California prep school students being introduced to TCI

Not too long ago, Maya Bernstein was busy on the East Coast, leading The Curriculum Initiative’s (TCI) New England Regional Office. Now she is spearheading TCI’s westward march. Using a generous grant from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, TCI opened a Bay Area Regional Office in September. The new office will enable TCI to bring programs supporting Jewish life and ethics education to students, parents, faculty members, and administrators in independent schools in northern California and beyond. In addition to the Bay Area office, TCI maintains offices in New York and Boston, and has a satellite program in New Orleans.

Bernstein started her work with a blast - literally. She blew the Shofar and gave out apples and honey as the guest assembly speaker at the Castilleja School in Palo Alto, informing the student body about the Jewish High Holidays. Bernstein remarks, “This is a great way to introduce students to Jewish traditions. We hope it stimulates discussion among Jews and non-Jews alike. We’re very excited to support schools’ diversity goals.” TCI is also making an impact in the classroom. At Stevenson, a school on the Monterey Peninsula, Bernstein provided the teacher of world religions with curricular materials to supplement his Judaism unit.

Maya Bernstein is no stranger to launching new TCI offices. She was the founding director of TCI’s New England Regional Office, established in 2002. "Regional offices allow TCI to provide more meaningful support to schools where we already work with faculty members,” says Bernstein. “They enable us to expand our program to reach more schools and more educators.” After arriving in California, Bernstein contacted alumni from TCI’s Summer Teacher Institutes and asked how TCI might support Jewish life and ethics education in their schools.

Maya Bernstein, in green, leaves New England behind

Bernstein reestablished her connection with program alumni by holding a reunion dinner. Part social gathering and part workshop, Bernstein was interested to hear how the content taught at the Institutes was working in the classroom. The response was overwhelmingly positive. “There’s a real feeling of community among ethics institute alums, and a sense that what we taught is having an impact. Teachers are using Jewish study techniques in the classroom and they are introducing this methodology of paired study, or hevruta, as hailing from the Jewish tradition,” Bernstein explained.

Bernstein has begun to support Jewish students on campus at independent schools. “If they have a Jewish student club, we support and enhance it. If they don’t, we encourage students to start one. Our goal is to figure out how best to support Jewish student life for individual schools.” Bernstein was glad to find that west coast schools are very receptive to TCI’s work. “Schools here seem very open to character education, spiritual life and multi-cultural dialogue. There is a lot of potential to support students.”

Bernstein would also like to connect Jewish students in the east and the west. “We are hoping to bring students from the Bay Area to Jewbilee, our annual New England weekend conference for Jewish students. There’s a lot of excitement among Jewish students and their advisors about making the trip to attend the event,” which will be held January 29-30 at Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. Bernstein will be getting some help from a great messenger, a Jewbilee alum. Ilana Segall,a first year student at Stanford, was on the leadership team for planning Jewbilee 2003 during her senior year at Phillips Academy, Andover, where the event was held. Her enthusiasm and first-hand experience will surely convince Bay Area students that Jewbilee is the place to be.

And all this in just a few short months, TCI’s western future seems very bright indeed.