Focus on an Alumni: Shiggy Rosenzweig

   By Carol Mei Rosenzweig                             

   Often the Journalism students focus on an alum. This journalist wanted to focus on Shiggy Rosenzweig.

    Shigeo, or Shiggy as he is known to his friends, graduated from Project Learn School (PLS) in 2012. Shiggy is 16 years old. He goes to Friends Select School (FSS) in Center City and is in his Junior year.

   “I chose FSS because I liked the classes that I shadowed,” Shiggy said. Shiggy misses PLS where he went for 8 years. He reflected, “I loved the community. I am still friends with Raz Reed and Jonas Bromley. I miss the the teachers and the art program, at PLS. However, I did not like FTGOTS, because nothing happens and it was boring and it was a waste of time. I like playing Magic, The Gathering with friends, riding my bike and going to circus [arts] classes. I have made some friends at FSS and I like playing chess with them ... I think that they are interesting people and I think that is cool.”

Shiggy Rosenzweig

   Shiggy says that his favorite subjects at PLS were Science and Art but at Friends Select they are Art and English. He says that it is because of the teachers and their teaching style. Shiggy’s main complaint about FSS are the homework and his commute. “I don’t like the amount of homework at FSS and the way I have to get there. It takes too long and sometimes I miss the place where I have to get off, because I fall asleep on the train. I do think that FSS is actually preparing us a lot more then we need for college and I am thinking of going to college. I just don’t know which one yet,” Shiggy says.

    Shiggy has a 12 year old sister named Carol Mei Rosenzweig, a mother, Hideko L. Secrest and father, Laurence G. Rosenzweig. Shiggy also has a dog named Elijah;he is a black lab mixed with cattle dog. He also has two cats named Thoren and Estella. He was always friends with Raz and Jonas.  Shiggy does not like attention. For his own Bar Mitzvah, he did not want to dance, play any games or say hi to his guests. Shiggy is funny at home, trying to make people laugh and imitates people and does a really good job of it.  This journalist has notice that he only does this around his friends or family.

    Shiggy, Mei, and their mom Hideko all went to Israel for winter break with many people. They are part of a congregation called Germantown Jewish Center, and a lot of people signed up to take a trip to Israel. They started in Jerusalem, traveled to Haifa for a day, and then went to    Tel Aviv. They met their guide and then the journey began. Their bus driver's name was Mosche, and the guide’s name was Asire. They went to the hotel named Dan Panorama and  checked in and went to sleep. The next day they all had breakfast at the hotel, and then went outside and walked to a windmill that did not work and talked about what they will be doing and seeing that day. Not much happened on the second day since a lot of people still had jet lag.

    The next day they all had breakfast at the hotel, the group walked to the city and walked around in the Christian East Jerusalem.There was a guide for that area and she talked about what was going to happen and some history about the Christian area. They saw the place where Jesus was buried; it was a very holy place and many people came here. People had lunch on their own looking around to see where they wanted to eat. This is where Mei met a nice girl named Lillian, and they were friends in their first conversation. Mei and Lillian hung out with each other for the rest of the trip. Shiggy was sick for some of the trip, but he did not have a favorite part. He loved all of the trip. Shiggy loved the trip and some of the food.