School to Celebrate Its 70th Year with Activities, Events

Maimonides School is planning a series of events, activities and accessories in celebration of its 70th year.

A steering committee, chaired by long-time volunteer leaders Iris Frisch and Marc Epstein, is overseeing programming that will embrace the entire school community, with major events focusing on the school’s past, present and future. Also being discussed are some physical additions that will commemorate the milestone.

The school that was to evolve into Maimonides was established by Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt”l, and began its first class in October 1937 with six students. Initial growth was gradual, but by 1949 it incorporated eight grades, with the first high school class graduating four years later.

On the commemoration calendar, the initial highlight will be a reunion of alumni from the school’s first 12 graduating classes–which totaled a little more than 100 students. These graduates will be invited to spend Friday, Nov. 9, in the school, meeting with students and teachers and answering their questions about Maimonides in the 1950s and ‘60s. A community presentation is planned for Saturday night, Nov. 10, with the reunion the following day.

Also being discussed by the committee is a mid-year celebration concentrating on the students of the school and a major event in the late spring to complete the cycle. It is hoped that a commemorative event also will take place in Israel, which is home to more than 10 percent of the school’s 1,600 graduates.