Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles

Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles YULA
Address
Boys: 9760 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035 Girls: 1619 S. Robertson Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035 34°08′27″N 118°24′44″W / 34.14079°N 118.41216°W / 34.14079; -118.41216Coordinates: 34°08′27″N 118°24′44″W / 34.14079°N 118.41216°W / 34.14079; -118.41216 Los Angeles, California United States
Information
Type	Independent
Motto	Kedusha of Person, Place, and Time (Boys) and Torah Umada Lchatchila (Girls).
Established	1979
Founder	Rabbi Marvin Hier
Religion	Religious Modern Orthodox Judaism
Faculty	94
Grades	9–12
Heads of School	Rabbi Arye Sufrin (Boys) & Rabbi Joshua Spodek (Girls)
Number of students	Approximately 400
Color(s)	Yellow and Black
Mascot	Black Panther
Nickname	YULA
Accreditation	WASC
Newspaper	The Panther Post
Student to faculty ratio	4:1
Average class size	20
Website	yula.org

Founded in 1979 to serve the Greater Los Angeles Jewish community, Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles (YULA) is a college-preparatory, Modern Orthodox Jewish high school accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). It has no affiliation with Yeshiva University in New York City.

The school is financially independent of, and separately incorporated from, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, despite their juxtaposition.^[1] As of 2018, YULA is focused on three main strategic goals: Primacy and Relevancy of Torah Studies, Uncompromising General Studies, and Character development.

History

Shortly before Rabbi Marvin Hier and his family arrived in Los Angeles in July 1977, he proposed establishing a school and a center to honor Simon Wiesenthal. YULA was intended to be an affiliate of Yeshiva University offering secondary and tertiary education, but ultimately, it became solely a high school. As time passed, the Los Angeles Orthodox Jewish community perceived that Hier had placed more attention on developing the Wiesenthal Center, as opposed to the educational center.^[2] The school was ultimately founded in 1979.^[3]

Yeshiva University of Los Angeles purchased a $2.25-million facility for high school classes,^[1] located on Robertson Boulevard, in late May 1990. Rabbi Hier had outbid Sephardic Jewish and Sikh organizations for the site. Prior to the purchase, Hier had asked for $5 million in additional federal funding for the Wiesenthal Center. In response, there were serious considerations for establishing a new Orthodox Jewish high school in Los Angeles, and some parents at YULA had threatened to remove their children.^[2]

Campuses

YULA has separate campuses for boys and girls within the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles.

• Jack and Gitta Nagel Family Boys Campus
• Gindi Family Girls Campus

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Campuses in Los Angeles

YULA Boys School Campus

YULA Boys' school has 15 classrooms with three science labs. All classrooms have ceiling mounted projectors, while select classrooms have Smart Boards. YULA has an outdoor basketball court as well as a student lounge, with a flat-screen TV, vending machines, a student run store, and kitchen appliances. YULA also has a Beit Midrash and a Sephardic Beit Midrash which serve as locations for davening and assemblies.^[4] A new addition to the campus is currently in progress

YULA Girls school has 15 classrooms with two science labs. All classrooms have ceiling-mounted projectors, while select classrooms have Smart Boards. YULA has an outdoor courtyard where students eat and relax, a full-size auditorium for assemblies and productions, an art studio, the Kestenbaum Library, which houses over 6,000 volumes of text, a gymnasium, and a large kosher kitchen and cafeteria with hot meals daily.^[5]

Tuition

The cost to attend YULA is approximately $34,000.^[6]

Faculty

Boys School 46 Full and part-time faculty all of whom hold a B.A. and/or B.S. degree^[7]

• 17 Master's degrees
• 5 PhD
• 1 Juris Doctorate degree (JD)
• 18 Rabbinic degrees

Girls School 48 Full and part-time faculty^[8]

• 14 Master's degrees
• 2 PhD
• 1 Juris Doctorate degree
• 9 Rabbinic degree

Academic Achievement

In 2018, 68 YULA Girls students took 135 Advanced Placement tests in 13 different subjects. In addition, since 2010 one student was selected as a National Merit Scholar and another considered as a National Merit Semifinalist.

Students at YULA have been awarded in prestigious competitions such as a Gold Key, Silver Keys, and Honorable Mentions in the Scholastic Art and Writing awards, an honorable mention in the Davidson Fellows competition, Best Delegate at the YU Model United Nations, and more.

Three students who participate in a rigorous computer science program founded the company Team HERO^[9], and intend to sell the product.

• In 2017, Niche ranked YULA Girls #11 in Best Jewish Schools in California

• In 2017, Niche ranked YULA Boys #4 in Best Jewish Schools in California
• In 2016, Niche ranked YULA #62 in 100 Best Private Schools in California

Student body

Each school has a student body of approximately two hundred students from different areas of Los Angeles. Many students live in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, Beverlywood neighborhood, and the San Fernando Valley.

Curriculum

The YULA curriculum is split into two parts. One part is devoted to general studies such as history, mathematics, science, and English, while the other part of the day is devoted to Judaic studies, with a curriculum of classes on Jewish texts. Sections of Chumash, Navi, Mishnah, Gemarah, Halakha, and Ketuvim.^[10]

Student life

YULA Girls and Boys offers a plethora of academic extracurriculars which include the publication of a literary journal, Participation in the Model United Nations at Yeshiva University, a drama department which produces one play annually and one all-girls musical, The Panther Post (a school newspaper which certain students are working to improve), robotics, a debate club, STEM Research Seminar, Mock trial, YULA Israel Advocacy Club (YIAC), participation in the national Chidon Hatanach competition (for which students have earned first place in a video competition)^[11], participation in the national Moot Beit Din for which the students have won second place^[12], B'nei Akiva, participation in Los Angeles Times High School Insider program, photography club, a creative writing club, a chapter in Givology, band, MAGIC, and a dance team.

YULA is an all-Jewish school with mostly white and Persian students.

College placement

The majority of YULA High School graduates go on to higher education. Typically, ninety percent of all YULA graduates enter a four-year college or university; ten percent enter a local community college.^[7]

A small number of YULA students matriculate to Ivy League schools. They have attended Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University.

Sports

The school has sports teams in the following sports: basketball (varsity & junior varsity), baseball, tennis, volleyball, cross country, flag football, golf, and soccer.^[7]

In 1997, the school asked the California Interscholastic Federation to move the November cross-country championships to a day other than Saturday; Orthodox Jews would not participate if the competition was held on a Saturday.^[13]

Notable alumni

• Ben Shapiro, political commentator, nationally syndicated columnist, author, radio talk show host, and attorney.

^[14][15]

• Noam T. Wasserman is a Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California and the director of USC's Founders Central Initiative

See also

• History of the Jews in Los Angeles

References

External links

• YULA.org
• Articles about "Yeshiva University High School" at Los Angeles Times