2025 Kellman Brown Academy Tribute Gala
Join us on Thursday, May 29th, as we celebrate another incredible year at
Kellman Brown Academy and honor the achievements of our distinguished honorees.
6:00 PM: Sponsor Dinner Reception ($1,800+ Donors / $500 Dinner Ticket Holders)
7:30 PM: Program, Followed by Dessert
Dress Code: Cocktail Attire, Men - Jacket No Tie
Click to Register Today and Place an Ad for the Gala
Get to Know Our Honorees:
Naomi & Barry Schimmer
Forty-eight years ago, Barry and Naomi Schimmer moved to Cherry Hill but not before ensuring there was a Jewish day school nearby. Their oldest daughter was 15 months old but they knew because of their own experiences attending Jewish day schools that this education would help form and strengthen their children’s Jewish identity and prepare them to live full Jewish lives. Thus began Barry and Naomi’s 44-year affiliation with Kellman/KBA.
Naomi and Barry met at Rutgers University and arrived in Philadelphia in 1970 for Barry’s training in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. They moved to Boston for his training in Rheumatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, then returned to Philadelphia where Barry started his 45-year affiliation with Penn Medicine. Barry served as Chief of the Rheumatology Section at Pennsylvania Hospital for 42 years, teaching students and residents and rising to the rank of Clinical Professor. He was twice awarded the coveted Edward VinerTeaching Award and was elected a Master of the American College of Rheumatology, an honor bestowed on few rheumatologists worldwide. Naomi started her working career in medical research, then became a technical editor at the Academy of Natural Sciences and ultimately served as the administrator for a Penn research institute and a medical practice.
Volunteerism has always been a large part of their lives. Barry served on the Board of Kellman Academy and on committees of the Pennsylvania Arthritis Foundation for which he was honored, and served on the Rheumatology sub-committee of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Naomi served as president of Temple Beth Sholom, Herzl Hadassah and the Camden County Chapter of Hadassah, and was Vice President of Jewish Senior Housing and Healthcare Services (JSHHS) and continues to serve on that board. She has been a board member of KBA, the Kellman PTG, and the International Board of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ). Both TBS and the USCJ Delaware Valley region honored her for her service.
Married for 55 years, Barry and Naomi are proudest of their family – two daughters and their husbands and four grandchildren – and their commitment to community, both Jewish and secular. Their daughters are graduates of Kellman and Akiba Hebrew Academy (now Jack Barrack Hebrew Academy) and continued day school education for the third generation. L’dor vador!
Naomi and Barry choose to continue their relationship with KBA because it offers the children of our community not only outstanding Jewish and secular educations but teaches them to live lives of mitzvot – teaching kindness, gemilut chasadim, ethical behavior, and the importance and meaning of tzedakah while strengthening their Jewish identity. Naomi and Barry are proud supporters of the B’nai Tzedek Program in the KBA Middle School.
Brittany Mcilhenny
First Grade Teacher
Herman Fraint Memorial Award for Jewish Day School Teaching Excellence
Brittany Mcilhenny is a passionate teacher, loving sister and daughter, thoughtful friend, and amazing wife and mother. She has lived in South Jersey her entire life and together with her husband, Matt, they have created a beautiful life here with their two daughters.
Brittany earned her B.A. in Elementary Education at Rowan University, then began her career by inspiring the lives of preschoolers and teaching kindergartners how to read and write. But ever since she was in first grade, her dream was to teach first grade and KBA has allowed her to fulfill that dream. This school year has been particularly memorable for Brittany because her first born daughter is also in first grade – clearly, a full circle moment that has created a special connection between the two.
In addition to being a classroom teacher, Brittany was part of the team that opened the JSTEM lab and has played a key role in the school’s accreditation effort. She believes in teaching her students to treat others with “kavod” (respect), and her love for peace signs and tie-dye classroom decor aligns well with KBA’s school pledge to be a “rodef shalom” (a seeker of peace).
Even though Brittany did not come from a Jewish background, she has immersed herself in the school’s Jewish culture and community as if it were her own. She has raised two daughters at KBA, both of whom speak and sing in Hebrew, and she looks forward to celebrating Shabbat with her students each week. Over the years, Brittany has attended many Jewish celebrations and ceremonies for her students and colleagues. The acceptance and gratitude she has experienced from others at the school and in the community is unmatched.
Brittany is a lover of all things fitness and when she is not in her classroom you will find her hanging with family, sitting on the beach or lifting weights. On weekends, she works at a healthy meal prep business where she fulfills her passion for health and nutrition.
Brittany is deeply honored to be selected for this award and looks forward to inspiring students at KBA for years to come.
Shira Weinstein
Director of Student Services, School Counselor, & Grants Manager
Herman Fraint Memorial Award for Jewish Day School Teaching Excellence
Shira has been a vital leader in KBA’s Student Enrichment and Counseling department for 18 years, focusing on fostering kindness, empathy, and problem-solving. Without her vision, ideas, and skills, KBA’s learning and social-emotional environments would be greatly diminished.
Shira’s work is felt in nearly every corner of the school. She has hosted lunch groups, taught reading, supported staff, organized dynamic after-school clubs, and played a pivotal role in admissions testing. She spearheads transformative grant initiatives that help fund programs like Names Not Numbers (documenting Holocaust survivors), Better Together (strengthening intergenerational relationships), and key JSTEM projects. Her grant efforts have provided KBA with the resources needed for class trips, new technology, professional development, and security improvements. These contributions have earned KBA prestigious recognition, including the highly coveted Green Ribbon School designation and No Place for Hate awards.
As a graduate of Forman (now Perelman) Hebrew Day School, Shira believes strongly in Jewish day school. While still in high school she earned a teaching certificate from Gratz’s Jewish Community High School and went on to teach Sunday school, lead a USY chapter, and work at Camp Ramah. Shira earned a BA in Psychology (Barnard College) and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology with K-12 School Counseling certifications (Rosemont College).
Beginning her career at Accenture as a business management consultant, Shira developed essential project management skills that continue to serve her well. In 2007, she joined KBA as Coordinator of Student Services, quickly making her mark by introducing social-emotional learning programs and securing grant-funded resources. Today, she leads KBA’s Student Enrichment and Support Team, developing a robust after-school program and guiding teachers and parents in supporting students academically, socially, and emotionally.
Outside KBA, Shira enjoys reading, playing Mah Jongg with friends, traveling, and family time. She is incredibly grateful to her parents Selma & Marty Roffman and Sharron & Harold Weinstein; daughters Shuli, Aviva, and Eliana; and her very supportive and loving husband Matthew.
Shira is honored to be selected as one of this year’s Award recipients. She looks forward to spending many more productive years at KBA enriching our programming and helping to grow our students into strong Jewish leaders of the future.
Laura Walters
Bass Family Volunteer Award
Laura Walters wears many hats, or in her case- feathered fascinators. She is a mother, art educator, photographer, artist, DJ, public service director for Drexel’s radio station WKDU 91.7fm, and a steadfast supporter of the arts at both KBA and Temple Beth Sholom.
She serves on the boards of the Paul and Emily Singer Family Foundation, Mural Arts of Philadelphia, and Moore College of Art. While Laura didn’t grow up in the Philadelphia area, she has come to make the region her home for the past 32 years; the last 16 of which in Cherry Hill.
Ellen Berju at Temple Beth Sholom’s ECEC, urged her to use her creative gifts and connection with Mural Arts to beautify the entrance of the preschool in 2015 and later in 2023, the outdoor sukkah. The expansive murals serve to both transform the spaces with color while also being used as a teaching tool for congregants of all ages.
When it came time to send her sons Gabe (8th) and Nate (6th) to school, her husband Rich encouraged her to give them the gift that he was given as a child, a Jewish day school education. The only stipulation for her was that they must have an excellent, devoted arts education program. She was delighted and moved that KBA had a history of supporting the arts both in the classroom with the committed educators and also an outstanding theater program. It only seemed natural for her to lend her expertise and resources to bolster programming that would make the school a more enriching environment. A great arts education is transformative in the lives of children, helping them learn and discover the world beyond the classroom on the stage and in the studio.
In 2023 she partnered with the eighth grade and Philadelphia street artist, Amberella to bring the artist’s Goth Heart paste up work to the halls of KBA. Kellman lives its values, seeing those concepts visually on the walls has created a thread that nurtures those virtues for decades to come. Laura is proud to grant the blue hearts; affirmations of peace, love and light, to a school that has given so much to her sons and families for decades to come.