Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy is proud to announce a new teacher, Adam Matsil. Matsil is teaching the first ever economics and finance course at HBHA. He is a 20-year veteran in the field and father of our athletics director Sam Matsil.

Adam Matsil discovered his interest in finance after taking his first few business classes at the University of Texas. He said,“I took those first business classes, and I enjoyed them, and then I soon decided that I would go accounting within business.”

For many years Matsil enjoyed working in various types of roles in financial companies, including starting out as a staff accountant before later transitioning to more complicated banking roles for companies. Matsil explains, “[It was] sort of banking, because I wasn’t working for a bank. I was [working] for a company, but we were lending money to customers.” Through his many years in the field, Matsil has had a wide variety of work experience, including management roles in financial companies.

After a 20+ year career in professional finances, Matsil was looking for a change. When asked why he wanted to teach at HBHA, he said, “I’ve always had the idea of teaching in a post retirement place for me … I really always wanted to teach students that were engaged, and I thought HBHA would be a good place.” Matsil has a high opinion of HBHA, knowing that the students are serious about learning and engage properly with the lessons. After several weeks, one of the things Matsil is teaching his students is the basic economic concept of supply and demand which he says is fundamental to so much of economics and the business.

Overall, Adam Matsil is an expert at what he does and brings a vast amount of experience and knowledge to his students every day. He is excited to open this new chapter of his career and to start teaching his passion to the next generation.

There is a new face in the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy’s hallways. This teacher spends his days downstairs in HBHA’s gyms, playing games, and teaching new skills to lower school, middle school, and sometimes high school.  This new teacher is Coach Ness, Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy’s brand new PE teacher.

Ness grew up in Olathe, Kansas, but he has lived all over the country. Ness was a substitute teacher in Michigan and in New Jersey, and a PE teacher in Minneapolis. Ness moved back to Kansas from Minneapolis to escape the cold winters of the upper Midwest, plus all of the connections he has here that helped him get the opportunity to be a soccer coach at his home club, Kansas Rush. 

Ness initially majored in K-12 Education and then switched to health and human performance at Fort Hays University, getting his bachelor’s degree. 

After completing his undergraduate degree, Ness planned to coach college soccer. He said that he  “quickly realized the competitive level, the sort of politics with higher level sports” which he decided was not for him. 

Ness changed directions and got a degree in K-12 Physical Education (PE), which was a great decision for him, and he “enjoys it,” Ness shared. 

Ness also mentioned that being a PE teacher didn’t come with the burden of “cutting players and dealing with scholarships.” He dealt with this when coaching competitive soccer. But instead, as a PE teacher, Ness said he can “meet the needs of the kids, help them with the things they are passionate about.”

Coming out of high school, Ness knew he wanted to have a career somewhere in the soccer world, and even after finding his spot in PE, he still plans on completing a long-term goal of running his own soccer club. 

After finding HBHA online, Ness applied to work at HBHA for an open position and was interested to see what a Jewish day school was like. Before coming to HBHA, he worked at an inner city school and a Catholic school; because of this, Ness said that he was“used to being in an environment where he was unfamiliar and learning the culture of the school.” When Ness got the job at HBHA, he mentioned that he was “excited to learn the culture,”  and Ness added that he “loves the family aspect of Judaism.”

HBHA is fortunate to have a great PE teacher, Brian Ness!

This year, HBHA welcomes a new middle and upper school math teacher, Brenda Colwell. She comes from Blue Valley North, Overland Park, KS, where she taught a range of grade levels of math. Although Colwell loved her time teaching at Blue Valley North, she planned to retire. Before knowing about HBHA, she planned to explore options outside of education. However, a friend told her about a job opening here at HBHA, and she decided to meet with Dr. Kyanka, Zohar, and Mr. Clauer, z”l. Colwell believed this could be a great fit for her, so she decided to  teach an Algebra II class; she says, “I just felt like this was a really great place to teach and a great group of people.” 

Colwell says she loves teaching all classes, ranging from eighth to twelfth grade. This is her first year teaching eighth graders, so it has been a learning experience. She says she is learning how to manage our smaller classes less like lectures and more like student-centered environments. The one thing she says is challenging about smaller classes is that she enjoys doing group work and letting the students get to know each other. Colwell says, “I can make it work for sure, but it’s just that there aren’t as many groupings, and so fewer perspectives for other students to hear.”

Colwell says she is excited to get to know the students, teachers, and learn about Judaism and what it means to our school. She is immersing herself in learning the traditions and why it is so important to HBHA. It is clear Colwell cares a lot about her students and this school, and she could not be a better fit.