It goes without saying that this year’s graduation ceremonies were… different. Innovative. Unusual and, hopefully, unforgettable. 

After months of zoom classes and social distancing -and in light of Health Ministry guidelines which still restrict public gatherings – the various OTS institutions wanted to give their senior classes something really special to remember the day they finished their twelfth year of school. 

Pictured here are highlights from the program at Neveh Channah Girls High School, Named in Memory of Anna Ehrman. Based on the popular television show, “The Amazing Race,” the school made the grade’s two “capsules” (groups of students who learn together on a regular basis) into opposing teams and provided each group with a bus and their first clue.

As the students deciphered their clues, they told the bus driver where to take them next – bringing them to a variety of locations throughout Gush Etzion and enabling them to meet with and learn from a number of interesting personalities and faculty members, each of whom parted from them with inspirational or humorous words of wisdom.

At every location, the students also had a different task to complete – writing out the name of their grade with their shoes, for example, or composing, singing and filming a class hymn. Even the barbecue lunch cooked by headmaster Rabbi Ronen ben David at his home was based on the students’ successfully figuring out a riddle and completing the required mission. 

The evening ceremony in which seniors received their diplomas was, like all other ceremonies this year, marked by social distancing and broadcast via zoom. 

To each of the 437 new alumni who graduated Derech Avot Boys’ High School, Jacob Sapirstein Boys’ High School, Jennie Sapirstein Girls’ High School, Neveh Channah Girls’ High School, Neveh Shmuel Boys’ High School, and the Oriya Girls’ High School: Congratulations! We can’t wait to see the next places you’ll go!