2019 Honorees
Sharon Sherry
Early Childhood Education and Family Engagement Specialist
at The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington
Originally from New Orleans, Sharon Sherry moved to the Virginia area in 1998. She and her husband, Lance, and three daughters, Ianne, Aiden and Jacqueline immediately became active members of the Jewish community as both a volunteer and professional.
Sharon received her undergraduate degree from The George Washington University in English and Judaic Studies and her master’s degree in Jewish Education from Brandeis University. She also holds a post bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University in Secondary English Education. Sharon has worked in many areas of Jewish Education from supplemental schools, day schools, preschools and experiential education including as Assistant Principal/Judaic Studies Coordinator at Solomon Schechter Day School in Phoenix, AZ and as Director of Olam Tikvah Preschool.
Sharon currently serves as Early Childhood Education and Family Engagement Specialist at The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. In this role she provides leadership to our Jewish early childhood learning community and helps develop the highest-quality programs for our youngest learners and their families. Sharon collaborates with and supports Federation’s Jewish engagement programs for families with young children, offers professional development and training for early childhood programs in the Greater Washington area and provides resources to families, educators and institutions.
Melanie Eisen
Director, Educational Innovation for Prizmah
Melanie partners with school teachers and leaders to plan and implement professional development programming that is dynamic, motivating, and relevant, and honors the experience of our teachers. Melanie began her teaching career more than 20 years ago as our Kindergarten teacher at Gesher JDS. While teaching, Melanie was always on the lookout for meaningful professional development and quickly began to provide it to others, both at Gesher and beyond. A native Montrealer, Melanie received a BA and MA from McGill and an MEd from The George Washington University. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia, with her husband and two sons who are also Gesher JDS Alumni.
Ann Nachbar
Gesher JDS Modern Jewish History teacher
Ann Nachbar grew up in Detroit. Her parents, both Holocaust survivors, instilled in her and her brother a deep appreciation of America's freedoms - and of the importance of education. Ann attended the University of Michigan, where she studied math, French, and English literature, with a focus on Chaucer. Subsequently she went to University of Michigan Law School, and in 1977, moved to Washington to practice law. After a year at the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Ann moved to the Labor Department, where she represented OSHA in the US Courts of Appeals, and then to the Justice Department, where she worked on the then- ongoing asbestos litigation.
She married David Frenkel in 1983, and they have three children – all Gesher alumni, living currently in California.
Ann spent several years helping her father to write a book detailing his remarkable Holocaust survival story, Endure, Defy and Remember. She also helped her mother, her aunts and uncles to write the story of their wartime survival in the Soviet Union, culminating in a book and video called The Wygoda Story.
Ann began teaching Modern Jewish History at Gesher in 2006, when her youngest child was in 8th grade. Since that time, she has created her own curricula for teaching the Enlightenment, the Holocaust and the establishment and development of Modern Israel. She strives to prepare our Gesher graduates to participate as knowledgeable, responsible, compassionate and enthusiastic Jewish American citizens. Ann hopes that our students will carry the class with them as they go on to high school, college - and eventually, into the voting booth.
She married David Frenkel in 1983, and they have three children – all Gesher alumni, living currently in California.
Ann spent several years helping her father to write a book detailing his remarkable Holocaust survival story, Endure, Defy and Remember. She also helped her mother, her aunts and uncles to write the story of their wartime survival in the Soviet Union, culminating in a book and video called The Wygoda Story.
Ann began teaching Modern Jewish History at Gesher in 2006, when her youngest child was in 8th grade. Since that time, she has created her own curricula for teaching the Enlightenment, the Holocaust and the establishment and development of Modern Israel. She strives to prepare our Gesher graduates to participate as knowledgeable, responsible, compassionate and enthusiastic Jewish American citizens. Ann hopes that our students will carry the class with them as they go on to high school, college - and eventually, into the voting booth.