(Courtesy of The Tikvah Fund) Seventy-six eighth grade students graduated from the Truman Scholars Program on June 11, including 12 from Bergen County. A project of the Tikvah Fund, the Truman Scholars Program is a two-year enrichment and leadership program for exceptional middle school students. The Scholars are nominated by 38 partner Jewish day schools across 18 states and Canada. Over the course of seventh and eighth grades, the Scholars participated in high-level seminars on Jewish-American history, Zionist thought and the humanities. The graduation took place at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York City—with over 150 Scholars, teachers, parents and grandparents in attendance.
The Honorable Elliott Abrams, Tikvah’s chairman, addressed the audience, and Etiel Knoll—a graduate of Yavneh Academy—spoke to the group as a representative of the graduating Scholars. Rabbis Hershel Lutch and Mark Gottlieb—Tikvah’s CFO/COO and senior director respectively—urged the students to continue their pursuit of educational excellence and Jewish leadership. Many of the Scholars will continue to study with Tikvah in high school as part of the Menachem Begin Scholars Program.
Visit tikvahfund.org/truman to learn more about the program.
