Sophomores Attend Annual Grade Shabbaton

by MagghiMae Black Vargas, SSLI ‘28

Friday, January 10 marked the beginning of the tenth graders’ annual Shabbaton. This event provides students with the opportunity to create fond new memories and engage in fun-filled recreational activities with their peers.

At the Shabbaton, students participated in a wide variety of activities such as interactive role-play, board games, and didactic encounters. Grade representative Madison Hoffman said she enjoyed creating entertaining activities with fellow representative Sam Levenson. Hoffman added, “We became closer as a grade.”

Sophomore Sara Rosenthal shared, “It was really fun. There was a lot of praying, and it was also definitely a lot of activities like playing murder mystery.”

The Shabbaton happened to be the same weekend as the high school Winter Formal. When Shabbat concluded, the sophomores headed to school to have an evening full of dancing and fun.

The sophomores had a great time at Winter Formal! (A. Pravato)

Levenson explained, “My favorite part of Shabbaton was the ice cream party we had after com[ing] back from Winter Formal. We were all in our pajamas, and it was late at night, and we got to relax and have a great time.”

The tenth graders slept at the Marriott Residence in Farmingdale. According to Head of School Ofra Hiltzik, this arrangement was an upgrade from last year. When asked to describe the Shabbaton in one word, Hiltzik gave three: “Fun, bonding, and smiles. You get three for the price of one.”

Levenson concluded, “I think our grade got to know each other a lot better [at the] Shabbaton. We learned more about each other and strengthened our connections with each other through the activities that we did and the way we were able to hang out.”

MagghiMae Black Vargas is a guest writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since January 2025. MagghiMae is currently a freshman at Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: mblackvargas28@schechterli.org