Once a month our school comes together to celebrate and welcome the Shabbat. Students sing and recite the blessing over the candles, challah and grape juice. A middle school student delivers a Dvar Torah that relates an idea they are learning from their Judaic classes to practices that each student can apply to their everyday life.
Our middle school students have tefilah every day of the week.
Every rosh chodesh (new month) the entire school gathers for an assembly to celebrate and learn about the new month on the Hebrew calendar. As well each month’s assembly has a different theme for the students to focus on, e.g., “Be Proactive”
“Each person is responsible for the other” – one of our North Stars at OJCS. Students visit Hillel Lodge, the Jewish Community Long Term Care Facility, participate in the community-wide Mitzvah Day, support our Kosher Food Bank and partake in Tzedekah projects that emphasize the importance of charity in both the Jewish context as well as their responsibility as a global citizen.
The OJCS encourages students to participate in extracurricular activities to explore different interests, try something new and meet students in other grades. There are clubs, sports teams, and house leagues held throughout the year for the students during first and second nutrition breaks.
Clubs and activities change seasonally and are organized by different members of the faculty and student leaders. Some of the extracurricular clubs include Mad Science, chess n’ math club, cartooning, multi-sports, drama, acapella singing club, environmental club, robotics, Talmud club, intergenerational card club, as well as junior and senior concert band.