Connections Quarterly Winter 2018 - World Religions | Page 11
B E I N G A FO R C E FO R C HA N GE
dents from Saint Mark’s Episcopal School and
facilitated by the Weizmann Day School in Pas-
adena. The program is attended annually by
Judea and Ruth Pearl, who founded the Daniel
Pearl Foundation and the World Music Days to
celebrate their son’s life and to promote mutu-
al respect and understanding through music.
Afterward, students eat lunch together and
engage in ice breakers and games. Lainer School, a Jewish day school. Students
spend a day at each other’s campuses en-
gaged in service learning, art, and games to
get to know each other and to learn about
each other’s faiths. These experiences can be
life-changing. One student shared her own
transformation with these simple words, “I
came into the school with stereotypes, and I
left without them.”
The culminating activity of the middle school
is an Interfaith Exchange Program between
seventh and eighth graders at New Horizon
and seventh graders at the Alice and Nahum While not every school can find a partner
school for such activities, through the world
religion class and supportive leadership for
building understanding, a school can invite
guest speakers for assemblies, arrange visits
to houses of worship, and give their own
students of different faiths the opportunity
to share their special celebrations.
“I hope our experience and
practices can serve as a re-
minder that rather than being
surprised and shocked by the
world we live in, we can be
forces of change to impact and
improve the world we live in
by laying the groundwork for
deeper understanding
and mutual respect among
one another.”
I hope our experience and practices can
serve as a reminder that rather than being
surprised and shocked, we can be forces of
change to impact and improve the world we
live in by laying the groundwork for deeper
understanding and mutual respect among
one another. Creating spaces for such con-
versations shall certainly expand the possi-
bilities for a more just and peaceful world. l
Amira Al-Sarraf is the Head of School at New Horizon School in Pasadena. She has been actively
involved in interfaith projects with the Skirball Cultural Center, Weizmann Jewish Day School,
the Interfaith Peace Academy, the Guibord Center, and the Alice and Nahum Lainer School. In
addition to serving on the CSEE Board, she also serves on the Board of the Western Justice Center
and served for three years on the Board of Alverno Heights Academy, an all-girls Catholic high
school. She is also a member of the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health Interfaith Clergy
Roundtable Project in Arcadia. She initiated and supervised the creation of a Peace Garden at
New Horizon which provides an inspiring space for the school’s community and interfaith activi-
ties. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she grew up in a mixed faith household.
CSEE Connections
Winter 2018
Page 9