Portland Jewish Academy

Campfire stories and coastal adventures! 🌊🌲🏕️

School might be out for the summer, but the connections and memories from this past year stick with us. Our 6th-grade class headed to Camp Westwind back in April, for three days of bonding and outdoor learning. From kayaking and exploring intertidal zones to challenge courses and community service, the days were packed with action. The best part? Watching the students cook meals for each other and share silly stories around the campfire. We are so proud of the community they are building!

The school year is over, but our PJA pride never takes a vacation! ☀️✈️

Whether you’re heading to summer camp, relaxing at the beach, exploring a new city, or enjoying adventures right here in Portland, we want to come along for the ride!

Here is how you can share the fun with us this summer:
👕 Pack your gear: Toss your favorite PJA t-shirt into your suitcase or backpack.
📸 Snap a photo: Take a picture showing off your PJA shirt and your summer smiles.
📱 Share the love: Post your photos on Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag and tag us directly .proud !

We can’t wait to see how our incredible students, families, and faculty/staff are spending their break. Have a wonderful, fun, and safe summer, everyone!

Check out this week's Spotlight!

Read about the Class of 2026, and how they celebrated their middle school graduation with heartfelt reflections and a very special PJA tradition in which faculty held a tallit above their heads in a meaningful, full-circle blessing.

Celebrating the Class of 2026! The Class of 2026 celebrated graduation with heartfelt reflections as PJA faculty held a traditional tallit above their heads in a meaningful, full-circle blessing.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our wonderful 2nd Grade Fairytale Picnic yesterday! 🧺☀️🌱

It was pure joy seeing our students share the fractured fairy tales they wrote this spring, cleverly changing classic elements to make the stories funny and modern. They also loved hosting their families to play the custom board games they built in Hebrew and Jewish Studies to showcase their knowledge of Israel. We also celebrated the amazing culmination of their year-long wheat project, where students finally tasted the delicious challah rolls they baked using flour from the very wheat they planted back in September. The pride and joy on their faces was the perfect celebration of a truly successful school year filled with deep, hands-on learning.

Big hearts and beautiful B’nai Mitzvah projects! ❤️ 📜

Our incredible PJA students, Esther and Allie, have recently completed their B’nai Mitzvah projects. These two put kindness into action to support patients and families at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital.

Esther raised an amazing $2,420 and collected 15 Lego sets and 10 stuffed animals for the Doernbecher Child Life Program to bring joy and play to kids in the hospital. Allie raised a fantastic $1,800 and donated 177 books to the Doernbecher NICU Reach Out and Read Program, fostering a love of reading from the very start.

Thank you both for embodying our values and showing us what community truly looks like!