Sara and Ari Welner have been active members of the Edison/Highland Park community for almost 20 years. They currently live in Edison with their three children: Gabe (RPRY ‘19), Aliza (RPRY ‘21), and Yael (RPRY ‘24).
Sara holds a BA from Barnard College and an MS from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Sara is a pediatric Genetic Counselor for Rutgers RWJBH at the Child Health Institute of NJ in New Brunswick. She has been with the institution since 2015 and prior to that, she was a prenatal Genetic Counselor at New Jersey Perinatal Associates for 11 years. Ari graduated from The Cooper Union with a BE in electrical engineering. Ari has worked in Commercial Real Estate Management since 2018. Prior to that, he was an Executive Vice President leading the Enterprise Architecture Compliance team for Bank of America.
The Welners enjoy the challenge of doing Escape Rooms together as a family. They have done dozens of them in many states including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and California!
In addition to their professional careers and family life, Sara and Ari have been actively involved in RPRY since Gabe joined the Pre-Nursery class in 2007.
Throughout the years, Sara has been class parent several times, and has worked on communications for RPRY’s major fundraising events. She served as co-president of the PTA from 2015-2017. During her time as PTA co-president, Sara helped revamp and rename the PTA, as we now know it, RPRY PLUS. She facilitated new programming and recruited new volunteers, among many other initiatives that have made RPRY PLUS a success. Sara has served as a board member since 2015 in various capacities including RPRY PLUS representative, member of the Board of Directors, member of the Executive Committee, and currently, as co-chair of the Communications Committee. Sara’s favorite volunteer position at RPRY is serving lunch on pizza day, where she is greeted with hugs from her children (and their cousins)!
Sara also volunteers with the Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ, Replenish Food Bank, and Highland Park Food Pantry and is a member of the Frisch Parents Association.
Ari has also been involved in various RPRY committees and activities, including upgrading technology and installing smartboards in several classrooms, and serving on the RPRY Dinner committee working on the electronic journal. He also provides tech support and video editing support for Sara's RPRY activities. Additionally, Ari is a member of the Ohr Torah annual Journal Dinner Committee.
Sara and Ari are grateful for the loving support of their parents, Karen and Larry Mandel, and Rivki and Dave Welner, who are incredible role models of community service.