By Jillian Shweky, Centerspread Editor
As the 2023-2024 school year comes to a close it is easy for students to put the school year behind us and focus our attention towards approaching summer activities. However, before we step out of the Barrack hallways into the summer sunshine, we should take a moment to recap all of the student and faculty successes this past year.
Despite being rigorous before, Barrack has advanced academically by introducing
the Business and Art Institute, which joined the pre-existing and prestigious STEAM institute. With students now having access to more diverse educational opportunities, we are able to immerse ourselves in personal passions that will have real world applications.
Through our clubs, Barrack students have continued to make our school proud. Our Defense and Prosecution Mock Trial Teams both won their preliminary rounds of the competition due to their extensive preparation and passion for law. Our DECA club members had major success and sent many students to the state level competition and later, Noa Singer ‘26 and Ben Martin ‘25, to the International final competition in California. Religiously, our Moot Beit Din team excelled in their competition. After comprehensive research, the Moot Beit Din team competed against other schools in a competition of applying modern day issues to Jewish sources, and were triumphant. From the Cougar Chronicle to three soon-to-be released publications, students have kept our entire Kehillah updated on the world, interesting facts, and their opinions…in multiple languages! Other clubs like Widener Memorial Club, Political Action Club, and Environmental Action Club have represented our school values through their honorable community service work.
Due to the athleticism and teamwork of our sports teams over the past years, this school year we were invited to join the well respected Friends School Sports League. Within this league we placed 2nd in the Quaker Cup in both Girls Soccer and Basketball and our many other sports teams had a great first season in the league as well.
The Arts deserve a standing ovation this year. The middle school musical, “Finding Nemo Jr.” was filled with laughter, creativity, and talent. Our upper school musical “Mean Girls,” was a hit. Over 25 students participated in the cast and crew and multiple performances were sold out! The enormously talented Danielle Tapper brought professional direction to the Barrack stage, and the extravagant props and lighting took this show to another level. The talent and dedication within the cast made this a show that would have made Dewey z”l proud. Of course, we cannot forget about the whimsical and student directed production of Alice in Wonderland, which took place in the fall. The cast and crew transported the entire audience to the magical place of Wonderland, with their wonderful performance.
Despite the world being disconcerting right now for our community, our Barrack faculty has stepped up not only helping students handle these difficult times personally, but also providing tons of invaluable speakers who give unique and personal insight into Israel, antisemitism, and Judaism, globally, such as soldiers who have fought in Gaza and relatives of victims of October 7th.
As always, the hardest part of ending the year will be saying goodbye to our seniors. They set a high bar for the rest of us. We are so proud of their accomplishments over their years at Barrack, and we know that they are going on to great things
Barrack is a truly special place. Though there is a bittersweet feeling that fills our hearts as this year ends, we cannot wait to see what next year has in store!
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