Focus on a Student: Ma'ayani Kaplan

By Fae Lobron

    Ma’ayani is twelve, and she is in seventh grade at Project Learn School (PLS). She is super funny and great friend.

Ma'ayani in the Jr High

    An interesting fact about Ma’ayani is she lived in Israel until she was seven and then she and her family moved to America. Her dad, Avi, was born in Israel and met her mom, Tresa, at the University of Michigan. They moved to Israel together, got married and had Elya and Ma’ayani. Ma’ayani says changing countries was a big move for her because she had to leave her friends, family and school.

    In Israel, Ma'ayani went to the Democratic School which she said was similar to PLS. She says that at that school some of the teachers were more strict than others, that she got to pick out her own schedule, and every Friday her school had an all school meeting to vote on decisions with each student having an equal say.

   At PLS Ma’ayani’s favorite subjects are social studies, science, art, and lunch. For Social Studies Ma’ayani said, “I like learning about places in the world that I normally wouldn’t know about, and learning about different cultures is really cool for me.” For science Ma’ayani said, “I am always amazed by science, because there are so many things our earth does that I can’t wrap my head around.” For art, she said, “I like art class because we get to do so many creative things that are challenging and fun.” Finally for lunch she remarked,” I love lunch because I am always really hungry, but also because it is a chance for all the Junior Highers to interact with each other and just hang out together.” One of the reasons Ma’ayani likes PLS is that she likes the fact that each student gets individual attention. Ma’ayani says that PLS and her old school are alike but so different at the same time.    

Some of Ma'ayani's hobbies, besides hanging out with friends, are dancing and singing. Ma'ayani loves to dance because she says it makes her happy. Modern, ballet, and jazz are her favorite types of dance and the ones she takes most seriously. She has five classes each week to learn more about those dance styles. She also loves to sing with friends for fun. Ma'ayani is a great, smart girl who like to dance, sing and hang out with her friends.