Changing Career Paths

NEXT DOR

VOICE OF THE NEW JEWISH GENERATION

Changing Career Paths

After working 15 years in TV, Jason Lewis changes course.

RACHEL SWEET ASSOCIATE EDITOR

LEFT: Jason reporting at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., after Michigan played Georgia in the college football playoff semifinals. ABOVE: Jason feeding his wife, Mandy, a brownie during their baby announcement photo shoot. BOTTOM LEFT: Jason and Mandy on

their wedding day.

Jason Lewis, 33, is the new communications specialist at Walled Lake Consolidated School District. He’s the former sports director for ABC 12 News in Flint. Jason decided to change career paths after 15 years in the television industry. “I wanted to put family first. We’re expecting our first child,” Jason explained.

Jason married his wife, Mandy, in August 2019. While he says he’s loved his time running the sports department in Flint for five years, he is ready for a career change.

“Sports was something that I’ve been extremely passionate about. We got to cover a lot of big events. We traveled to Miami for the Orange Bowl for Michigan. We even traveled for March Madness every year, which is a lot of fun.”

Earlier in his career, Jason helped launch a local sports show in Albany, N.Y., Upstate Sports Edge. “I filled many

roles in my two years in New York, including hosting the Edge, anchoring on the weekends, and I was the face of the station’s New York Yankees pregame show.” Jason won a small-market Emmy while working as the sports director at KTXS in Abilene, Texas. While working in the mid-Michigan area, Jason says he’s loved getting to know the athletes throughout the community, “I really got to connect with them on a different level. It’s fun getting to interact with them and do a lot more than just game wraps and highlights. I got the chance Jason’s headshot for his to really tell their stories new job at Walled Lake and their journeys to that Consolidated School District where he works as the point, which is awesome.” communications specialist. Originally from the northern New Jersey area, Jason says he was raised in a highly populated Jewish area. “In seventh grade, I remember going to two or three bar and bat mitzvahs every single weekend.” He grew up in a Conservative

TOP: Jason on the sidelines coaching the 14U team for Grand

Blanc Youth Lacrosse, where he’s also the director of Youth

Development. ABOVE: Jason talking to one of his players on a

snowy day while coaching the Flint Tropics Lacrosse fall ball team.

synagogue and had his own bar mitzvah.

As he got older, Jason joined a Jewish-based fraternity in college: AEPi. Jason says while he doesn’t actively practice the Jewish faith, he keeps it close to his heart. “It was important when Mandy and I were getting married to have a rabbi as the officiant because I wanted to bring some of that in,” he said. “But with my wife not being Jewish, we wanted to also bring in little elements of her Catholic faith. We were able to find the perfect balance and mix of both, where both sides of the family got to learn more about her faith and more about Jewish traditions.”

Rabbi Tamara Kolton married the couple. “Getting to introduce my wife to the Jewish religion means so much to me,” he said.

With a baby on the way, Jason says they decided to teach their child about both religions, “so the little one will get full Jewish culture.”

Jason said he’s excited to be able to do some of the same things he did throughout his career in this new chapter of his life. “I still get to be creative and incorporate storytelling. My focus is video so it’s literally the same thing,” he said.

“I get to tell stories about the students, teachers, the superintendent, the education system and highlight what they’re doing, but in essence, it’s an opportunity to do the same thing just in a different venue.”

Jason said he’s excited to get to know and work with his new team and become more involved with the community. He would eventually like to coach lacrosse in the Walled Lake community.

Members of Klezundheit

continued from page 39

also been difficult, he explains, which has impacted many music programs nationwide. In addition to the challenges that mask-wearing poses for playing certain musical instruments, like wind instruments, teaching remotely and holding virtual band classes wasn’t always easy.

Often, teaching throughout COVID-19 required figuring things out with little notice or on a whim. Yet Posner confirms that overcoming the challenges was well worth the reward.

“Seeing the students’ growth is really rewarding for me,” he says. “Getting to see them mature from a freshman to a senior and hopefully go beyond that and perform in their college ensemble is tremendously rewarding.”

Posner’s effort and dedication haven’t gone unnoticed. In 2020, he was named a quarterfinalist for the Grammy Teacher of the Year, which honored some 100 or so music educators across the country. Grammy Music Educator Awards are a high honor offered by the Grammy Foundation that help recognize educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education.

“That was a nice honor,” Posner says.

While music plays an undeniably major role in his life and his hobbies, Posner is also passionate about sports. He plays hockey in his spare time and enjoys watching sports with friends and family.

Posner also loves to travel and is looking forward to his family’s summer trip to South Haven, where he’ll spend time with his wife, Michelle, and two children, Asher, 5, and Owen, 3.

Michelle, who plays flute, performs with Alan at Temple Beth El’s Music Shabbat. With music as such an integral part of his personal and family life, Posner says music (and teaching music) is a natural fit that he plans to pursue long-term.

“I just love teaching,” he says. “I want to keep my students performing at a high level and challenging them to be their best and play their best.”