A bright new face fills the halls of HBHA as we welcome new teachers’ aid Ronda Ary for the 2024-25 school year!
Ary spends her days with the 1st grade math class as well as in language arts. When she’s not in the classroom, you can find her on the playground covering recess duty. Another place you can find Ary is in the gym! “My background is I taught PE for about 18 years. I worked in Oklahoma and Missouri,” Ary said.
Ary has always wanted to teach in a way that she wanted to be taught. She never liked school, in fact, she was always trying to cut corners and get out of challenging circumstances as fast as she could.
When Ary worked in Houston, she would assist with a lot of brain-based teaching, through movement and doing a lot of cross-brain training. “I like to move and I probably got into trouble because I would never sit still” Ary Shared.
Although Ary specializes in education and aid help, she also enjoys comedy. She said, “When I graduated from high school I was voted class clown.”
Growing up, she wanted to be famous comedian Carol Burnett and perform on Saturday Night Live. The spark of being a comedian for her is still there, and her husband has told her countless times to pursue it.
In spite of the fact that Ary has family in Kansas, she has not been in Kansas her whole life. Ary explained, “In Oklahoma, I was a PE and math specialist. In Missouri, I coached basketball and taught PE and health… In Texas, I worked with the lower elementary and taught students K-4. In my previous school, I had 1,300 kids.”
One Friday, Ary looked at the Taste of Shabbat ceremony to welcome the new Sabbath, and thought, this whole school would be the size of a single grade in her old school in Houston. Nevertheless, Ary comments, “You think of the Jewish community as being small, but it’s been one of the most embracing schools I’ve worked at.”
Ary’s smile immediately brightens every room with joy and happiness. We are delighted to have her on our team and can’t wait to see all the pleasantness she brings to our school.
2016 alumnus Sam Matsil has decided to return to HBHA as our new Athletic Director. This position includes organizing each sport’s team’s logistics, communicating with parents, and scheduling games. Matsil is excited to help grow the Athletic Department at HBHA. “I thought it would just be fun to come back and be involved with HBHA,” Matsil shared.
After Cody Welton resigned from the position of Athletic Director, HBHA reached out to Matsil about filling the role. Matsil, already on the lookout for a new job realized it was the perfect fit. Matsil said, “I had narrowed down my criteria of things that I was looking for to four things, and it was nonprofit work, working with kids, sports, and events, and this kind of checks all the boxes.” Along with these qualities, there was the added bonus of returning to the school he grew up in.
During his time at HBHA, Matsil participated in soccer, basketball, and tennis. “I always made a point to recognize that if I was at a public school I would not have been able to play sports,” Matsil said. HBHA allows every student to play sports regardless of their athletic ability, which strengthens Matsil’s love for HBHA’s athletic program. Having an Athletic Director with a personal connection to the school is beneficial to the growth of the Athletic Department.
Looking forward, Matsil is excited to run and maintain the Athletic Department while also evolving and adding to the program. “I want to be a little more inventive. I think up until this point it’s been pretty status-quo oriented, like do what we’ve done and keep it the same,”he said. We are all excited to see what Matsil brings to the Athletic Department at HBHA!
As you walk through the halls this year, you might notice a young new face among the faculty. It’s Diana Ningen! Ningen is one of the new additions to the HBHA faculty, and she is taking the role of 1st Grade General Studies Teacher. Ningen grew up in Foster City, Calif. and she attended Butler University in Indianapolis, where she majored in elementary education.
Ningen shares that she is loving her year so far and thinks it has gotten off to a great start. When asked about her adjustment to her position here, Ningen shared, “I think my student teaching did a lot to prepare me.” Ningen did both Kindergarten and 4th-grade student teaching at two public schools in Indianapolis and stated that it helped her “learn how to ask for help and admit to not knowing things.”
Her new role as 1st grade teacher has been something that she has always wanted to do. She shares, “When I was growing up, I always gravitated towards helping out younger kids at any event, like a family event or a synagogue event.” She has always loved to work with preschool-aged kids and volunteered at summer camps as a teenager which grew her love for working with younger children.
Raised Jewish, Ningen has always loved incorporating Jewish life into education. Teaching Sunday school as a high school student helped her to realize her passion for educating while integrating religious teachings. She values this aspect of HBHA, and states, “I love seeing everyone doing things at Taste of Shabbat or at the Rosh Hashanah seder.” Ningen is a great new addition to our school, and we are so happy to welcome her this year!
