Type Private, Boarding Established 2001 Faculty 51 Phone +1 336-217-7100 Founded 2001 | Religious affiliation(s) Jewish Head of school Alex Troy Grades 9-12 Mascot Eagle Colors White, Blue, Red | |
Address 4334 Hobbs Rd, Greensboro, NC 27410, USA Similar Greensbo Day School, Caldwell Academy, Grimsley High School, Walter Hines Page Hig, Northwest High School Profiles | ||
The American Hebrew Academy (AHA) is the only international Jewish college preparatory school in the world for boarding and day students between 9th and 12th grade. The coeducational school is located in Greensboro, North Carolina with a 100-acre (0.4 km²) campus designed by Aaron Green, protégé of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Contents
The Academy is nationally accredited in the United States by the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The Academy is also a member in good standing of The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) and the only Jewish school awarded the Green Ribbon by the U.S. Department of Education.
American hebrew academy 2016
History
The academy was founded in 2001 by Maurice "Chico" Sabbah, a Sephardic Jew and Zionist in the international reinsurance business. A longtime resident of Greensboro, Sabbah wanted to create a high school option for the city's Jewish teens and to draw a critical mass of students from other regions of the country where Jewish day school was not a feasible option.
Sabbah’s nephew, Glenn Drew, has served as the school’s CEO and General Counsel since the Academy’s opening on September 10, 2001.
Academics
Operating on a trimester calendar, the unique curriculum at AHA is based on a 'dual-curriculum' model in which the general studies (Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Languages, Honors Level, Advanced Placement and Early College) courses are taught together with Jewish Studies which include Jewish Philosophy, History, Zionism, Religion and Culture). Unlike most Jewish schools in the United States, the Academy does not identify itself with any one particular movement or denomination of Judaism and therefore affiliates itself with and grants admission to students of any and all Jewish backgrounds.
The primary language of instruction is English and students are required to show a substantial progression with Hebrew language prior to graduation.
Due to its large percentage of international students, AHA has an ESOL (English as a second language) department that prepares foreign students for the American university system.
Many faculty members (24%) are also international or come from a dual-language background. The faculty includes 32% holding doctorate or equivalent degrees and 67% holding master’s degrees. The Academy is home to 29 National Merit Scholarship Award honorees.
Campus
The American Hebrew Academy is situated on a one-hundred acre campus, including a 22-acre lake. Following a national architectural competition to design the campus, Frank Lloyd Wright’s associate architect, Aaron Green, was commissioned to create the master plan for the campus and building designs for every building the Academy would eventually need for the immediate future and for years to come.
In addition to 16 single-sex dormitory houses and 34 staff resident apartments, the Academy has 32 buildings including an 88,000 square feet (8,200 m2), $18 million athletic center and natatorium. The athletic center includes two basketball courts, rock climbing walls, a racquetball court, an exercise gym and an eight-lane pool.
AHA has the largest closed-loop geothermal exchange well field in the United States to heat its campus. In 2016, the Academy dedicated the new Dr. Charlotte K. Frank Center for Plant Science & Ecology which provides a state of the art research and experimentation facility for advancing the study of hydroponics, aquaculture, soil and water conservation and Israel’s leadership in the development of agricultural technology.
All students are issued Surface Pro 3 tablet computers. Classrooms have SMART Boards, projectors and cameras and microphones. Classroom seating is at a Harkness table, teardrop-shaped tables that follow the Harkness teaching method, that ostensibly create a shared, equal environment for the students. The maximum class-size for most classes is 12 people, in order for students to get as much one-on-one interaction with their peers and instructors as possible.
Athletics
In addition to the 88,000 square foot athletic center and natatorium, the Academy also has playing fields including: a soccer stadium, baseball fields, softball fields, multiple all-purpose fields, and a rubberized track constructed of recycled materials. As a member of the Triad Athletic Conference, AHA offers baseball, basketball, cross-country, soccer, swimming, track and field, and volleyball. The Academy also hosts a number of intramural and club sports including racquetball, tennis, softball, golf, Touch Football, Ultimate Frisbee, Yoga, Aerobic and Weight Training, Kayaking and Sailing, Karate, and Rock Climbing.
Since 2010 the grounds of AHA have been host to 6 Points Sports Academy, the first-in-the-nation Jewish sports summer camp, part of the Union for Reform Judaism's family of summer camps. Open to young athletes ages 9 to 17 from all over North America and abroad, 6 Points Sports is a sleep-away camping experience that offers intensive training in the individual's chosen sport as well as cross-conditioning electives.
The Academy has also served as the host site for the Piedmont Triad Regional Special Olympics for over ten years.[1]
Student life
As the only international Jewish boarding school in the world, a large proportion of the AHA student body is foreign students. Fifty percent of the students have come from 35 countries and the other fifty percent come from 26 states across the U.S.
The Junior year class studies abroad in Israel for ten weeks each fall trimester. Students live in Hod HaSharon, Israel and study at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel. This immersion program enables students to explore their interest in and strengthen their ties to Jewish History, Israel and the Hebrew language.
AHA students wanting to specialize in a particular area such as STEM or pre-med are able to enhance their studies through a formal partnership that AHA enjoys with The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the North Carolina Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering as well as early university studies in all offered subject areas at Guilford College.