Local News
Gray Academy grad Skye Kneller returns to alma mater in new leadership role
By MYRON LOVE Skye Kneller is going back to school in a sense. The Gray Academy grad – class of 2009 – has walked away from a career in broadcasting to take on the role of Director of Advancement and Alumni Relations at her alma mater.
“It is taking some getting-used-to to be welcomed in the staff room and calling some of my former teachers who are still there by their first names,” the daughter of Leah and the late Marshall Kneller observes.
The lifelong Garden City resident spent her entire grade and high school years at Gray Academy, beginning in 1997, when the school opened. After earning undergraduate degrees in both Arts and Science, Kneller enrolled in a one-year radio and television broadcasting course at Herzing College.
“My internship was at CJOB and I was fortunate to have been hired by the station after graduation,” she says. “As a producer, I worked on the news side with Julie Buckingham and Richard Cloutier. They became my mentors.”
She was also responsible for producing all the Blue Bombers and Jet games as well as some Manitoba Moose games.
(It was also at CJOB that she met her husband, fellow CJOB producer Cameron Poitras – who also co-hosts the lunchtime sports show with Jim Toth.)
Kneller notes that she was attracted to broadcasting by the creative opportunity. “I love storytelling,” she says. “I also enjoyed the technical aspects of it. I am very detail-oriented.”
The drawback, she points out – and that which attracted her to the new position at Gray Academy – was the primacy of work over being able to regularly attend synagogue services. “I would often have to leave minyans early to go to work,” says the vice president of Garden City’s Chevra Mishnayes Synagogue – of which she is a third generation member. (Her father was the congregation’s president at the time of his sudden passing in early 2021.)
(Cameron Poitras, who was profiled in the JP&N a few month back, is also a member of the board of the synagogue and regularly attends services.)
“At Gray Academy, I am able to observe all the Jewish holidays within a religious infrastructure,” she continues.
She adds that she also appreciates the more regular work hours.
Kneller reports that the position of Director of Advancement and Alumni Relations is a new position at Gray Academy. “A lot of universities and private schools have people in this position,” she notes. “I am responsible for maintaining regular contact with recent and long term grads encouraging their ongoing engagement with our school as volunteers and donors.”
She reports that she is scheduled to attend an upcoming gathering of Jewish day school leaders. “I am looking forward to seeing what programs some of my peers have put in place and determining which ones we might be able to apply to Gray Academy,” she says. A little farther down the road, she is also looking forward to helping plan Gray Academy’s 25th anniversary which takes place in September.
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First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
Local News
Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
