Jill Jacobs

Did my undergraduate at UCLA and loved it earning a BA in history. I spent my junior year at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and fell in love with Israel. I went back for more after graduating and taught in a kindergarten, led youth tours in the summers, and began my studies for my master's degree. After two years (three years in Israel total) I relocated stateside and finished up my Master's Degree in 1995. I got kind of an estoteric degree in Jewish education and amazingly enough, I've found ample and interesting work ever since graduation.

After graduation, I moved to Boston for a decade and LOVED the east coast. I loved the richness of culture, the public transportation and the change of seasons. I started out teaching and then moved into the Jewish Community Center world working as a Jewish educator. I loved the work and wrote on the side, eventually landing a job at a multimedia company and winning a book contract (Hebrew for Dummies; 2003; Wiley & Sons.)

After the book came out, I took another big leap, back to the San Francisco Bay Area where I thought I was home for good. I landed a great job at a JCC and continued to write on the side. I immersed myself in Bay Area life and then ... I met my fiance on a blind date. He's from Los Angeles (though he was born in Montreal and graduated from Cal, so he has some cache) and works as a sports writer for the LA Times.

After a year of long distance dating Bill Shaikin (that's the guy) put a ring on my finger and down to SoCal I went. We currently live a cozy life in Irvine and I teach middle school at the local Jewish day school, Tarbut V'Torah. We've been blessed with a healthy pregnancy and are expecting a baby in February 2010. I've been loving teaching, pregnancy and coupledom and am as happy as a clam.

In terms of NGHS connections, I saw Lisa Hamanaka a bit when I was in Boston, and have reconnected with Michele (Bockstein) Van Gelderen since being back in LA.

Northgate on Facebook

Right around the time that I started this, Facebook exploded with exponential growth. Many in our class have Facebook accounts, and it is an easy way to keep up with everyone. Future reunion information will likely be through that venue.

There is a
general Northgate High School group


and a:

class of 1986 group

Check it out.