LEC High School Girls Celebrate Two Years Without Smartphones

Bais Chana Miami students enjoyed a Grand Trip organized by The Club, a parent-run initiative created for teens who choose to live without smartphones and social media.

From May 8–10, 32 Bais Chana Miami freshmen traveled to North Carolina for the annual Grand Trip organized by The Club, a parent-run, parent-funded initiative created for teens who choose to live without smartphones and social media. Spearheaded by mothers Rivkah Bloom and Esti Chazanow, The Club partners closely with the school, which provides time during the school day for programming, incentives, and direct engagement with the girls throughout the year.

Every girl in the group has chosen, together with her family, to live without a smartphone or social media account. The trip marked the culmination of their second year in the program.
The action-packed weekend included Carowinds Six Flags, mountain biking, ropes courses, zip lining, a five-mile hike through Boyce Park Greenway, and whitewater rafting at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. The girls also spent an uplifting Shabbos in Charlotte with the local Chabad community, leading their own divrei Torah, singing together, and participating in a heartfelt memory-sharing activity.

Throughout the trip, the girls stood out for their warmth, respectfulness, kindness, and genuine presence. Whether interacting with hosts, staff, or strangers they encountered along the way, they left a lasting impression with their confidence, respectfulness, attentiveness, and sincerity. Many described them as inspiring, a refreshing example of teenagers fully engaged with the people and experiences around them.

At Kiddush, one of the Bais Chana students addressed a crowd of 150 people, drawing a moving connection between Shmitta, and the discipline of stepping away from constant digital distraction while still engaging fully with life.

Many parents reached out with messages of gratitude for The Club. “The girls feel so special,” wrote Mrs. Chayale Slavaticki, “and it’s such incredible motivation for them to continue on this pathway.” Mrs. Leah Spalter shared, “It made it so much clearer for my daughter that what she is doing is truly good for her… Hashem should give you the strength and ability to continue influencing many girls and families.” And from Mrs. Musha Krasnjanski, principal of Bais Chana High School: “These girls are so lucky.”

This past Friday, May 15, The Club officially relaunched for the same group as they prepare to enter 10th grade. At the kickoff presentation, organizers outlined the year’s guidelines and incentives, including another Grand Trip at the end of the year.

This year, The Club is drawing a clearer boundary: WhatsApp is no longer considered “just messaging.” It is now considered a Social Media. On the surface, it appears straightforward: private chats, family groups, and school coordination. But in practice, WhatsApp has evolved well beyond messaging. With the introduction of Status updates, Channels, broadcast lists, and influencer-style content, it now functions similarly to any other social media platform. Status updates mirror the short-form, attention-driven style of Instagram Stories, while Channels and curated broadcasts deliver ongoing streams of content directly into users’ attention. At the same time, group chats remain constantly active in the background, creating continuous pressure to stay available and respond in real time.

The result is the same pattern parents and educators recognize from social media platforms: distraction that is no longer occasional, but continuous; social pressure that is no longer contained, but always on; and content that is no longer deliberately chosen, but constantly pushed in from every direction.

Perhaps the clearest sign of the program’s success came recently from outside the high school itself. An eighth grader whose older siblings each received phones at the start of ninth grade told her mother she doesn’t want one. She is part of the 8th Grade Club, as are her closest friends, and none of them have phones. The pressure she feels is not to get online, but to stay off smartphones and social media.

That is exactly the culture The Club was created to build.

The Club is what it looks like when a community decides to take action.

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