HANC High School’s Closing Ceremony Celebrating Accomplishments

On Tuesday, June 6, HANC High students and faculty filled the school’s auditorium for this year’s Closing Ceremony. The program opened with remarks from Rabbi Slominicki followed by an awards presentation. To start the program, the Volleyball Championship team was invited to the front of the crowd to unveil the championship banner. The room was filled with applause as everyone was excited to see the newest addition to the wall of banners.

Principal Rabbi Eli Slomnicki introduced the awards with a special emphasis on the process of choosing recipients. These awards are a series of honors presented to students who stand out in areas that are valued at HANC. Faculty members nominated candidates for consideration and collectively selected the recipients. Each award went to one male and one female recipient. Each recipient of the ten awards will be added to the plaques adorning the second floor hallway.

The students who went above and beyond in their participation in chesed activities were Lee-El Messinger ‘24 and Yakov Weberman ‘25, who received the Rabbi Moshe & Rebbetzin Sandra Gottesman Chesed Award.

The Golda Meir Community & School Spirit Award went to Elana Max ‘25 and The Natan Sharansky Community & School Spirit Award went to Yosef Woznica ‘26, as students who exemplify “a strong commitment to the HANC community and [work] selflessly in order to foster inclusiveness and strengthen school spirit.” Students were also rec- ognized for their “academic achievement, true intellectual curiosity, and a demonstrated commitment to increasing knowledge in various disciplines.”

Menachem Adler ‘25 received the Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook Passion for Education Award and Noa Ben-Hamo ‘24 received the Nechama Leibowitz Passion for Education Award.

Students with outstanding “determination and diligence and an unwavering commitment to advance academically” received The Rabbi Meyer & Rebbetzin Goldie Fendel Determination and Perseverance Award. Daniella Brun-Kessler ‘24 and Daniel Engelsohn ‘24 were the recipients.

The Ateret Shem and Keter Shem Tov was recognizes two students who demonstrate distinguished character and a strong commitment to leading a life of high ethical and moral standard consistent with Torah ideals and values. The recipients were Matan Galanti ‘25 and Bashi Lieberman ‘24.

The next series of awards was for Chesed. A Hebrew word for kindness, it is a term often used at HANC as students participate in community service activities throughout the school year and into the summer months. Although 15 hours per year are required by HANC, many students choose to continue their participation past their obligation. Bronze awards went to students who completed more than 25 chesed hours, silver awards to students who completed over 50 hours, and Gold awards were reserved for students who completed over 100 chesed hours.

This was followed by a humorous game of Kahoot!, created by student life, which was played by all, with questions that highlighted activities from the past year. Magnum ice cream bars enjoyed by everyone.

In a separate presentation in College Guidance, Ms. Sheff and Ms. Schiano presented a series of awards recognizing students’ accomplishments.

These awards were given to the following juniors: Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award - Abigail Wunder; The Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony Award - Sigal Holtzman; George Eastman Young Leaders Award - Noa Ben-Hamo; Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology -Tehila Livi; Rensselaer Polytech Institute Medal Award - Daniel Engelsohn; The

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Brandeis Book Award - Leora Stochel; Nassau County District Attorney Shield Award - Aviva Warsawsky; and Yeshiva University Torah U’Madah Book AwardJimmy Li and Gila Mathias.

The ceremony was an incredible success and created a sense of achdut among the students as they cheered for their peers who received awards. A tremendous yashar koach to all award recipients for their outstanding and exemplary performance.

The program concluded with a nostalgic year-in-review video presentation expertly prepared by the Student Life Team. Thank you for a fantastic year and wishing everyone much hatzlacha on finals and Regents exams.

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