From athletic to academic teams Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns (HAFTR) High School students are thriving.
The school’s halls resembled a shining sea of red, white, and blue and HAFTR Hawk jerseys in celebration of the varsity basketball team’s winning the eighth annual Cooper Invitational basketball tournament hosted by Margolin Hebrew Academy in Memphis, Tennessee. It is the first time HAFTR won the tournament.
The team won all three of their preliminary games leading up to the championship game against the number one ranked North Shore Stars from Great Neck. The game, which was streamed live over the Internet, was close for the first three quarters, but during the fourth quarter HAFTR gained momentum and won 37-33.
In celebration of the momentous win, the following day, Nov. 10, was declared School Spirit Day! Members of the basketball team proudly wore their Cooper champions shirts and paraded around the halls with their newly won trophy as their fellow students cheered them on and congratulated them.
“It was great to see the entire school come together and show their support for us after our hard-fought tournament win,” said guard Jacob Siri. Fellow 11th-grade teammate Ezra Appel, said: “It was a great feeling to win, but now we have to start focusing on the rest of the season ahead.” Sara Krown, a junior, said: “Seeing everyone in the same colors brought a great sense of achdus (unity) and made us feel like one big HAFTR family!”