When we first heard about our school’s imminent name change, we immediately went into Just Community mode and considered drawing up a petition.  People already give us weird looks when we tell them that we go to a school called Shalhevet — adding “Friedman” in front of it would make it sound more like a law firm than a high school.  And would this mean that it would say “Friedman-Shalhevet” on our sports jerseys and school apparel?  No thank you!
But upon further investigation, we decided that this name change probably will not have much effect on the students of the school and how we refer to our school.  It’s more of a symbolic change than a practical one, and if it comes at no expense, then we have every reason to pay homage to our school’s founder and number one supporters.  The fact of the matter is that Shalhevet would not exist without Jerry and Jean Friedman – it would never have even come into being.  The whole school was their idea.
We also realized that there are many other schools who have long, donor and-or institution-related names, but they are still referred to by their shorthand names: “Pressman” is actually the Rabbi Jacob Pressman Academy of Temple Beth Am, a nine-word name. Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy is usually just called “Hillel,” and The Milken Community High School of Stephen S. Wise Temple is called just “Milken.”
So we’re assuming The Jean and Jerry Friedman Shalhevet High School will just remain “Shalhevet”– just the way we like it.
And just the way they built it.