Milestones: Growing Meaning and Experiential Growth in our K-6th Kulanu Youth Program!
Date: May 27, 2025
Author: Jojo Sidney, Kulanu Milestones Leader
Hello Shir Hadash Community!
As we prepare for the Milestones Shabbat Services, I want to congratulate our community's students for their hard work and dedication. Launching this new Milestone initiative means deepening Jewish experiences and preparing our students for life as a Jewish adult. Each class has spent the year learning a different Shabbat service that can be transferred to almost any synagogue no matter where they travel in the future. I am incredibly proud of how far our students have come. Not only do they know the Hebrew and the tunes of the prayers, they also know how to read and decode the English so they can understand what they're saying and why.
I want to give a special thanks to Bert and Noah, the Milestone Madrichim - their dedication, knowledge and leadership in being good role models encouraged students to participate and want to learn as well as enjoy the time spent in Milestones. Bert and Noah, as well as the entire Kulanu teacher team, were an incredible help when coordinating the learning for the students. Together, we played games, split into small groups or one-on-one tutoring and showed the students what it means to pray and why we do it.
This Friday, May 30 and on Saturday, May 31 we will be showing the year's hard work by leading us in prayer. I am beyond excited for the students to show what they've learned and find out for themselves what it means to be part of a Jewish community and lead a congregation. Not only is this beneficial for leadership and public speaking skills, but this hands-on experiential learning is preparation for their B'nai Mitzvah and gives them a taste of what it is like to be a Jewish adult in our community.
I want to thank the students for their patience and willingness to learn. I want to thank the parents for helping our students show up and practice. I look forward to sharing with the community just how skilled our students are and how much they've learned!
Thank you for supporting our efforts to add meaning for our youth,
Jojo, UCSC Fellowship Program and Milestones Lead