schools

YU high schools honor Five Towners

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Three residents of the Five Towns will be among those honored on Jan. 3 by the Yeshiva University high schools. Amy and Michael Berger of Woodmere will be Guests of Honor; Miriam Chopp of Lawrence will be presented with the Ethel Dworetsky Morrow z”l Faculty Award.

The Dinner of Tribute, at Marina del Rey in the Bronx, will also salute Guests of Honor Gila and Dovid Weinstein. Rabbi Rafi Pearl will receive the Faculty Award from the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy/Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB). Tribute will be paid to past chairs of the YU High Schools Joint Board of Trustees: Jack Bendheim, Elliot Gibber, Dr. Felix Glaubach, Henry Rothman, Irwin Shapiro, and Dr. Edith Zwillenberg z”l.

This year’s dinner theme is “What’s Next.” 

The Bergers, of Woodmere, have been very active in Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls (YUHSG), from opening their home for events to serving on the parent council. Amy graduated Stern College for Women in 1990 and works as a special education teacher specializing in Early Childhood Itinerant Teaching. Michael is a senior managing director at Colliers International Real Estate in New York City and once served as an advisor to the Sy Syms School of Business real estate curriculum. They have four children: Zachary ’19YC, Elizabeth ’18S, Emily ’17YUHS and Jordana ’19YUHS.

“Our honorees are each a true reflection of the distinctive features of a YU high school education,” said CB Neugroschl, head of school at YUHSG. “Michael and Amy Berger have been active partners and proud ambassadors of Central as a school that’s invested in nurturing and supporting each student both academically and extracurricularly.”

Chopp, of Lawrence, has been a member of the YUHSG Science Department for 22 years. She teaches chemistry and mentors the science teams for competitions. She is a graduate of Brooklyn College and holds master’s degrees in chemistry, secondary school education and teacher education in science. She currently mentors new teachers following their completion of a two-year training course sponsored by the Jewish New Teacher Project.

“When you talk to Mrs. Chopp’s students you get that we’re about so much more than just a classic curriculum,” said Neugroschl. “Mrs. Chopp is one of the most dynamic teachers whose love of learning propels her to be teacher, mentor, life coach and personal role model all at once for faculty and students alike.”