions ambassadors, again tapping into their networks and their desire to be advocates for the school and cheerleaders for your mission.

Low-Hanging Fruit

Start a Parents of Alumni Newsletter. Show what’s going on in your school and invite the opportunity to reflect or feel nostalgic without asking for money. At Milton, we have broad distribution for our weekly newsletter, and it’s a great way to keep parents of alumni and other constituencies connected to the life of the school.

Highlight parents of alumni in your annual report or regular newsletters with a “Why I Give” story.

Segment your annual appeal. Play on nostalgia and use it as an opportunity to ask for advice on what would work well. Engage a committee for your annual fund, if you have a cohort who is willing to be more involved. People give to people, and that’s especially true with this constituency. 

Key Takeaways

• What can you do now or plan to use in the next year?
• Think about the generational cohorts you want to engage. Who are the leaders in each? Who can help open doors to others?
• Include profiles of alumni parents in your next newsletter as a stewardship touchpoint.
• Add an event just for parents of alumni to your calendar for next year, or find a way to bring in former trustees, parents of alumni or legacy families into an existing event.

At Barrack, our alumni are an integral part of the ongoing story of our school. With over 75 years and an alumni network of nearly 3,000, we are committed to connecting all Akiba/Barrack alumni to their roots as well as to the dynamic present reality of the Barrack experience. As a vibrant center for academic excellence and Jewish communal engagement, our lifelong connections with Akiba/Barrack alumni facilitate meaningful opportunities for shared growth and mutual enrichment long after they leave our classrooms.

We have implemented several new initiatives within the past year to further our commitment to alumni engagement and harness the rich resources of our alumni network:

• We hired a dedicated alumni engagement coordinator to nurture and strengthen our connection with our graduates and reaffirm our commitment to our students past and present.
   
• We conducted a formal survey of our alumni community, seeking feedback on what initiatives and opportunities would keep them engaged and connected with the school. 
   
• We have implemented a six-person alumni leadership committee, representing different time spans of our school’s graduates, including one member in Israel. We are building a smaller subcommittee based in Israel to support and engage our alumni presence there. 
   
• We are revamping and refining our alumni directory, creating a secure portal that lives on our school website to facilitate connections. Our first step in this effort was to build a short alumni opt-in survey.
   
• We are developing a robust mentoring platform for networking between established professionals and younger alumni seeking guidance and support in a variety of fields. 
   
• Beginning this fall, we will publish a quarterly spotlight series showcasing several alumni in each issue. 
   
• We are investing in programming that brings alumni back to campus in meaningful mentorship capacities. We hosted our first annual Career Day for our upper school students, a school wide Science Conference focused on breakthroughs in modern medicine, and a virtual panel featuring judges and practicing attorneys aimed at current upper school students and young alumni who are considering a career in law. We also held an accredited Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program co-led by our head of school, Rabbi Marshall Lesack, and Rabbi Dr. Zev Eleff, president of Gratz College, at which several alumni were in attendance. 
   
• We have also created opportunities for alumni programming that complements campus events. For example, we held a 3v3 alumni basketball tournament as part of our student-run Mini-THON event in May. This both engaged our alumni in the important student initiative to raise funds for a good cause while bringing them back to campus to feel connected to current Barrack life.
   
• We have established an ongoing Alumni Speaker Series, featuring exceptional presentations—both in person and over Zoom—by Hustle film director Jeremiah Zagar ’99, and moderated by Dan Kitrosser ’02, as well as by Dr. Paul Root Wolpe ’74, who addressed artificial intelligence from a Jewish perspective. We also hosted three alumni speaker programs last year on The Future of Jewish Life in America, Truth and Storytelling in the Media, and a spotlight session with film editor Fred Raskin ’91.
   
• We have recommitted to our Athletic Hall of Fame and planned a banquet where graduating senior athletes will receive awards and alumni athletes will be inducted. 
   
• We are planning reunion opportunities for alumni to gather and connect, both in person and virtually at Barrack-sponsored events in several locations, including a possible alumni event in Israel.

It has been heartening to see how even these early initiatives have yielded further engagement and opportunity on behalf of our alumni. Individuals from various chapters of Akiba/Barrack’s history have reached out to learn more about how they can connect with our school community and ongoing campus life. We are committed to cultivating enduring relationships with our Akiba/Barrack alumni, both to nurture their lifelong learning and Jewish engagement as well as to create meaningful opportunities for them to give back to future generations of Jewish leaders.

At the Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School, alumni make a difference every single day—as faculty. We are proud and blessed to be able to say that over 35% (45 out of 125) of our educational team are graduates of the school they now work in. This astounding figure is not accidental and has major implications for the Flatbush experience. In this article, I hope to summarize some of those consequences with the aim that those findings will be helpful for other schools as they consider their staffing needs. Rather than simply list the benefits alumni staff have on our school, I’ve chosen to describe certain individual staff members who are exemplars of those benefits. 

Familiarity

Our process for hiring a teacher or other staff member is designed to help us get to know potential employees to determine their capabilities and suitability for a particular position. This includes and is not limited to a resume review, an interview, a model lesson and reference checks. 

When we hire alumni such as Renee Harari, who teaches math to ninth and tenth graders, however, our knowledge of the candidate runs much deeper. From her time as a student in school, Renee was one to assist her peers with their math work. Her ability to clarify complex equations for teenagers was already being utilized in class when her teachers would call her up to the board to demonstrate for others. Our math leadership team knew Renee could teach in high school even before she graduated. She is one example of many of our team members whose qualities were known and understood before they were hired. Effectively, we trained them. 

Alignment

One of the great challenges any school experiences when hiring a new staff member is determining whether or not a particular candidate for a position is aligned with the school’s values. Because they have been through our school system, our alumni know what we stand for and they have been raised on those values. The father and son duo of Rabbis Raymond and Avi Harari are excellent examples; Rabbi Raymond Harari served as head of school for 17 years and continues to teach Talmud, while Rabbi Avi Harari is our rosh bet midrash and leads an alumni learning program. They are living models of what our school aims to develop in a graduate: people of character, compassion, scholarship and commitment to our values. One of the most significant and effective ways we transmit our values to our students is through living examples; alumni accomplish this naturally. 

Connectedness

Alumni staff once sat in the same desks (literally) as our students do and are therefore familiar with the features which are particular to our school environment. Sarah Marcus is a case in point. She teaches English to tenth and twelfth grade students and also serves as our student activities coordinator. She is passionate about connecting with our students on a personal level, leading monthly town hall meetings with students and administrators to ensure student voice plays a crucial role in school decisions.

Sarah is so invested in the idea that staff need to appreciate the student experience, she actually strapped on a knapsack one day and came to school as a student for a full day, from arrival to dismissal. She wanted to refresh her memory of what it is like to be a student in our school and shared her experience with colleagues at a professional development session. Sarah is one example of many in our school who demonstrate that when teachers can see the world through the eyes of their students, teachers can better prepare learning experiences which are suitable for them.

Institutional Memory

One of the significant benefits our alumni staff provide is institutional memory. Especially in a school with longstanding and established traditions, having students as faculty can provide a sense of history to the rest of the staff and our students. After serving as a teacher for five decades subsequent to attending our school, Dr. Joel Wolowelsky can regale colleagues and students alike with stories about our founder, Joel Braverman, as well as legendary figures such as Amnon and Dina Haramati, Rabbi Yosef and Abraham Raful, and Abraham Carmel. Students and staff get a sense that they are part of an institution which spans multiple generations.

Aside from providing the richness of history, there is a purely pragmatic side, as well. It is not unusual for us to rethink a policy or procedure. Alumni staff members will often remember when a particular policy was developed and why, helping us evaluate whether the reasons are still valid and should be continued. 

Giving Back

One of the fundamental values we seek to instill in our students is that when they graduate, we aspire that they not only succeed but find ways to lead and serve, to give back to the communities which produced them. What better way to get that message across than for them to see a variety of people they look up to, their teachers and mentors, doing just that. One excellent example is Jeffrey Dweck, who takes time out of his busy law practice to teach a business law class each morning and to coach our mock trial team. 

Having as many alumni faculty as we do has led to a large number of faculty parents: 32 current members of our staff have had their children attend our high school. Not counted in this number is a significant number of faculty who send their children to our elementary school. This has generated an identification with what we do, a pride and a sense of ownership which is priceless.

As a result of all of the above, our school community has a family feel despite our relatively large size. It’s our belief that non-alumni faculty are positively influenced by working as part of a team with so many alumni. They see the commitment, connectedness and the values in their co-workers, and these are infectious. In a way, they see what their efforts will ultimately yield, as their students will become the type of people they go to work with every day.

There are many factors which contribute to the fact that we have as many alumni staff members as we do, but one of those factors is the conscious decision to look at our alumni base when we are seeking to fill positions. Based upon our positive experience, we would recommend other Jewish day schools consider a similar approach.

Imagine receiving a letter from your younger self, reminding you of your day school experiences, your dreams and aspirations for the future, and the connections that shaped your life while reinforcing your deep-rooted Jewish identity. 

The Jewish Youth Pledge (JYP) does just that. JYP bridges the gap between the indelible mark left by the Jewish day school experience and the challenge of maintaining meaningful alumni connections as students transition into adulthood. By offering Jewish teens and young adults the opportunity to make a lasting commitment to their heritage, JYP not only fosters a powerful sense of Jewish identity but also strengthens the bonds between alumni and their cultural roots.

The Jewish Youth Pledge was established not only to connect young Jews back to their own formative experiences but also, most importantly, to provide organizations with the invaluable opportunity to stay connected with their alumni into adulthood.

Prizmah has collaborated with the Jewish Youth Pledge to integrate this groundbreaking stewardship initiative into middle and high schools, and since its founding two years ago, JYP has partnered with nearly 50 youth organizations and day schools, with over 14,000 Jewish teens and young adults having taken the pledge.

Through the Jewish Youth Pledge’s free, 20-40 minute turnkey digital programming, day schools can begin to cultivate strong bonds with their alumni. In addition to nurturing alumni connections, the Jewish Youth Pledge offers numerous benefits:

• Opportunities for reflection and self discovery 
• Enhanced school pride and loyalty 
• A solid foundation for future engagement 
• A source of inspiration and motivation 

To participate, students compose letters to their future selves, reflecting on their experiences and aspirations. The letter writing process begins with a powerful prompt: 

“I hereby pledge to act today and throughout my lifetime to strengthen the Jewish people and Israel. I make this commitment because I have a responsibility to ensure that my generation writes the next chapter of the Jewish story and remains a strong link in the chain of generations.” 

Then participants are asked to write to their future selves, answering questions such as, “If you could meet yourself in the future, what would you hope to hear that you had accomplished or contributed?” 

These letters are preserved in a digital time capsule, and a text message is sent to participants every two years to remind them of their commitment. On the fifth, tenth, fifteenth and twentieth anniversaries of their pledge, participants receive the full version of their letter, creating a deeply moving connection between their past and present selves. 

Knowing that student privacy is of the utmost importance for schools and families, all information entered into the time capsule is retained and controlled by the school through access to the backend. Additionally, the students’ letters to themselves are kept private—no one else can read it. It is shared only with the students themselves when they receive their letter back in future years.

JYP can be easily incorporated into immersive experiences that Jewish day school students already participate in, such as trips to Israel, Shabbatons and graduations. The pledge plays a critical role in sustaining Jewish day schools’ rich cultural and educational heritage by fostering a strong sense of identity, belonging and continuity.

Writing these letters often evokes powerful emotions in students as they reflect on their growth, experiences and relationships within the school. The letters also offer an opportunity for students to express gratitude and appreciation for their teachers, friends and family members who have supported them throughout their educational journey.

The impact of JYP is evident in these anonymous excerpts from students’ letters:

“As I pen this letter, I am surrounded by my dearest friends—those who have supported and encouraged me throughout the years. I hope to continue to treasure these friendships and remember the sense of community our school provided.” 

“Just got back from Israel, and I hope I have been back a few times since the eight-grade trip, which was so much fun. I hope I have never forgotten about my Jewish identity and stayed in touch with the teachers that got me to where I was in eighth grade.” 

“Always remember that you are a Jew and always will be a devoted Jew. Your parents and grandparents and generations before you worked hard to get you to the place you are today. Do not stress things and never forget about the place where you grew up and the community that is so special and the friends that you found at school.” 

Now is the time to begin connecting your alumni as they transition into adulthood.

To learn more about the Jewish Youth Pledge or implement it in your school, please visit jewishyouthpledge.org Embrace the power of the Jewish Youth Pledge and secure a vibrant Jewish future for generations to come.

When we think of how to leverage alumni to advance our schools, we primarily think about our graduates as future donors or volunteers. Less often do we think about storytelling, and how we can utilize the hundreds or thousands of alumni in our networks to share the impact of their distinct experiences learning and growing up in a fully immersive Jewish space.

Attending Jewish day school isn’t just about receiving a “formal” Jewish education. In Jewish day school, students are fully immersed in a unique community space surrounded by Hebrew letters on the walls, menschlichkeit values engraved into the pillars, Jewish history, culture, texts, friends and mentors. Beyond the years students spend in these school walls is a lifetime of ideals, morals, and principles that shape who we become. 
 
I started attending Jewish day school in the third grade, and I can without a doubt say that this trajectory forever changed my learning, interests, friends, and family. My ten years in this unique educational space engraved in me my love for Israel, my passion for Jewish history and culture, my strong ethics, religious practices and beliefs, values, and so much more. It changed how my family practices Judaism. What we chose to eat, wear, and celebrate. What we choose to advocate for, work toward, and support. My time in day school shaped what clubs I involved myself with in college, what sorority I chose to join, what type of friends I chose to make. It shaped what my first job out of college looked like, and what type of career path I would choose thereafter.  
 
To say the least, without my Jewish day school experiences, I could be living a totally different life.

Emotional Storytelling 

Everyone who works in or is connected to a Jewish day school knows and understands its unique essence and value. We are committed to shaping the Jewish future, to keeping traditions alive, to ensuring the longevity of our peoplehood. 
 
In the study of consumer psychology, we learn that when marketing any product, service, or experience, it is critical to understand your target audience’s needs and motivations, and work to fulfill both their functional and higher order motivations and goals. Let me explain. 
 
Functional goals are conscious goals we create for ourselves, like writing a shopping list before going to the grocery store. When choosing a school, there are basic functional goals parents consider. These are fact based, intellectual goals and motivations that fulfill basic needs like: a high-quality education, an easy commute, diverse meal plan, strong curriculum, etc. These are the pretty factoids we normally add to school brochures and websites. 
 
Then, there are higher order goals. These are inspirational, emotional, and tap directly into the hearts of your prospective audience. When you can tap into higher order goals, you are able to influence actions. For school marketing professionals, this translates to telling compelling stories through emotional messaging to influence actions (for example: enrolling their children in Jewish day school because they too want their children to become value-driven, responsible, knowledgeable Jewish adults). 
 
This is the power of leveraging alumni stories.

A National Campaign 

In September 2022, Prizmah embarked on a mission to elevate Jewish day school alumni to widely share and articulate the value proposition of Jewish day schools. Who better to share the distinct worth than products of day school themselves? We interviewed dozens of alumni from across North America, and asked simple questions like, “How did your Jewish day school experience impact you ?” and “What values did you learn in Jewish day school that have been cornerstone to your life?” The answers we received were far more incredible than we could have imagined. 
 
As alumni shared their stories of gratitude, we continued to be affirmed in our belief that Jewish day school was unlike any other schooling environment. It isn’t just a place where kids go to learn math, science, English, plus some Hebrew and Jewish studies thrown in there. Instead, it became obvious that this totally unique and fully immersive environment is where students become responsible, caring, value driven Jews.  

Here are just a few of the testaments to the value and impact of a Jewish day school education:

" Jewish day school formed the way I think, the way I act, the way I interact with others, and how I see the world. I always had teachers who believed in me, and that confidence in who I was as a student, allowed me to feel confident in every new experience”- Elana Hasson

“Talmudic education trained my mind for Law school, for the types of problem solving and creative thinking that I apply in every aspect of my life. Those values become the lens through which good business decisions are made.” - Lawrence Burian 

“Through school I have a deep desire to leave the world better than I found it, and I definitely think that it very much goes back to the foundation of values that I learned from a young age.“- Melissa Kushner 

 Click here to find the full archive of released #JDSalumniproud videos

What’s Next? Your Turn! 

As the school year comes to a close, and you say “see you later” to another group of graduates, now is an important time to recognize that alumni can be a powerful tool in sharing the one-of-a-kind value of your school and community. Whether through emotionally evocative video footage, written testimonials, career day speakers, or news features, we encourage you to magnify and amplify the amazing places your alumni have gone, the extraordinary things your graduates are doing, and how their Jewish education laid a strong foundational path for them as a way to boost your school’s individual value and disposition.

During the 2022 Prizmah Conference, a head of school shared a compelling story. When he assumed leadership, the school he leads did not provide health insurance to its staff. However, armed with data from the 2020-2021 Benefits Report, which highlighted the health coverage offered by other Jewish day schools and yeshivas, he successfully persuaded the school’s board to offer essential medical benefits to their employees. By presenting fieldwide data, he revealed the typical percentage of coverage provided by schools. Now, this school offers health insurance, providing a lifeline to its employees. Each individual who contributed their school’s data played a pivotal role in this achievement, helping teachers and other school staff who now have access to health insurance through their employers.

In another instance, a school leader faced difficulties in recruiting new teachers. However, armed with data from DASL (Data and Analysis for School Leadership), a repository for information from over 100 Jewish day schools, the leadership was able to assess their compensation structure and understand their position in the market. Realizing the need for change, they made the decision to increase teacher salaries. Remarkably, the professionals who contributed their school’s compensation structures directly aided teachers in another institution, ensuring they received well-deserved raises.

Furthermore, Prizmah conducted a recent survey focusing on school financial aid and affordability initiatives. This data plays a vital role in identifying trends and determining the most effective models that can be adopted in other communities and schools. The simple act of providing information about your school’s financial aid program has the potential to make Jewish day school education affordable for thousands of families in communities across North America.

For years, Prizmah has been at the forefront of collecting and reporting enrollment trends in Jewish day schools and yeshivas. While it may seem inconsequential, this knowledge and research of the bigger picture within the day school landscape is essential for philanthropists and funders to make informed, multimillion dollar, impactful investments in Jewish day school education. I’ve seen this happen.

By participating in surveys, you are more than just completing a form. You are instrumental in securing health insurance and raises for teachers. You are helping families access a Jewish education. You are enabling more students to receive the gift of a Jewish education. You are assisting funders in making strategic investments in the day school system.

So, the next time you receive a survey in your inbox which you may think is seemingly insignificant (or occasionally annoying), keep in mind that your participation can have real impact in other schools and communities. Your input creates tangible, positive change and has lasting impact. Together, let’s shape a brighter future, one survey at a time.