While Na’amit Nagel may be new to Shalhevet, Shalhevet is not entirely new to her.

Ms. Nagel, Shalhevet’s new 11th grade English teacher, has many close ties with Shalhevet. As a teenager, she went to camp TVI Moshava with Rabbi Stein. She became good friends with Rabbi Schwarzberg while they were both getting their masters, and met in Cambridge at the Harvard Hillel through mutual friends. 

Over the summer, Judaic Studies teacher Noey Jacobson became her brother-in-law, when he married Ms. Nagel’s sister. 

In addition, Ms. Nagel commenced her teaching career the same year as Student Activities leader Raizie and Principal Noam Weissman, as a part of a Yeshiva University teaching fellowship they were all a part of. 

She began teaching at Maimonides High School in Boston, where she taught English, History and Tzelem to 6th- and 7th-graders.

And after arriving in Los Angeles, she taught English and History for three years at YULA Girls High School.

YULA sophomore, Daniella Hatanian, who had Ms. Nagel for 9th grade English last year, said Ms. Nagel was “always very excited to teach us and always found a way to connect her lessons to everyday life.” 

“She was hard in class, but at the end of the year I was so thankful that she was,” said Daniella in an interview.

Teaching English in a Jewish school for her fourth time, Ms. Nagel thus arrives at Shalhevet with plenty of experience. She says she tries to learn a lot from her students, primarily by taking surveys from them at the end of the year. 

She jokes about the results of the surveys. 

“No one has ever said I am easy,” Ms. Nagel said.  She said most of her students have said she is a hard but fair teacher who thinks outside of the box and pushes her students to do the same. 

She said she wants her students this year to do the work and reading on time. She expects them to “give my class their best shot, and most importantly, to show effort.”

Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Ms. Nagel majored in English at Toronto University, then earned a masters at Brandeis University in English Literature. 

She has also lived outside the United States.  After teaching at Maimonides, Ms. Nagel traveled to Budapest, Hungary for five months.

Ms. Nagel has one and three-year-old children named Leela and Dael. Before having kids, Ms. Nagel says she enjoyed yoga; now, she likes cooking and being part of a book club.