Weber, AJA Announce Top Seniors
The Jewish high schools have their valedictorians and salutatorians set for graduation this spring.
The Weber School and Atlanta Jewish Academy have announced the valedictorians and salutatorians for the Class of 2018.
The valedictorian has the best grade-point average in the class; the salutatorian is No. 2.
At Weber, Sammy Weiss-Cowie is the valedictorian, and Rosa Brown is the salutatorian.
Rosa also is Weber’s STAR student for having the highest SAT score among the top 10 students in the class. As part of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators program, she chose social studies teacher Kevin Goldberg as her STAR teacher, the educator most instrumental in her academic development.
“Dr. Goldberg is a talented, engaging educator. Not only is he incredibly knowledgeable, but, more importantly, he’s passionate about sharing that knowledge and never hesitates to go out of his way to help a student gain greater understanding,” she said.
At AJA, Torah Day School of Atlanta alumna Maayan Schoen is the valedictorian, and Jewish Kids Groups Sunday school teacher Nicole Dori is the salutatorian.
Maayan, AJA’s STAR student, is the school’s first student to serve two terms as president on the Student Council, and she also served as secretary when she was a sophomore.
She was a fundraiser and delegate for AJA’s first matzah mission to Azerbaijan, and she wrote and directed this year’s Upper School girls chagiga musical, the Holocaust story “The Might of Right,” after performing in the show the previous three years.
Her school activities have included soccer, the newspaper and the yearbook. She founded and leads a school club for mindfulness, the No Stress Quest, and serves on the board for AJA’s chapter of No Place for Hate.
Outside school, Maayan interned at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, shadowed at the Atlanta Community Food Bank, organized fundraisers for hunger efforts and school service days, and volunteers with the Toco Hills Community Alliance Food Pantry, Kids in Need, the Friendship Circle and Adopt-a-Bubbie.
She taught Jewish Kids Groups Sunday school, the Beth Jacob Shmiras HaLashon program and Young Israel of Toco Hills youth groups; owns a Hebrew metal-stamp jewelry business; and is due to speak on a panel at the AIPAC Policy Conference, being held March 4 to 6, on “Amplifying High School Activism.” Maayan attended and now works at Camp Stone, where the emphasis on experiential learning influenced her approach to education and her Zionist identity.
Her awards include the Hadassah Chesed Award, the Citizenship Award, the Middot Award, the Student of the Year Award, the Georgia Certificate of Merit, the Ronald Reagan Student Leader Award, the Columbia University Book Award and the University of Rochester George Eastman Young Leaders Award.
Maayan will study in the Migdal Oz women’s beit midrash program in Israel next year.
Nicole is the editor of the student magazine Palette, played soccer and volleyball, and produced “The Might of Right.” She joined the school’s AIPAC and Israel advocacy clubs to expand her knowledge of Israel, attended the Saban Leadership Seminar in 2016 and plans to go to the AIPAC Policy Conference.
She’s in the volunteer club Students Who Care and part of Women in STEM, and she’s a member of the physics team that will create a safe for the Shalheveth Freier International Physics Tournament in Israel. Nicole volunteers for the Friendship Circle, serving as president this year, and tutors younger kids in math and Hebrew.
Nicole’s awards include the Citizenship Award, the Georgia Certificate of Merit, first place in the Georgia Math League, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Medal Award, the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Club of Atlanta’s Book Award and the Excellence in Journalism Award.
She will attend Midreshet Tehillah next year.
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