Taste of High School Shabbaton
Eighth grade students often find the move from middle school to high school be a little intimidating. At the DAT High School, we do our best to make that transition as easy as possible through various programs, including with our Taste of High School Shabbaton.
Each fall, we invite all prospective freshmen to spend a Shabbat with us, giving them the opportunity to experience the DAT High School community for themselves. This year, our annual Shabbaton was successful again! We started our weekend with an exciting team building activity where we learned lots of fun facts about each other. We then had a wonderful, lively Kabbalat Shabbat the DAT Minyan and then shared a delicious dinner (prepared by our students!). Sitting around the Shabbat table that night allowed all of our visiting eighth graders to get to know the high school students. We mixed up the seating with a fun game and then enjoyed the beginning of our series of student-led Divrei Torah with speeches from Chana Weiss, Aaron Brooks, and Miriam Schottenstein. After dinner, Kyra Fischer led a hilarious group game before Shua Friedman and Reb Noam finished the night off with some singing. Shabbat morning, we came together again for Shacharit and then split off into small groups for lunch.
Each of the eighth grade students had a great time listening to student Divrei Torah, getting to know a small group of high school students, and sharing a meal with the families of our teachers and Rabbis. (Thank you all for hosting us!). …
Rabbi Friedman joined us for the end of our Shabbaton and led us in a beautiful Seudat Shilishit and some singing. We sang Havdala together and then said goodbye.
Although the Shabbaton was over for the eighth grade students, the high school students had one more activity Saturday night. Led by Aliza Makovsky and Shua Friedman, the students were told that their plates and cutlery were missing and the only way to find them was to solve a series of puzzles. Racing from room to room, the students solved logic puzzles, math equations, and trivia games before finally claiming their plates for a delicious waffle dinner. Modeled after the recent “Escape Room” puzzles, the activity was definitely a crowd pleaser.
Overall, our 2015 Taste of High School Shabbaton was a success!
“This Shabbaton was just one of the many ways I’ve seen our school come together as a true community. It was an amazing weekend!” said Aliza Makovsky, Shabbaton Coordinator.
We were thrilled to get to know some of our prospective students, and we can’t wait to see them next year in our classes.