Local News
Gray Academy excels at online teaching during pandemic with ‘Gray Away”
and Annie (Gr. 6)
By BERNIE BELLAN
It was March 13 when the Province of Manitoba announced that, effective March 23, all schools in Manitoba were going to close for three weeks – with the possibility that the closure might be extended.
While it shouldn’t have come as a major surprise, given the speed with which the novel coronavirus was sweeping across Canada and the United States, still, how do you prepare for something as huge as the closing of all schools?
For staff at Gray Academy, however, adapting to new technology has always been a strong suit. Within a period of days the school informed parents that almost everything that had been done in the bricks and mortar Gray Academy was now going to be carried over into what was titled “Gray Away”.
Now, after over two months of having transitioned to a totally new way of learning, the results are in – and it seems that everyone, from staff to parents to students themselves, are more than satisfied with how Gray Academy has managed to adapt so well to the demands that were thrust upon that school.
Staff forced to pivot to online learning in a very short time
On Friday, May 15 I spoke with three members of Gray Academy: Head of School and Gray Academy CEO Lori Binder, Director of Teaching and Learning Rob Dalgliesh, and Director, Marketing and Communications Andrea Ritter.
We discussed how Gray Academy has responded to the demands of taking an entire curriculum online and what the reactions of parents and students have been.
Lori Binder began the conversation by saying: “We’re phenomenally grateful to all of our staff for being able to pivot so quickly in the middle of March in caring for all of our students.
“No one could ever have imagined that within 48 hours we’d have to figure out an infrastructure to care for all of our students and our learning.
“It’s been going incredibly well. We have been able to solicit feedback along the way in the last eight and a half weeks. Feedback has been immensely helpful to help create “our Gray Away infrastructure.
“We had some things in place in the school before the pandemic hit that allowed us to pivot more successfully – especially in the upper elementary to the high school.
“I think it was caring for our littlest kids – nobody in this world would have fathomed children learning virtually at three, four, or five years of age, but I think the biggest drivers for us were insuring that our students in their isolation had very strong connections with their teachers and with their peers on a daily basis through having a timetable and live classes, also a solid structure.”
How the curriculum was developed
Rob Dalgliesh added: “Although our time line was very short, great care went into the creation of ‘Gray Away’ – our virtual academy. It wasn’t rushed. We spent a lot of extra time in the wee hours of the morning creating the pieces that went into it.
“We started with standard curriculum creation by looking at the principal foundations of what we would then carry forward. We looked at the research that is in the area of online learning.
“We looked at pillars – things that we could build on. We wanted to make sure that our kids felt that they were being cared for and safe, but to do that we wanted things to be somewhat familiar – that connection with their teachers, that connection with their peers.
“We also wanted to include a spiritual element. Being a Jewish school we wanted that to be there, so we have our ‘Kabbalat Shabbat’, we have things for holiday programming. Even during the Pesach break we had educators dedicate time to bring forward programming connected to the holiday.
“Another pillar was physical health. It’s easy for a kid not to get up and get going, so we wanted to make sure that there’s an expectation that we wanted them to continue with their phys ed programming.
(Another pillar was) “Mental health – we wanted to help kids with that; showing kids that there’s more to learning than reading a text book. We looked at calming exercises, at the integration of a variety of techniques that our teachers are great at using that help kids with their mental wellbeing.
“For instance, we had wonderful suggestions for creating art at home, also project based learning.”
Zoom for JK-Grade 2; Google Meets for students in Grade 3 & up
At that point I asked “whether the lessons for the kids are individually tailored or are they done in group Zoom sessions, for instance?”
Lori Binder answered: “We’re using the Zoom platform from junior kindergarten through to Grade 2 and we are using the Google classroom platform – which uses Google Meets, in Grades 3 through 12. There are live classes that occur every day – mornings and afternoons.
“We have also built in one-on-one time in our elementary so that teachers have a chance to connect with kids and do some assessment. In our high school there’s a little bit of one-on-time on a daily basis.
“We’ve also set aside blocks on day 3 for all teachers to have an open meeting.”
School still starts at 9 a.m.
I asked: “Can you give an idea how much time a typical student would be online – either individually or within a group setting?”
Lori Binder: “I’ll paint you a picture of elementary: At 9 a.m. every student comes on to Zoom – JK through elementary. The whole school is welcome, but it’s mostly elementary. There are live announcements and the anthems (both O Canada and Hatikvah), and then they head straight to their live classes. They start with a live class with their general classroom teacher, then they continue on either to a live specialist class, which could be French, guidance, music…and then they’ll continue on live.
“I wanted to clarify that in an hour for instance in the high school, it’s not just live teaching.” (Later Lori explained that there is also time set aside for students to study on their own during the school day – just as if they were in the actual physical school.)
Rob Dalgliesh added: “One of the pillars (upon which the virtual school was built) was having a balanced day so that there is online collaboration, for example, small group work.
“At the high school level, there is a teacher giving a lesson, then there is Q and A time afterward – just like in a bricks and mortar school.
“Sometimes the collaboration with other students is just over the phone – like we are right now, having a conversation. It’s not necessarily in front of a screen.
“There are off line working sessions with students doing homework with paper and pen. There are research and innovation projects – personal passion projects that a student wants to research and carry on by him or herself.”
Lori Binder: “I would say it’s about 41/2-5 hours a day (spent in the virtual classroom), but again – it’s not sitting and staring at a screen.
“We’ve got some incredible things going. For instance, a couple of nights ago, the Grade 9 science teacher invited all the students at 9:30 (p.m.) to hop on to a live meeting to look at Venus. It was a particular night that Venus could be visible in the sky.
“Our younger kids would be spending less time (in the virtual classroom) – more around three hours a day, divided up into smaller chunks.”
Close monitoring of each student’s performance
I asked: “Are you able to monitor individual students to see how much time each student is actually spending online?” (I asked that question because I was skeptical that all students are responding with equal eagerness to adapt to the “virtual classroom”).
Lori Binder: “One of the most amazing ingredients to this has been the very close connection between the teachers, the students, and the families. Every three days there are phone calls home.
“If a child has not arrived in the classroom and we have not heard from the parents, then we’re following up. We have very high engagement. I would say that almost every kid is learning.
“Where there’s a differential is in the junior kindergarten – kindergarten, where it’s a little more challenging to be regimented. But, because of the technology (we’re using) all our classes are recorded (and remain on our password protected website for five days), so that if a child did miss a class the parent could go on at any time (and play that lesson for the child).”
Andrea Ritter explained that the younger children spend about 20 minutes at a time online, then they go off to do something on their own, such as art , music, or gym. The teacher is available live, but the student can go and do their work on the dining room table for instance. All the students may be doing their math work, but the teacher is on their screen if they need help.
I asked whether there is a full slate of classes, including Judaic studies, for all students?
Lori Binder answered: “Every single program is running, including English as an Additional Language, our special education department, our guidance department.”
I wondered whether the curriculum being followed thus far in the virtual classroom is keeping apace with what would have occurred in the actual physical classroom?
Lori Binder: “It’s hard to compare going completely virtual. I would say that we are confident we will have achieved the proper outcomes of the curriculum by year end.”
Rob Dalgliesh added: “We’re carefully mapping what’s being done, what’s completed and what’s not. We will be able to determine what a student hasn’t completed before the next year begins.
Rigorous timetable being followed
Lori Binder: “We made a decision to exceed the provincial requirements. We decided to have a rigorous timetable that was also balanced so that, for instance, the lunch hour is a little bit longer than what students would have had in the actual school because we thought the students would need a ‘quiet hour’ getting off the screen time.
“There’s a break of half an hour in the morning and afternoon for the elementary kids so that they can get up and stretch.
“The schedule ends around 3:15 instead of 3:40. Instead of starting at 10 to 9 we’re starting at 9 o’clock.”
I said: “What I’m getting from this is that the kids are adjusting to a situation that would be as comparable as possible to the actual classroom situation.”
Lori Binder: “Yes, we really felt that our kids needed routine, that in their isolation they needed to be connected to the school, to the school community, and to their classmates.”
She went on to explain how the timing of having to switch to the virtual classroom was quickly interrupted by the Pesach break: “In a normal Peasach break we would be off and relaxing, but we knew that our kids would not have the luxury of a Pesach break where they could go out of town so on the non-Yom Tov days we put together a program (with about 20 volunteer staff) where we went on Zoom and we had everything from a pet parade, story time for the young kids, we had an author (Jon Waldman) read from his Jets book, we had teachers eat lunch with the kids – because we just couldn’t go from 13 days of virtual school to a Pesach that was quiet.
“It was during the Pesach break that our leadership team formulated the next phase of Gray Academy, which was Gray Away 2.0, where we finessed our timetable and we finessed our learning hub, especially with the younger kids, so that we found a way to bring the families into a good structure.
“What about other schools that might not be in as good a situation as Gray Academy?” I wondered.
“Are kids in other schools going to have to repeat the year entirely because they might not have had access to the kinds of technology that Gray Academy kids have?” I noted that in Quebec, for instance, “they’re abandoning the school year for kids who live in Montreal.”
Lori Binder explained that “there is an answer from the province actually.” She asked Rob Dalgliesh to expand upon what the province has asked schools to do.
Rob Dalgliesh picked up: “The province does not want children to be held back based on what’s happening now.” There is a possibility that there may be summer schooling for students who have fallen behind, he noted.
Lori Binder also noted that the province has asked that in report cards at year’s end, for students in Grades 9-12, it will have to be cited whether a student requires recovery learning in the fall or whether they do not require recovery learning. That will help guide students who are moving between schools.
Plans being laid for eventual reopening of the school
“Are you making any plans at all for a possible return to the classroom with social distancing in place?” I asked, or “is that too far ahead to think about yet?”
Lori Binder: “We were just in a town hall meeting with Dr. (Brent) Roussin (Manitoba’s Chief Public Health Officer) yesterday, along with about another thousand administrators from across the province and they just released a draft guideline called ‘limited facility school use’. It’s incredibly limited; it doesn’t involve plans for the fall. It deals with a child needing to meet with a guidance counsellor one on one, for example, or with a therapist.
“We are anticipating planning for a number of scenarios and, therefore, we’re planning with about five or six different things in mind, such as: ‘Are we going to have fewer students in spaces?’ We’ve been looking at what social distancing might look like in a classroom, whether we’re going to have to look at mixed days.
“We are very, very involved with our Canadian accredited independent schools. We meet with the Department of Education weekly. We’re also very connected to the Manitoba Federation of Independent Schools. (I happen to be vice-chair of that right now.) We’re all working together.”
Post script: Following my conversation with the three administrators from Gray Academy on May 15, the Province of Manitoba announced new guidelines for schools. We received the following note from Andrea Ritter on Friday, May 22:
“As you know, the provincial directives have changed since we spoke. Throughout the entire process of building and delivering Gray Away, we’ve had to be on our toes for ongoing changes!
“Right now we’re exploring possibilities of what we might be able to do in terms of allowing limited groups students into our building (and our outdoor spaces) for occasional group activities, one-one-one guidance, exams, etc. There will be no in-class learning; the Province has re-iterated that in-school classes are still suspended for all Manitoba schools. Gray Away remote learning will continue for the remainder of the year, but it could be wonderful to be able to give students the opportunity to visit their teachers and friends, with strict adherence to physical distancing, etc.
“Even with new directives from the Government of Manitoba, we will only open our doors to students when we are fully confident that we can meet all provincial expectations for protecting the health and safety of our school community – staff, students and families. While we do not have all the answers today regarding what will over the next month or so, we will definitely keep our families informed every step of the way.
Andrea also sent links to three videos that provide good illustrations of how Gray Academy has been adapting to the current situation:
Thank You Teachers –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnNg-dPmTdg
Gray Academy Grad 2020 Tribute –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTH9dET_Ig4
Song Festival Greatest Hits Vol. 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikx858JUxhU&t=1080s
Local News
Inspirational Gray Academy teacher Sheppy Coodin retiring
By MYRON LOVE After 20 years at Gray Academy – and 30 years overall as a teacher, Dr. Sheppy Coodin is retiring – leaving behind many indelible memories – not only for himself but also for the numerous students he has taught over the years.
“I tried to inspire my students – and I was in turn inspired by them,” says Coodin, the son of Kayla and the late Fischel Coodin, who was one of the longest serving teachers currently teaching at the school.
The beloved biology teacher’s relationship with our community’s Jewish school system actually goes back much longer than 20 years. He is an alumnus of both the former Talmud Torah School and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate and his father-in-law, Jerry Cohen, served as principal of Joseph Wolinsky for 17 years – from 1980-1997.
Coodin recounts that his teachers at Joseph Wolinsky – in particular the Grysmans and Binenfelds – inspired his passion for Judaism.
Coodin earned his Ph.D. in Biology from Western University – graduating in 1993. He says though, that his goal all along had been to become a teacher. After Western, he and his late wife, Naomi, returned to Winnipeg where he earned his B. Ed at the University of Manitoba.
He first taught for a year in the Seven Oaks School System – followed by eight years at St. John’s-Ravenscourt. At Ravenscourt, he taught Grade 8-12 Sciences.
Coodin taught at Ravenscourt for eight years before moving to Gray Academy. At the latter, he taught high school Biology and Judaic Studies.
Coodin describes Gray Academy as a very special school. “My colleagues and the students – we are a family,” he observes.
One important trait that Coodin brought to his role as a teacher was his enthusiasm. “I have always loved lesson planning,” he says. “I loved the challenge of finding new ways to help my students connect with the material.
Coodin also has one talent that is unique among his fellow teachers: He can juggle…no, not in the sense of juggling responsibilities – but real juggling. It was an avocation that he learned in high school. In his younger days, he occasionally worked children’s birthday parties as “Sheppy the Clown” – an act that naturally included juggling.
And from his first year as a teacher, he taught interested students to juggle as part of his school’s extracurricular activities. At Gray Academy, he started a yearly Purim variety show which included his student jugglers as well as other students and staff offering stand-up comedy, song and dance.
He happily reports that the variety shows will continue even though he will no longer be a part of them.
Living and modelling an observant Jewish life has also been important to Coodin. For 30 years, Jewish scholar Barry Bender form New York would fly into Winnipeg in January – with a dozen yeshiva students, to lead a weekend Shabbaton for the school’s high school students – a Shabbaton that Coodin was involved in helping organize.
That came to an end with the Covid lockdowns in 2020 but, Coodin reports, last year, he and his fellow teachers organized their own Shabbaton for their students.
“All 14 of us high school teachers who went were actively involved,” he points out.
Another initiative that Coodin started – with fellow Gray Academy High school teacher Avi Posen (who made aliyah in 2019) was the annual “Shabbat Unplugged.” The two created Shabbat Unplugged in 2016 with the idea of building on the annual high school Shabbaton and organizing an annual Shabbaton for Jewish university students, not only from Winnipeg, but also from other Western Canadian Jewish communities.
The Shabbaton is now run by Hillel, he notes. “It was nice to be invited back by (Hillel director) Raya (Margulets),” Coodin commented in an interview with the Post a few months back. “Raya is also a former student of mine who took part in the 2017 Shabbat Unplugged.”
One of the highlights of his teaching career at Gray Academy, he notes, was being able to teach his own sons, Yoni and Elly. “That was really special,” he recalls.
In retirement, he says, he is looking forward to spending time at Gimli over the summer with his partner, Leslie Singer, who is also retiring from teaching this year. “I am planning on renewing my gym membership and getting back to golf,” he continues. “Leslie and I will most likely do some traveling in the fall. I am also looking forward to spending time with family. ”
And though his teaching career is at an end, Coodin fully expects to keep in touch with many of his former students.
Local News
Winnipegger Mark Joseph leading efforts to fund treatment for rare genetic disorder that afflicted his daughter
By MYRON LOVE It’s not likely that many readers are familiar with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), but it is a condition that Mark and Jennifer Joseph know all too well, as their ten-year-old daughter, Darwin, lives with this disorder.
Prader-Willi Syndrome is a rare life-threatening genetic disorder that occurs in approximately one out of every 15,000 live-births. PWS affects many aspects of an individual’s life. A particular symptom is a relentless and insatiable hunger.
“We were fortunate that we were living in Toronto when Darwin was born so that we had access to many, many specialists and the Hospital for Sick Children,” says Mark, a pilot with Westjet who moved to Winnipeg in 2021. Immediately at Darwin’s birth the doctors knew there was something atypical about Darwin. The room flooded with specialists to assess and treat the newborn, who was labelled “failure to thrive,” as she was as limp as a rag doll, and wasn’t crying. “This was definitely one of the scariest and most traumatic experiences of our lives,” adds Mark.
“The hospital’s lead paediatrician had no experience with PWS, but remembered hearing of it. Genetic testing began, and by one-month-of-age, we had a definitive diagnosis of Prader-Willi Syndrome – a diagnosis that would change the trajectory of our lives,” notes Jennifer.
“Darwin’s diagnosis required us to become experts in her condition,” says Mark, who is the newly installed President and Chair of the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research Canada. “Most medical professionals have never encountered anyone living with it. We had to learn all we could to best advocate for our daughter so that we could have the best possible outcome for her future.”
“Darwin’s early years were filled with therapies – physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, hippotherapy, even feeding therapy, as an infant due to her low muscle tone. We still have therapies, but nothing like in Darwin’s first year of life. Before the age of one, we had attended over 165 medical appointments and therapies. It was exhausting and mentally very hard. This was our first child and definitely not how we had envisioned parenthood,” says Jennifer.
As Darwin has aged, her insatiable appetite has grown with her. In order to keep her safe and provide her a bit of independence in her own home, Darwin’s parents have had to put locks on the fridge and pantry. “Anywhere that food is stored needs to be locked. This helps us keep Darwin safe from overeating, as individuals with PWS have a high pain threshold and can unfortunately eat until they rupture their stomach. But it also helps Darwin manage her food-related anxiety so she doesn’t have to worry about gaining access to food and hurting herself,” notes Mark.
Food needs to be controlled and scheduled in any environment in which Darwin is present. Her school has taken great lengths to ensure food safety and open communication about food-related activities. Every meal has to be nutritious and portion controlled, as not only is Darwin always hungry, her slow metabolism requires her to need only half the typical calories of her peers – otherwise she will face life-threatening obesity and its related diseases.
Locally, on Sunday, June 9, Mark and Jennifer – in conjunction with three other Winnipeg families who are raising children with PWS, organized their second annual “One Small Step” Walk for Prader-Willi Syndrome Research at Kildonan Park. Mark reports that this year’s walk attracted 130 participants and raised over $22,000 – about $6,000 more than last year.
The funding, he reports, is being directed toward research. Clinical trials are taking place around the world to help understand the mechanisms of Prader-Willi Syndrome and investigate new treatments. One such trial is being conducted by Dr. Jennifer Miller, a professor and researcher in the division of Paediatric Endocrinology at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Dr. Miller, the world’s leading specialist in PWS, currently works with over 500 patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome from around the world, and has been working towards achieving an effective treatment for hyperphagia (insatiable hunger) for the past 12 years.
The Josephs report that research may be close to a breakthrough in developing a treatment that can minimize some of the more challenging aspects of PWS. “Right now, Darwin is in public school,” Mark notes. “She can read and write and is fairly high functioning, but she is constantly hungry and anxious about food and distracted by the desire to attain food. This obviously has a huge effect on her ability to concentrate and learn. Without treatment, she will not be able to manage the demands of high school or look forward to a career.”
“A treatment will be life-changing for her and for us as a family – she may be able to lead a full and independent future… something we never thought we’d see in the early days of her diagnosis,” adds Jennifer. “Mark himself was responsible for much of the increase in the amount of money raised at this year’s walk thanks to the extensive network of contacts that he has built up over the years through his career in the aviation industry, and as a part of the Jewish community.
“A lot of people are willing to help, but they don’t know how,” Mark observes. “Our fundraising walk provides focus for friends, family, colleagues, and even strangers who want to help.”
For Mark, this is his second go-around in Winnipeg. He previously lived and worked here in 2008. That was when he met Jennifer. He himself is originally from Toronto. He notes that his father is from Haifa and his mother grew up as part of a small Jewish community in Cornwall – which is about 90 km southeast of Ottawa. Although his wife Jennifer is not Jewish, the couple agreed to raise their children – Darwin and younger brother Edison, in the Jewish faith.
“In Ontario, we were living in an area called the Blue Mountains, two hours north of Toronto, and there was no Jewish community,” Mark notes, “So when the pandemic happened, we decided that it was time to move back to Winnipeg to be closer to Jenn’s friends and family. Knowing that there was a large and vibrant Jewish community here made the decision an easy one.”
The Josephs enrolled their son Edison in Gray Academy for junior and senior kindergarten, and then transferred him to the Brock Corydon Hebrew Bilingual program. “We want him to have a strong foundation and connection to his Jewish roots,” Mark says. And though Darwin is not enrolled in the Hebrew program, she enjoys many activities and programs through the Rady JCC. “We are looking forward to deepening our involvement in the Jewish community,”Mark adds.
Readers who would like to support the Josephs’ efforts to develop a treatment for PWS and alleviate the challenges that Darwin and those afflicted with PWS face, can do so by visiting their One Small Step fundraising page at: tiny.cc/70cpyz
To learn more about Prader-Willi Syndrome and the research being conducted you can visit: www.fpwr.ca or www.fpwr.org
Local News
Former Winnipeg JNF Shaliach and Ben-Gurion University Executive Director Ariel Karabelnicoff has new gig with Haifa University
By MYRON LOVE Ariel Karabelnicoff left an indelible mark on our community over the 16 years that he and his wife Grabriela and their daughters lived here. Originally from Argentina, Ariel and Gabriela came here – by way of Israel – in 2003.
On first arriving, Karabelnicoff worked for investment firm Jory Capital. Subsequently, by turn, he served as the State of Israel Bonds’ point man here, then executive director of the local chapter of the Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – followed by filling the same role for the JNF here. In 2019, he was lured to Toronto by former employer Israel Bonds to serve as national sales director.
About two years ago, Karabelnicoff left Israel Bonds for a new gig as executive director of Canadian Friends of Haifa University.
“I was excited to take on this new role,” Karabelnicoff says. “I strongly believe in the importance of higher education. Higher education broadens the mind and is a path to opening doors to multiple opportunities in life. It is a key to social mobility.”
Karabelnicoff reports that, among the largest universities in Israel, the University of Haifa is the youngest. Fully accredited in 1972, he notes, the university has an enrolment of 18,000 students – with a student body that reflects the diversity of Israel’s population. About 40% of the students come from the Druze, Circassian and Arab communities and – among the Jewish students – there are many whose families are from Ethiopia.
The University of Haifa , he adds, also boasts the highest percentage – among Israeli universities – of students who are the first generation in their families to attend university.
The university has several campuses. The original campus – a 30-floor structure – on Mount Carmel – houses several faculties, among them the Faculty of Law – in its new building – and the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, which offers the only graduate program in Israel in that field. The Computer Science Faculty is located in the port area. The Faculty of Design and Architecture – formerly the Neri Bloomfield School of Design under Hadassah-WIZ Oauspices – is situated in Haifa’s German Colony neighbourhood.
Coming soon for the University of Haifa, Karabelnicoff reports, will be a new School of Medicine. “There is a serious doctor shortage in Israel,” he points out. “The plan is to work in cooperation with Carmel Hospital. The University of Haifa is proud to lead in the efforts to train medical doctors and to be able to serve and take care of the population in the north of Israel.”
He adds that, as a result of the ongoing war, thousands of young Israelis that fought and are fighting right now, will be able to receive treatment and rehabilitation to their injuries and physical disabilities at the “Rehabilitation Training Center,” which will be built as part of the new Medical School of the University of Haifa . The Center, he says, will be one of the most important facilities to be developed at the School of Medicine to train doctors in rehabilitation.
Karabelnicoff further reports that the new School of Medicine was inaugurated at an event during the recent Board of Governors meeting held on June 2, 2024. The school will start teaching its first 50 students in October 2025. In subsequent years 150 students a year will begin training annually.
The school will be built on the grounds of the main campus of the University of Haifa on Mt. Carmel. The capital campaign that was recently launched totals US $120 million. The university has already secured US$65 million – including US$50 million from the Amir Family, US$10 million more from the Bloom Family in Boston, and another US$5 million from other donors around the world so far.
The Canadian Friends of Haifa University, he notes, has been in operation since 1973. The Canadian chapter has been, until now, largely focused on Toronto. The new executive director is working to expand the CFHU outreach to other Canadian Jewish communities.
“There are a lot of Israelis living in Winnipeg, for example,” he says. “I have begun reaching out to them.
“I would also like to see if we could negotiate some joint programming between Haifa University and the University of Manitoba.”
Karabelnicoff reports that the school year, which was delayed by the October 7 attacks and the current ongoing IDF operation in Gaza, began at the beginning of January. “Things are slowly getting back to normal in Israel,” he says. “We had about 1,500 students and faculty fighting in the reserves. Two-thirds are back in class.”
A current fundraising goal for the CFHU is to raise money for students returning from the fighting to provide scholarships to help pay tuition and rent to make up what they had to sacrifice financially while serving in Gaza.
As an individual whose work history has been all about building relationships, Ariel Karabelnicoff may be just the man to expand CFHU’s footprint across Canada.
For readers interested in contacting Ariel about supporting Canadian Friends of Haifa University, his email address is ariel.karabelnicoff@haifa-univ.ca.