Class of 2021 Warrior Word Staff: Where are they now?

Compiled by: Owen Ebner and Kayla Herssein (12th)

Jeremy Dobin

I am a member of the graduating class of 2021. I served as a Staff Writer, Sports Editor, and Managing Editor of The Warrior Word. Since I graduated, adjusting to cold weather has been one of my biggest challenges. As a Miami native, dealing with the cold weather in Israel last year–where I was on a gap year program–and now in New York City at Baruch College, I do not handle the harsh winters well. It is quite evident to my friends and me that I am a true South Florida kid. I am very grateful for my time spent on The Warrior Word staff because the constant writing and editing of articles greatly increased my writing ability and enabled me to practice writing on almost a daily basis. Now that I am in college and writing many papers, my high school assignments as well as my editorship of The Warrior Word have served me well in my confidence and ability to convey my ideas effectively and grammatically.

What I miss most about Hebrew Academy are definitely the people outside of my usual friend group, those whom I saw on a daily basis, including teachers and other faculty members, and as a result, developed a genuine and personal relationship. The communal aspect of Hebrew Academy was very strong during my years there, and it is one of the aspects I appreciate most, especially now that I’m in college and surrounded by so many people. My strongest advice to current students is to appreciate that communal aspect of Hebrew Academy and to really enjoy the relationships you have. There is a whole world outside of the walls of HA with plenty of new people and relationships waiting to happen. Always remember and stay in touch with your crew of friends from home. And do not take the Miami weather for granted!

Daniel Ohana

My name is Daniel Ohana, and I graduated from the class of 2021. At The Warrior Word, I was head of Opinions, Op-Ed articles, and Head-to-Heads. Right now, I’m at the University of Florida, and my major is Environmental Management. In terms of career, I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do. I did a gap year in Israel at Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi in Jerusalem. Coming to college was good; after a year of Israel with no classes, it was tough but good to get back in the groove. My favorite part of college is meeting all the new people from different backgrounds and experiences and being able to learn from all kinds of people.

What I most miss about Hebrew Academy is the people who made the school feel very friendly and warm. My time with The Warrior Word definitely helped me understand people's different points of view. My message to students is to take some things very seriously, more things pretty seriously, a few things less seriously, but don’t take anything too seriously, and good luck with everything. Peace out.

Yosef Fruhman

I graduated with the Class of 2021. I was an Associate Editor when I was at the Warrior Word, which meant I was sometimes writing articles, sometimes editing. I sort of bounced around wherever they needed someone. Right now I’m at Rutgers University in New Jersey. At the moment, I’m studying political science, and I’ll probably be following that up with law school, but we’ll see what happens. I did a year in Israel, at Yeshivat Eretz haTzvi in Jerusalem. The transition to college was a bit weird because it was a combination of readjusting to the US, going to school, and learning New Jersey, all of which were really different from what I had in high school and in Yeshiva. But luckily, I was able to get the hang of it pretty quick and find my place at Rutgers.

My favorite part of college is the people. Although I loved the Class of 2021 at HA, the school is a really small community, so coming to college and meeting all different types of people from different backgrounds was really awesome for me. It’s so cool to find people with crazy life stories, and to see how they ended up in the same place as you.

My life has changed a lot since Hebrew Academy. Within two months of graduation I moved to New Jersey, and then two weeks later, I was in Israel. So since leaving HA, I have lived in, depending on how you count, either 3 or 5 different places. That’s required a lot of adjusting, but it’s also helped me stay anchored to my Florida roots. Even though I’m in school on the other side of the east coast, I still love and miss Miami.

What I miss most about Hebrew Academy is, again, the people. My friends from Hebrew Academy are, in my opinion, some of the best people out there. And even though a lot of us are still in regular contact, it’s not the same as seeing each other every single day. Being on the Warrior Word taught me how to critically analyze and understand news. When I read articles from major news outlets, I use the same skills that I developed as an Editor to figure out what angle is being pushed, and to separate the facts from the opinions. It’s something I do a lot in studying politics, and I'm grateful that I had a head start from high school.

My message to current students is to not put off living until after high school. School can be super stressful, and it’s tempting to think that you can just put in extra work now and then relax later. But that mindset just keeps repeating itself, and eventually you’ll look back and see that all the time you could have been enjoying was spent preparing to enjoy. So just start living now, and give yourself some room to have fun, even before graduation.

Yosef Fruhman (left) and Daniel Ohana (right) :