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Schechter Life | High School
Beyond the Classroom
Also see: Schechter Abroad and The Israel Experience
 At Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union, students have the opportunity to particpate in numerous extra-curricular clubs and activities, ranging from our award-winning literary magazine to our award-winning choir, from Mock Trial to the school newspaper and from Environmental Club to the dance team. Students are involved in social action programs that take them around the corner to Newark and New Orleans and around the world to Chile and Israel.
Click below to go directly to a particular section:
Extracurricular Clubs & Activites: Activism, Arts, Educational, Publications
Shabbatonim and Trips
Annual Programs & Events
Extracurricular Clubs & Activities: Our students have the opportunity to participate in numerous clubs and activities. They are also encouraged to create new clubs and activities that the student body will be interested in.
Activism:
- 11th Grade Volunteer Experience: Students volunteer at Daughters of Israel, the WAE Center for the Developmentally Disabled of MetroWest, or in our Lower School once a week for a semester.
- Aid for AIDS: Club members raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, raise money for the cause, and visit local clinics.
- Beading for Breast Cancer: Participants bead to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer foundation.
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Childhood Cancer Society: Club members sell bears and key chains to raise money for the treatment and accommodations of children with cancer.
- Community Clothing Collection: Participants organize year-round clothing drives. In previous years, members have collected and donated over 40 bags of clothing.
- Environmental Club: Participants “talk trash” and find ways to cut down on the waste at Solomon Schechter, while teaching the community how to recycle properly.
 Israel Club: Members of the Israel Club help to make Israel more relevant in the school community. Participants teach about the land, people, and customs, through fun, interactive, and informative programs as well as host Mifgashim (Israeli/American Teen Encounters) and different missions from Israel in our school.-
National Honors Society-L’Mad: Students participate in social action projects that raise funds for various charitable organizations. Membership is open to students in grades 10-12. Selection for membership is based on scholarship, community service, leadership, and character.
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Kilometers for Karyn (K4K): Members raise money for childhood cancer research in memory of Karyn Glick (’99), who passed away from leukemia in 9th grade. K4K has raised over $25,000 in the last four years.
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Take a Stand, Lend a Hand: Club members organize monthly trips to lend a hand to various organizations in the region.
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Arts:
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Chamber Music Ensemble: Musicians with experience on a classical instrument are part of Schechter’s instrumental music ensemble.
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Chamber Choir : Members of the High School Choir may apply to become part of the newly created Chamber Choir.
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Dance Team: Dancers participate in a dance team and perform at our school’s Pep Rally.
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Fine Art Committee: Participants discuss and experience music, theatre, dance, and other areas of the fine arts world, as well as plan trips to various concerts, museums and other related activities.
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High School Choir: Members of the High School choir learn how to read sheet music, sing a variety of secular and Jewish songs, and perform at school and community events. Every two years choir publishes a CD.
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High School Play: Our High School students put on a theatrical performance yearly.
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Java Joint: Java Joint members organize and participate in an annual coffeehouse, which celebrates student poets, writers, musicians, and other artists. Members meet to plan and set up for the yearly event.
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Educational:
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Debate Team: Students debate current, political, moral, and ethical issues and create, research and present information based on a weekly topic.
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Jewish-Canadian Youth Model UN: Day School students from across the United States and Canada come together at an annual conference to participate in the Jewish Canadian Youth model UN conference in Montreal.
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Jewish Sports Society: Participants meet and learn from leaders in the sports world who happen to be Jewish.
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Mock Trial: Students learn trial techniques and participate in an actual trial at the Essex County courthouse. This club will help to develop the inner “lawyer” in its participants!
- Student Council: Student Council members promote the values of Schechter’s mission and voice the ideas of the student body. They also organize many school activities. Positions are both elected and volunteer based.
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Publications:
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Nuts and Raisins (“Lit Mag”): Students write, edit, and publish the school’s award-winning literary magazine, using the same publishing software as the professionals in the industry! (For more information on Nuts and Raisins, Click here.)
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SchechterVision: Club members write, edit, and produce monthly broadcasts for the school’s web-based television station. SchechterVision is on the web at www.schechtervision.org.
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The Flame (School Newspaper): Participants publish the monthly school newspaper and engage in reporting, writing, photography, layout, and publishing, using the same publishing software as the professionals in the industry! (For more information on The Flame, click here.)
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Yearbook: Yearbook club members work together to create and design the High School and Middle School yearbook. Members are involved with photography, copy writing, editing, proof reading, theme design/implementation, and layout, using the same publishing software as the professionals in the industry!
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Shabbatonim and Trips:
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Shabbatonim: SSDSEU offers a number of Shabbaton experiences for students in grades 8-12. Thanks in part to a generous grant from the Avi Chai Foundation, we are able to run grade-level Shabbatonim, a Leadership Shabbaton, and an All-High School Shabbaton. These Shabbatonim provide wonderful opportunities for students to bond with their friends, enjoy Shabbat in ways that are new and exciting, have great food and create some long-lasting memories.
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 Naale - 9th Grade Trip to Israel: For information about Naale, go to Schechter Abroad.)
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Neshama Senior Experience: To find out about our Neshama Program, go to Schechter Abroad. For information about our senior year program, go to The Senior Year.
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Katrina Relief Mission: A select group of high school students, along with three advisors, go to New Orleans, LA to help in the effort to rebuild what was damaged or destroyed, and provide relief for the effected. They join Habitat for Humanity and help in the effort to rebuild homes for people who lost houses during Hurricane Katrina. (For Updates and Pictures from the latest Katrina Mission, Click Here.)
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Tenth Grade Chilean Exchange Program: For information about our Chilean Exchange Program go to Schechter Abroad.
Annual Programs & Events:
- Choir Benefit Concert: Every year, the SSDSEU Upper School hosts a choir concert where the middle school, high school, and chamber choir, along with a special guest choir perform for our community. Choir CDs are sold during the concert as well.
- Community Service Day: During Community Service Day our High school students, accompanied by faculty members, visit different sites and participated in a wide range of community service — from working with the elderly and disabled to stuffing envelopes and sorting clothing to help the homeless. They also learn first-hand about the important work the agencies and not-for-profits in the community do. The entire day is planned by students.
- Foreign Language Week: One week where high school students celebrate the culture associated with the foreign languages that they learn in classes. This week includes performing skits, and a special selection of lunch choices based on some of the common menu items found in Spanish and French speaking countries.
- National Honor Society Induction Ceremony: During this ceremony the new members of the National Honors Society are officially inducted into L'Mad, our National Honor Society, in front of their friends, teachers, family, and community.
- National Poetry Month: During the month of April, high school students celebrate and learn about the poetry that has and is continuing to affect our modern world. Some of the programs include decorating the hallways with quotes from poems, workshops with visiting poets, as well as an assembly with a special poet of the year, as chosen by the English department.
- Pep Rally/Alumni Basketball Game: Prior to December break, we invite our alumni to visit our school for a pep rally (which features performances by the Varsity Cheerleading Squad and the Dance Squad) and an alumni basketball game.
- Senior/Junior Prom: The Senior/Junior Prom is a formal dance that is held in the winter. Most of the event is planned by our students, from distribution of invitations, to arranging seating, to planning the school run post-prom.
- Spirit Week: Sprit week is a high school wide color war between the different grades. Each grade is assigned a color. They then compete against each other in various athletic, intellectual, creative, and spirit activities. Points are tallied by faculty judges at the end of the week and the winner is announced.
- Student Council Elections: Student council elections are open to all high schoolers in addition to eighth grade students. Candidates for the offices of student council president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary give speeches to the student body, who then vote for their prefered candidates.
- Walk for Life: Each year upper and lower school students obtain sponsors for this walk to raise money for the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation. This organization was founded by Jay Feinberg, who was a direct recipient of the fundraising efforts of SSDSEU several years ago when he was ill. A student in the Upper School at that time knew the Feinberg family and their desperate search for a cure for Jay's cancer. This student, Miriam Heller, took it upon herself to engage the school to raise money for cancer research. The tradition at the school has continued ever since and has been spearheaded and sponsored by L'Mad, the school's local chapter of the National Honor Society. Each year the school raises several thousand dollars for the organization, and specifically chooses the days before the Thanksgiving holiday for the walk.
- Yom Ha’atzmaut: Each year, members of the Israel Club organize a variety of educational, interactive, and fun activities, celebrating the anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.
- Yom Ha-Shoah/ Sala Elbaum Memorial Lecture: The annual lecture series on the Holocaust is made possible by a gift to the school from Steven and Judy Elbaum, in memory of their parents, Sala Elbaum and David Urman, who were Holocaust survivors. The program is for Upper School students only.
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Principal’s Message
Academics
Student Services and College Guidance
Upper School Library
Schechter Abroad
The Israel Experience
The Senior Year
Upper School Happenings
Athletics & Physical Education
Clubs Online
Bell Schedule
Conferences
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