Ms. Marina Cherepinsky - Music Teacher

Ms. Cherepinsky has established an exciting career in both choral and operatic repertoire and is recognized as a highly regarded vocal teacher and vocal coach. Among the highlights of her career is her tenure as the Chorus Master for the Harrisburg Opera Association.  

She prepared the Harrisburg Opera Youth Chorus and Harrisburg Opera Ensemble for their participation in seven operas. Ms. Cherepinsky prepared the Youth Chorus for their collaboration with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra in the CPYB productions of The Nutcracker and concert performances of Hansel and Gretel.  She conducted the critically acclaimed PA premiere of B. Britten's children's opera The Little Sweep, as well as concerts at national opera conferences and at the National Theatre in Washington, DC.  

Ms. Cherepinsky is now in her 10th season as Music Director for the JCC Drama Department.  In 2011 she served as the director and the music director for JCC's fundraiser Kids Care.  

• Mrs. Morrison received her undergrad and Masters degrees from Penn State in Health and PE education

• Mrs. Morrison and her husband of 15 years, Eric Morrison, have 2 children, Ean (10) and Cara (8). They live in Hampden Township. 

• Most of all Ms. Morrison enjoys watching her children play on their athletic teams and spending time with family and friends.
  

Welcome Back Mrs. Sandy Nussbaum - Language Arts

• Mrs. Nussbaum has taught at the Silver Academy for 25+ years before taking a brief retirement
   
• She lived in Harrisburg for more than 38 years with her husband and four daughters, who are all graduates of our school

• Mrs. Nussbaum is looking forward to reconnecting with the Silver Academy family this year!

Kindergarten General Studies with Mrs. Carpenter

We have had a busy, productive, and fun two weeks in Kindergarten! So far we have:

• Met two  loving puppets who teach us to care for and listen to one another (Carey and Shekkie)
• Heard from a "mean" puppet who thinks his word is the most important of all (the King of _ing)
• Made birthday posters and a birthday book, learned a special birthday song, and celebrated our first birthday with a class party
• Began an Alphabet Art book
• Been introduced to math concepts such as building numbers to 100, making patterns, and figuring out how to use a calendar and read a chart
• We also practiced for a fire drill so we'll be ready to leave the building safely and calmly. 

I think we're going to have a great year in Kindergarten!

Fifth Grade Judaics with Rabbi Gewirtz

The final parshiot in the Chumash Book of Breishit (Genesis) contain one of the Torah's most engaging but disturbing stories: the sale of Joseph by his brothers to slavery in Egypt.  What could have motivated the respected founders of the Jewish tribes to do this?  What can we learn about our own interpersonal relationships from their experiences?  On the road to finishing the book of Breishit by the end of the year, the 5th grade will have the opportunity to explore these critical issues!

The Book of Judges, studied by the 5th Grade in Naviim (Prophets) describes a cycle pattern that repeated itself constantly.  The Jews would become lax in their Jewish observance, creating a synthesis between Judaism and the idolatry of the surrounding nations.  G-d would respond by allowing an enemy to invade and deny the Jews full independence.  When the Jews turned to G-d for help, G-d would give the Jews the opportunity to discover and follow a charismatic teacher and leader back to genuine Jewish observance.  This leader would lead them in war and then continue to lead them in a long period of peace and strong Jewish life.  His (or her) aging or death would start the cycle again.

Selected Mishnayot will form the Talmud curriculum for 5th Grade.  The first Mishnah discusses various reasons for NOT eating in a Succah.

After the holidays, the 5th Grade will begin "Shmirat Halashon", a study of ethical speech practices.  The curriculum and materials come from the trailblazing Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation and include stories, games, quizzes and contests.

Ernie Lederer

Which years did you attend The Silver Academy?   1958-1967

Where did you grow up in Harrisburg?  Uptown on the 3700 block 

of Green Street

Where did you go to school after The Silver Academy?   Susquehanna Township High School; New York University, undergraduate degree;  University of Maryland, MBA

Where are you now?   I live in Oakton, Virginia, outside of Washington, DC.

What do you do?  Right now I own a Commercial Printing business.  However, I spent most of my career in the telecommunications industry at companies like MCI and Nextel in a variety of management and leadership positions.

Who was your best friend at The Silver Academy?   I don't know if I had a single best friend. I was very friendly with Steve Cohen, Les Krevsky and Arny Frankston.

What is your current favorite food and what was your favorite lunch at The Silver Academy?   Currently my favorite food is grilled salmon.  I think any recollection about "favorite" lunches at the Academy may have been eclipsed by the statute of limitations.

How many times were you sent to the principal's office?  Too many to count. There was a period of time from the middle of seventh grade through the end of ninth grade where I may have been on Rabbi Goldberg's frequent visitor program.

What was your favorite memory and/or do you have any funny stories about The Silver Academy?   I have many positive memories, and I remember many wonderful moments.  Many of those moments were very funny.  I do remember that Arny Frankston was a bit of a cut up back then and he was pretty good about entertaining the class....not always with the approval of the teachers. I also remember Mrs. Schapira's class. She was blatantly capable of playing favorites.  Luckily, I was on the right side of her list.  Her blatant favoritism certainly generated some humorous memorable moments. 

What is your favorite sports team?   Washington Capitals

What was your favorite activity at the JCC?   Playing basketball

Who was your biggest role model in Harrisburg? 

Another tough question.  Assuming that I can't nominate family members, I'll go with Maish Raffel.  He was a successful businessman, a nice guy, very interested in sports, offered lots of good advice, and seemed level headed.