It’s likely that few pre-teen yeshiva girls like to be publicly singled out by the school administrators after morning davening. But for 12-year-old Bailey Halpern of Highland Park, a student at the Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva in Edison the attention she received on March 21 was well deserved.

Head of School Rabbi Michael Ribalt noted Bailey’s remarkable recent bat mitzvah project, in which she sought contributions for the school, which she gave to the school in appreciation of its Think Tank initiative, a collaborative instructional model where learning specialists support classroom teachers to meet the needs of every child in the class.

Ribalt termed Bailey’s efforts “a wonderful example of hakaras hatov and
Chana Luchins, principal of general studies, characterized Bailey’s initiative as one that brings people together to help others to find their path in Torah.

Speaking to the Jewish Link, Bailey said: “Because I’ve been in the school a long time, and I’ve gotten help from the Think Tank, I see that it’s not something that lots of people know about. I wanted to help more people to know about it.”

Proud mom Tova Halpern, who attended the public thank you moment, said, “The Think Tank program at RPRY does a whole lot of work to help students with diagnosed learning disabilities and is really the crown jewel of the school. This effort by Bailey wasn’t just HaKoras HaTov, but also to recognize that the school enabled her to become a learner in her own way and to acknowledge the good the school does in including different kinds of students.”

For more information on RPRY’s Think Tank initiative, visit www.rpry.org/academics/think-tank.

By Harry Glazer