Please join us in giving a big mazal tov to our faculty and staff celebrating milestone anniversaries at Heilicher 🎉
Here at Heilicher we’re blessed with experienced and passionate educators and leaders dedicated to creating the best education, community, and experience for Heilicher families. This year we’re celebrating 11 people as they celebrate 5, 10, 25, and even 30 years with us!
🎨 A special acknowledgment to our incredible art department: Aimee Orkin, 30 years, and Victoria Thor, 25 years!
From building literacy skills to building community and from celebrating STEM wins to celebrating holidays, these yearbooks remind us of all the learning and fun we’ve had this year. We look forward to looking back in these books for the amazing memories and loving notes. HAGS! 🧡
📢 Shout out to eighth grader Sylvia G. for designing the yearbook cover in Ms. Thor’s graphic design class!
Heilicher graduation holds some of our greatest traditions — every graduate speaks from the heart, and every graduate hears from a special teacher. There's singing, tears, and laughter!
🎓 Mazal tov to the Heilicher eighth-grade class of 2025! May they be blessed as they go on their way to becoming Jewish leaders and lifelong learners. 🎓
Our classes are wrapping up for the year, and Ms. Schear's class celebrated the siyum (completion) of first grade!
Students shared their work with their parents, incorporated Hebrew, and watched a slideshow of highlights from the year. Mazal tov to our rising second graders!
ICYMI 👀
Read TC Jewfolk's article, “HMJDS To Be Renamed As Part Of $40 Million Campaign.”
It was a joy to meet our 2025-2026 new families for Shabbat dinner last week. We paired incoming families with current families so our new Heilicher community members can get to know one another, learn from current families, and feel right at home. Welcome to the community!
We had a successful and exciting annual meeting! Thank you to the students, board members, and administrators who spoke. We honored staff milestones and departures, reflected on the successes of the year, and looked ahead with the announcement of the Hineini Campaign, which was launched with a historic gift that we will honor with a new name in the fall: Harold and Mickey Smith Jewish Academy!
If you were not able to join us, you can watch the meeting: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iyh8WAdVQc-CO7i_KkxifSQJ5CGHD6wH/view?usp=drive_link
Our 40th Annual Meeting celebrated an extraordinary year in our history and ended with a big announcement … just like this post does! Before the big reveal, join us in saying kol hakavod (good job/all honor) to our school for our first eighth-grade Israel trip, recognition of our students’ achievements and academic success, and our improving financial picture due to steady enrollment increases and careful management. All more than enough to celebrate but there’s more … We are proud to announce a major campaign to secure our future! The Hineini Campaign will fully fund tuition assistance and programmatic excellence for Jewish education in the Twin Cities. We are launching this bold initiative with a truly extraordinary gift — the largest our school has ever received — given in memory of longtime supporters, Harold and Mickey Smith. To honor this gift, we will be known as the Harold and Mickey Smith Jewish Academy beginning this fall! We are deeply grateful to the Heilicher Foundation for generously making this naming possible and to our community members for their passionate support of Jewish education in the Twin Cities. Much more to come — read our full announcement and stay informed through our community updates! Full announcement: https://conta.cc/450tbva
Can you tell which sculpture the fifth graders are attempting to recreate? Swipe to find out! 🍒🥄 Heilicher fifth graders enjoyed a trip to the Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden today.
“And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to God on its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper.” (Jer. 29.7)
As Jewish Americans, we commemorate Memorial Day and honor the lives lost in service to the United States of America.
#hmjdslions
Heilicher is all about creating lifelong learners, and our faculty lead by example. Mazal tov to haMorah Hadassa Slager on completing her master’s degree in Jewish education from the Jewish Theological Seminary!
Simon H., Liam R., Milo W., and Ezra Z. are the overall best team out of 92 teams in the worldwide Cosmic Leap Foundation Space Colony Competition!
Heilicher fifth graders participated in the competition, learning about the challenges of living in space, researching and designing their own Mars space colonies, and building 3D models using recycled materials.
In addition to the top prize, four of Heilicher’s teams received the highest possible rating of Cosmic, recognizing their innovative engineering, mental health focus, and architectural solutions designed for life beyond Earth. Kol hakavod!
See the middle school printmaking class in action with the printing press!
We have some math masters at Heilicher! Last month some of our Math Club students participated in the Math Masters mathematics competition, using critical thinking and problem-solving skills in mathematics.
Last week, the Cosmetic Chemistry elective learned how acid/base chemistry is used to make various cosmetic products. They then combined a weak acid and a weak base to make bath bombs they can use at home!
♟ Heilicher has some chess champions! ♟
A couple weeks ago some of our students participated in the seven-round School Chess Association Primary Statewide Tournament — and won! The Heilicher primary team scored a total of 16 wins — a 4.5-point lead over the 2nd-place team.
♟ Congratulations to the primary team players: Nate K., 5th place with 5 wins; Alon L., 10th place with 4 wins (in his first tournament!); Matan S., 14th place with 4 wins; and Naor F., 3 wins.
♟ The elementary team also played great — they are three third graders and a fourth grader, and they played teams with fifth graders and placed 7th! Shoutout to Ben H., 4 points; Elliot R., 4 points; Lev R., 3.5 points; and Huckleberry S. (first tournament!), 2.5 points.
♟ Mazal tov to all the Heilicher players, and kol hakavod (good job/all honor) to Ben for earning 💯 merit points and Elliot for earning a gold medal🏅!
Throughout the year, K-4 students studied works of art from Minneapolis Institute of Art, and today they got to see those works and more at the museum! 🖼
Out of about 1,300 teams, two groups of Heilicher third graders advanced to the final round of the Minnesota Zoo’s ZOOMS STEM Design Challenge and presented their enrichment designs for the zoo’s white-cheeked gibbons to zoo officials. 🐒 One group — Elly K., Maya R., and Noa S. — earned third place overall for enrichment design!
Kol hakavod (good job/all honor) to Elly, Maya, and Noa; Saul H., Ari S., and Harrison W.; AND Ms. Vlodaver!
Our seventh graders are now back from the U.S. capital, and just before their trip they, along with the rest of the middle school, visited our state capital. 🏛
First, middle schoolers explored Minnesota's past by visiting the many interesting hands-on exhibits at the Minnesota History Center. Then they visited the Minnesota State Capitol for a tour and met St. Louis Park State Representative Larry Kraft in the rotunda where he answered student questions about government.
We are immensely proud of the Heilicher eighth graders who presented a culmination of many weeks of hard work, including mentor meetings and research, at Capstone Evening. Each student chose a social justice issue and presented their newfound knowledge and suggestions to their peers, teachers, and families. We love to see eloquent and passionate soon-to-be Heilicher graduates excited about creating change and ready to go on to high school and beyond!
