February 10, 2025
My wife, Alayna, and I have two children. JJ is now 21 and a senior at Maryville University, and Hayley, now 20, is a sophomore at the University of Missouri. Both flourished as honor roll students at Whitfield and Parkway Central, respectively, and we owe that, to Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School’s k- 5 foundation and the middle school. 
When our children started Kindergarten, we knew Mirowitz was the place for our family. We had no doubt they would be there through 8th grade. It was never a question. We had heard so much about the quality of secular education, and the Judaic/Hebrew curriculum was also essential to us. When it came time in 5th grade to make a decision about the middle school, there was never a thought to pull our kids. Middle school is a difficult, stressful time for adolescents.
Why add to that stress by moving them to another school and starting over? Allowing them to mature and prepare for high school in a safe and secure environment, free from antisemitism, was a no-brainer for us. We HAD to keep our kids in the Mirowitz Middle School. Whatever pitfalls would occur, and there were a few, we knew first and foremost that antisemitism wouldn’t be one of them, and our kids had teachers and staff who were caring, empathetic, and safe.
The smaller environment at Mirowitz allowed them to go to school every day without fear. The smaller class sizes also gave our kids ample opportunities to be leaders, which they took advantage of. Mirowitz encouraged them to take leadership roles, engage in deep, meaningful conversations about current events, and experience social justice trips they wouldn’t get anywhere else.
Now, they are both comfortable speaking in public. JJ consistently leads group presentations in his sports marketing classes and is currently the Assistant Varsity Baseball Coach at the Whitfield School. Hayley was very active in Student to Student and now teaches Hebrew in Columbia. She is on the student board at Hillel and the Israel Leadership Network through Hillel International.
I share this not as an employee of the school but as a parent of two Mirowitz graduates and as a believer that all children should have a Mirowitz education. Alayna and I couldn’t be more thankful that our kids have experienced the complete Mirowitz journey.
Shabbat Shalom,
Coach Gary and Alayna Lerner
