After more than a year of dreaming and planning, on Sunday, June 4th our community united to celebrate Schechter's 60th anniversary. Even the weather was perfect, allowing us to reconnect, reminisce, and celebrate in true Schechter style!

When guests arrived, they could schmooze in our new entryway or tour our new art room, makerspace, innovation lab, and library/learning commons while enjoying delicious hors d'oeuvres. They could take a walk down memory lane in our newly reimagined Beit Knesset, where they could view photos and yearbooks from Schechter's past and present. And they could participate in a beautiful mosaic project organized by Schechter parent of alumni, Chantal Blaustein.

Throughout the evening, everyone enjoyed delicious food from Zelda's, Crunch, and Mizrahi Grill while listening to music in the gym featuring Cantor Laurie Akers, Hazzan Jacob Sandler, and Danny Kahn, or in the courtyard with our Alumdads band of Jonathan Barker, John Geiringer, Greg Levy, Liviu Roman, David Stone, and Rabbi Jeffrey Weil.

At 7:15 pm, everyone gathered in the gym to hear remarks from our very proud Head of School, Dr. Lena Kushnir (SSDS '88); Rabbi in Residence, Rabbi Josh Warshawsky (SSDS '04); current and incoming Board Presidents, Medwin Dayan and Ben Fisher; chairs and co-chairs, Melissa (SSDS '79) and Marc Spellman and Becky and Loren Schechter; beloved Schechter educator Holly Rosenberg; young alumni chairs, Zach Fertig (SSDS '04) and Lisa Wiznitzer (SSDS '04); and writer/director extraordinaire of the annual Sager School Musical, Dr. Andy Rosenson.

The program concluded with an encore performance of a Schechter version of "The Circle of Life," sung in Hebrew and English by members of our cast of The Lion King, Jr.

As we hope everyone realized during our celebration, YOU are an important link in the chain of Schechter. Our founders had a vision of a school that would transform the landscape of Chicago. Their vision remains alive today because of the care, devotion, passion, and financial support of every member of our community who understands Schechter's lasting importance and value.