Halpern Akiva Academy welcomes new principal: Jenna Pappas

by Maxine Fischbein, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(AJNews) – There is much excitement at Calgary’s Halpern Akiva Academy given the recent appointment of Dr. Jenna Pappas as principal.

In the words of Marina Segal – a former secretary of the Akiva Academy board of directors who provided administrative and HR support to the principal search committee – Pappas “ticked all the boxes, even ones we didn’t know we had.”

Pappas told AJNews that she was warmly welcomed by members of the Akiva community at the House of Jacob Mikveh Israel Gala Dinner, held March 8, and she looks forward to taking up her role as principal next month.

“We had a lot of big conversations during interviews,” said Pappas. “Now, I need to get in there… to understand the vision of the community and how it aligns with what I can bring to it.”

A glance at Pappas’ resume suggests that she will bring a great deal to the table.

Born and raised in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Pappas earned her Bachelor of Education (Elementary) at the University of Alberta, later completing both a Master of Education in Bilingual Education and an Educational Doctorate in Leadership and Innovation at Arizona State University in Phoenix.

Armed with an impressive resume, both educationally and experientially, Pappas – a mother of three – spent most of the past 25 years abroad, serving in various teaching and administrative capacities in Mexico, the US, Hong Kong, and China.

Along the way, Pappas has been a homeroom teacher, a PE teacher, a reading interventionist (K-8), and a new teacher mentor, to mention just a few of her professional responsibilities.

Pappas speaks with special pride about the 13 years she spent in Hong Kong at the Independent Schools Foundation Academy where she began as English Head of Department (Primary Division) [MF1] and steadily rose through the ranks to serve as Assistant Principal, and then Deputy Principal.

Notably, the Hong Kong School – like Akiva Academy – delivered a dual curriculum. While Cantonese is typically taught in Hong Kong schools, the Academy delivered a Mandarin and English dual curriculum grounded in the Eight Confucian Virtues.

During Pappas’ time at the school, student enrollment went from 400 to well over 2,000 students, an achievement she humbly attributes to the head of school who hired her. Notably, she too was on the front lines of a school that reinvented itself and prospered.

Most recently, here in Calgary, Pappas has taught high school social studies and English language arts at the Gobin Sarvar High School while also serving as District MAP (an internationally recognized achievement test) Assessment Coordinator and mentor and coach to newly graduated teachers.

The G. Sarvar school, self-described as “…a non-profit independent academic school which follows Alberta’s mandated curriculum with Alberta certified teachers,” is open to students of all faiths but mainly serves the Sikh community, providing lessons in its culture, religion, and language in addition to the Alberta curriculum.

Pappas, whose father immigrated to Canada from Greece, has an affinity for tightly knit ethnic communities, which is a bonus for a school like Akiva Academy, said Head of Judaic Studies Hannah Andrews.

Pappas also has an unquenchable curiosity about – and respect for – other cultures.

“I had done that classic backpacking trip with my friends,” Papas told AJNews. We took a semester off and decided to go backpacking for seven months. I came back for my fall semester thinking, ‘That was wonderful and I want to live overseas’.”

Armed with their degrees, the trio then attended a job fair at the U of A and signed on to teach in Mexico. Pappas served at the Colegio Ingles and at the American School Foundation of Guadalajara.

Following eight years in Mexico, she taught for a couple of years at a school in Phoenix, Arizona, serving kids from low-income backgrounds.

It is serendipitous for the Halpern Akiva Academy community that Pappas chose to relocate to Calgary to spend more time with her aging parents, said Hannah Andrews, adding that the Akiva search committee chose Pappas from an impressive field of candidates.

“She fully understands that she is coming to a Jewish school… that people send their children here because we are a Jewish school, with excellence in both Judaic and secular students,” Andrews said.

“We are a good, strong school,” added Andrews, who is also the Rebbetzin at House of Jacob-Mikveh Israel, the modern Orthodox Synagogue under whose auspices Akiva Academy was established 45 years ago.

Andrews and her colleagues stepped up in a big way this year to ensure that Akiva’s tradition of educational excellence continued in the face of unexpected staffing challenges.

Former Principal Caitlyn Cameron was to have returned from a maternity leave but opted to remain at home with her newborn child. Then the Vice Principal who was to have stepped into Cameron’s shoes ended up accepting a position at another school.

Fortunately, Reva Faber – a veteran educator and former school principal – agreed to serve as interim principal to help get the Akiva school year off to a good start. Unfortunately, Faber could not remain more than a couple of months due to a previous commitment she had made at St. Mary’s University. On the plus side, she was succeeded by two other capable interim principals, Edie Reichardt and Michael Gallant.

Each helped to ensure that the school year went as smoothly as possible, said Segal and Andrews.

Faber told AJNews that she and Andrews worked well together and credited Andrews for having provided continuity, ensuring that the school weathered a period of tremendous Flux.

“They are very lucky to have Hannah there. She is a really a gem for the school,” Faber said.

“Everybody pulled together,” recalled Faber, who has many happy memories from her time at Halpern Akiva Academy.

“I just wish there were more students in the school,” Faber said.

Akiva is tiny, boasting a student population of 56, including the children currently enrolled in its daycare.

“I wish them lots of mazel going forward,” said Faber, who describes Pappas as “… a good fit for the school.”

Pappas is thrilled to begin a new chapter at Halpern Akiva Academy. In addition to knowing a great deal about the challenges and the joys of educating students in dual curricula, her educational philosophy has been informed by the many years she spent as an educator in schools that provide the International Baccalaureate program to kids in primary schools—a practice more common in Asia than here in North America, Pappas says.

“Once you’ve worked in an IB school, it’s hard to leave,” Pappas told AJNews, speaking with passion about an educational approach that is “project-based and experiential.”

“You know, we can all sit down and we can all memorize things,” said Pappas.

“The real learning happens when students have to use that knowledge in a certain situation,” adds Papas, who looks for opportunities to take kids “outside of the classroom walls” and into the communities in which they live, providing them with enriching opportunities to put their learning to use.

“As an educator, I really think that is so valuable. A classroom doesn’t have to have walls. A classroom can be so much more,” said Pappas. “Kids do so well when they’re not just sitting in the classroom, but when they’re outside, when they’re exploring, when they’re making meaning out of their learning.”

Jenna Pappas will begin her new journey as Halpern Akiva Academy principal on April 14.

The timing is great, says Segal, because it will allow Pappas to hit the ground running at the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year.

“We also wanted to make sure that she is in place as we open enrollment for the new school year,” said Segal, adding, “Knowing who the new principal will be makes a difference for parents.”

While speaking to Pappas’ references in Hong Kong, Australia and North America, Segal experienced a small-world moment. After contacting a woman who had been a colleague to Pappas in Hong Kong, Segal learned that though the woman worked at the Independent Schools Foundation Academy, she had sent her own children to a small Jewish school.

“That’s interesting,” thought Segal, as the woman went on to describe the Hong Kong Jewish community as having one Orthodox, one Conservative, and one reform congregation.

“Oh, that sounds familiar,” said Segal, who could not wait to google the woman following the conversation.

It turns out that the colleague who had spoken so positively of Pappas, also happened to be Hong Kong’s Orthodox Rebbetzin.

Praised by one rebbetzin, Jenna Pappas is about to be warmly welcomed by another.

“I look forward to working with her,” said Hannah Andrews.

To find out more about Halpern Akiva Academy, go to https://halpernakiva.ca/