Leadership for the Gaga Pit

During the second trimester, PJA’s 2025–2026 Manhigut Leadership Exploratory began with a simple question: How can we make our outdoor play space more fun for everyone?

Students walked through the playground to identify what already existed and what was missing. Two ideas quickly rose to the top: a turf field and a gaga pit. After researching costs, students realized turf would likely be too expensive, so they shifted their focus to bringing gaga ball to campus.

As part of the process, students researched options, wrote proposals, and explored whether to build a new pit or move the existing one from the MJCC side of campus. Along the way, they learned about gaga’s Jewish origins and connected the project to PJA’s middot of kehillah (community), zehut (identity), and kavod (respect).

Students took turns writing grant proposals and presenting them to PJA administrators. Ultimately, PJA and MJCC leadership decided the gaga pit outside the MJCC, which was primarily used during the summer, could be relocated to PJA for year-round use.

The project taught students important lessons about patience, flexibility, and clearly communicating the “why” behind an idea. One of the biggest challenges was finding the time and manpower to move and prepare the pit. But that challenge became one of the project’s highlights as students from Kindergarten through 8th grade worked together to fill it with sand.

Since then, the gaga pit has become more than just a playground addition. Watching students of all ages play together, create shared rules, and build community has been a source of pride for the Manhigut students and a meaningful example of student leadership in action.

Manhigut hopes to eventually add a plaque near the pit reading:

This gaga pit is a representation of our school’s middot. PJA’s 2025–2026 Manhigut Leadership Exploratory worked to bring gaga ball to our playground to fulfill PJA’s middot of identity (zehut) and bring our community (kehillah) together across ages in play.