Many people ask Renee Lafair about her secret to child-rearing. Her three kids, now adults, attended Stanford, Northeastern, and Johns Hopkins University. In their spare time, they’ve worked together to build board games and advocate for change in national policies.

But Renee says the “secret” to their successes started with Austin Jewish Academy’s Portfolio Day.

“Of all the amazing things AJA gave to my kids, Portfolio Day is one of the most important,” she says. 

Starting in kindergarten, AJA students participate in Portfolio Day, where they present three topics they learned in class that semester. The presentations grow with the children.  

In their early years, students present to their parents and teachers. Starting in third grade, however, the school invites a panel of community leaders to listen to sophisticated and nuanced lectures on complex topics. At the end, the audience fills out evaluations and offers feedback to the students.  

For Lafair, the impact of this special and unique tradition continued to benefit her kids in high school and college—even as adults in the job market. Unlike some of their peers, her children never had a problem making a presentation or speaking eloquently in important settings.

“The dividends of Portfolio Day continue to show up in unexpected and new places.” 

Most memorable was the year Lafair’s oldest son presented to his grandmother, then nervously asked how he’d done. 

Lafair told him she didn’t know, “but Grandma gave you all 5 out of 5s.”

 “But she filled it all out before I started!” he told her.

Despite this biased feedback, Lafair’s children all credit AJA with helping them become life-long learners, and Lafair feels Portfolio Day was a key part of that equation.

 “Portfolio day is one of the many examples of how the benefits of AJA can be seen over a lifetime,” she says.

Want to sign up as a panelist for Portfolio Day on December 20? Fill out our form here.

Want to learn more about academics and Project-Based Learning at AJA? Check out this page.