What is Erev Kittah? 

In the 2024-2025 school year, the faculty and staff envisioned a night out for each middle school advisory group across the Denver area. And after a thorough discussion, Upper Division Principal Dr. Jeremy Golubcow-Teglasi ran with the idea, hoping to get the classes to bond more for the year ahead. It was then that “Erev Kitah” was born. 

According to the Middle School Dean Megan Zitron, it was successful the first year, so they decided to bring it back. However, this year, Dr. G-T passed on the responsibilities and the job to Zitron. Zitron loves the idea of Erev Kitah. She thinks it's a great way to make middle schoolers feel comfortable in school, especially the sixth graders. She loves how the advisors and students connect in an out-of-school setting. 

This year, she thought the sixth-grade program went really well. They stayed after school, playing games, such as trivia competitions, and running around the soccer field. “It [Erev Kitah] was a really good experience, I had such a good time,” said Mira Barter, a DJDS sixth grader. 

While Zitron went with one of the eighth-grade classes, the seventh graders split up into their advisory classes. One group stayed at school, another went to pottery painting, and the last group went to an escape room. “I wasn't with my entire class, so it was worse,” said Stanley Demain, a DJDS seventh grader. He still thought it was fun, but not as good a bonding experience as his sixth-grade year. 

Aviva Pfaff, one of Demain's classmates, agrees. “I liked it more last year because it was my whole grade, instead of just my advisory.” But eighth grader Adina Refaeli thinks differently. “I like it just as our advisory class,” she said. 

Erev Kitah is only a middle school program, and Zitron does not see the need for it to be implemented in high school. “By the time students go to High School, they're pretty comfortable with their grade," Zitron said. 

DJDS ninth grader, Rachel Rohjani, thinks Erev Kitah would be a good program to bond outside of school, and to have fun in high school as well. “It could be a good idea for the new kids that join,” Zitron said.