Pluralistic Boarding School Combines Rigor With Community

When it came to choosing a high school, you could say that Sabrina Livne-Kennedy did her homework.

After starting ninth grade in public school in 2006, the Ojai teen’s desire for a Jewish education and a more rigorous curriculum led her to move in with her father in Los Angeles and transfer midyear to Shalhevet School.

But Shalhevet’s Modern Orthodox teachings were out of synch with Livne-Kennedy’s Conservative leanings, so she found herself by year’s end looking once again for a solution to her scholastic conundrum.

That’s when she discovered the Greensboro, N.C.-based American Hebrew Academy (AHA). Now 17, the high school senior and aspiring pediatrician hasn’t looked back.

She’s not alone. Since it opened its doors in September 2001, AHA, the nation’s only pluralistic Jewish college prep boarding school, has become the academic choice of a small but growing number of Los Angeles-area students. Originally conceived as a resource for families in communities with no Jewish high schools, the school’s L.A. contingent has grown by four or five students annually since 2006, with six currently enrolled. Similar trends are occurring in New York, Miami and other major Jewish population centers.

Why would parents in the second-largest Jewish community in the United States send their child 3,000 miles away to a Jewish high school when they have multiple alternatives closer to home?

“When we’ve questioned parents about what attracted them to the academy, we find that the academy offers students not competition, but a model of Jewish education that’s quite different and unique than traditional Jewish high school models,” said Glenn Drew, AHA’s executive director.

That model, Drew says, is a blend of a nationally accredited college prep program and Judaic studies courses, combined with the bonding and camaraderie that is at the core of the Jewish summer camp experience, and an intensive, 12-week experiential learning opportunity in Israel that is mandatory in the junior year. Founder Maurice “Chico” Sabbah, a Sephardic philanthropist and ardent Zionist, fulfilled his vision to create an elite academic center where Jewish teens would live and learn together in a collaborative spirit regardless of their religious affiliation or cultural background.

“When you combine the sum of the parts, you get a whole you couldn’t even begin to measure,” said Drew, a nephew of Sabbah. “That’s the secret of the academy’s success, one all-encompassing experience for teens.”

That and an abundance of cutting-edge technology and rich educational and extracurricular activities situated on a majestic setting. Designed by renowned architect Aaron Green, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, the 100-acre lakeside campus is marked by Jerusalem stone buildings integrated into their lush surroundings. All students are given laptop computers and classrooms are equipped with SMART boards, ELMO projectors and equipment that records and stores what happens in class, giving students and their parents 24-hour access. A $15 million, 88,000-square-foot athletic center and boathouse provide a training center for eight interscholastic and three intramural sports.

All that comes at a hefty price, though one that is comparable to other Jewish high schools. Tuition for 2009 was set at $26,340, though nearly 60 percent of AHA’s 160 students from 23 states and 14 foreign countries receive some sort of financial aid.

Regardless of where the students are from, administrators have found the concept of a Jewish boarding school a hard sell to parents, especially since before AHA it hadn’t existed outside the Orthodox yeshiva setting.

“We had to create the understanding and instill confidence in parents that this was a model that had tremendous benefits, that was safe for their children, and that what they’d see in their children was an incredible sense of maturity, independence, knowledge and Jewish values that would make the personal sacrifice they were making as parents well worth it,” Drew said.

“My friends can’t wrap their minds around it, and it’s so sad because it’s such a great school,” said Lyn Ayal of Malibu. Ayal’s daughter, Danielle, graduated from AHA in May; her son, Alex, is currently a sophomore.

Adolescence is a good time in a child’s life to attend boarding school, she said, because it gives them a sense of freedom in a structured environment and teaches them critical life skills, such as time management, financial responsibility and independence.

Getting her children away from Los Angeles’ notorious social pressure was another major factor in Ayal’s choice of AHA for her children.

“It gets a bit superficial in L.A. because so many people are connected to showbiz,” she said. “You don’t have that at AHA. The girls aren’t wearing makeup, no diamond jewelry, no lululemon yoga pants. It’s all about being a kid. They just care if you’re a nice person.”

“[The social pressure] was not what I wanted,” said Danielle Ayal, now a freshman at UC Berkeley. “I wanted to learn things without worrying about all those stupid things that don’t really matter. North Carolina was definitely like that.”

That nonjudgmental environment is reflected in AHA’s diverse denominational student population, where 18 percent define themselves as Modern Orthodox, 24 percent as Conservative, 28 percent Reform and the rest, rejecting the perceived confines of denominational descriptions, self-identify as “just Jewish.” While the school holds religious services for each denomination, it also exposes students to Judaism’s full range of customs, traditions and teachings, breaking down barriers and fostering a greater sense of Jewish identity over time, according to Drew.

For Alex Ayal, 14, AHA’s religious and cultural diversity provides the ultimate learning experience.

“The best thing for me about going to the American Hebrew Academy is the potential for learning. When you group together people from all around the world into a prestigious boarding school, you have so many things to learn, not just from your classes, which already provide so much, but from the kids around you.”