Calgary Jewish Academy

The Cause

The Calgary Jewish Academy is an independent private Jewish day school, catering to students from nursery to grade 9, that places equal value on both Alberta education and Judaic programming. For over 100 years the Calgary Jewish Academy has been educating and empowering Calgary's youth. The CJA’s mission is to build community, character and confidence within our students. Our approach to education is based upon the morals and values set forth by Jewish heritage and tradition: teaching, learning, respect, leadership and community. We deliver an innovative program and have a long-standing history of academic excellence.

We want to digitize our history!

Class photos from the Calgary Hebrew School, I.L. Peretz School and Calgary Jewish Academy were on display throughout our school. These photos dated back to 1912, and proudly showcased the history of our community. Alumni visiting our school would roam the hallways looking for their young selves and enjoyed re-living the memories of their time spent as a CJA student. The photos have since been taken down as they have been sitting under fluorescent lights and were slowly degrading. Our plan is digitize these photos, create a searchable database, and properly archive these memories.

Who Will it Benefit?

Thousands of students have walked these halls. This project will pay tribute to those students and their families by celebrating their contributions to the Jewish Community and the City of Calgary by the way of arts, business and community building. This project will also inspire current and prospective students by showing them the rich history of the Calgary Jewish Community and our schools, and how future actions can positively impact our community. We are also happy to partner with a local archive or historical organization to make the database available to members of the general community for viewing and research purposes. We have already reached out to the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta, The Glenbow Archives and the University of Calgary Archives who have all offered their support in varying degrees. We also plan on working with other organizations to help implement projects like this.