HOW WE

Equipped with only pencils and rubber bands, eighth graders compete to design and construct the strongest catapult. By following supply and time constraints, students embrace efficiency and creativity in the engineering process.

olled there.

“I think Pittsburgh has an unbelievably diverse Jewish community,” said Weiss, a Community Day School alumnus and a member of the inaugural graduating class of American Hebrew Academy in North Carolina. “And I think it’s amazing at Hillel — there are so many types of Jews here.”

Tamara Sanders-Woods worked alongside Weiss for several years at Pittsburgh Colfax Elementary School, where Sanders-Woods has served as principal for the past eight years.

“She was very good at using data to drive instruction,” Sanders-Woods said of Weiss. “Casey, you don’t have to tell her what to do. She’d just lead things.”

“The kids who had the most need for support [at Colfax], she’d help them during her own lunch — she had a great relationship with the kids, always positive,” Sanders-Woods added.

“She’s a hustler — she just knows how to get the job done and is great with kids,” said Weiss’ cousin, Ben Kander, an entrepreneur who started Welly, a water bottle company, about seven years ago. “She’s fearless, but she has a lot of empathy.”

When Weiss isn’t hustling, she’s taking doctoral-level classes in educational leadership at Duquesne University — she’s about halfway through her doctorate — and recently completed a principal’s certification for K-12 students at Carlow University. She also has a master’s degree in food studies and a bachelor’s degree in U.S. history from Chatham University.

That educational zeal is tangible. At Hillel, she’s piloting a course in women’s stories in U.S. history, focusing on characters like former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in America to receive a medical degree.

“There’s been a lot of change in the last four months, I’d say,” Weiss laughed. “Hillel’s an amazing school.”

Weiss also has a fan in Rabbi Sam Weinberg, Hillel Academy’s head of school.

“Casey’s amazing — she’s the best,” Weinberg said. “The way I put it: It’s not every day talented people like Casey fall into Hillel Academy … She’s charismatic, and she cares about the kids. She wants them to do well.”

Weinberg plays down his familiarity with the Weiss family, quipping “Pittsburgh’s a small town and everyone knows everyone.”

But Sanders-Woods took that sentiment a step further. Sanders-Woods said she didn’t know the local involvement of the Weiss family until three years into Weiss’ tenure at Colfax. That made sense, she said.

“Casey wants to establish her own name and her own mark for her life,” she said. “I’d have her back time and time and time again — without hesitation, I’d have her again!” PJC