Brandeis students have a well-worn routine: an uphill struggle with work and errands during the week, a Friday night release, a Saturday climax of festivities and a well-earned Sunday morning in bed. In fact, pre-brunch Sunday might be their one source of refuge and energizing before waking to the jarring buzz, beep, blast or bell of the alarm clock again on Monday. But one small group of Brandeis undergraduates is not saved from the bell. About 45 Brandeis students break the routine, waking up early Sunday morning to go to class. Only this time, you won't hear them complaining, as their role has been reversed from student to teacher.

These students work for the Brandeis Jewish Education Program (BJEP), a program for families with children in grades one through seven. Independent from the University and self-financed, BJEP rents space from Brandeis and along with other programs, provides a Sunday school for primarily unaffiliated Jewish children in the area. In fact, about 95 percent of the school's more than 200 students are unaffiliated Jews from many different backgrounds.

Amy Sands, the religious school's director, said, "In many cases, (BJEP) is their first Jewish educational experience."

The program was founded more than 35 years ago by Rabbi Axelrad - a Brandeis Jewish chaplain at the time - and was designed originally for the children of Brandeis academics, according to Sands.

BJEP has evolved significantly since this original conception. Before, children came straight from the Brandeis community, out of the hands of one group of teachers (Brandeis faculty) directly into the hands of another - the BJEP religious school teacher. Now, they come not from Brandeis but from miles beyond its front gates. In fact, some parents drive 40 minutes each way just to get their children to BJEP.

There are a number of religious schools in areas throughout Massachusetts. So what is it exactly that motivates these parents to wake up early on a Sunday morning to drive their children to a distant college campus?

Julie Dobrow, a parent of three children enrolled at BJEP and chairperson of its educational board, said that the quality of BJEP teachers sets the program apart from others.

"We've found that BJEP is really a wonderful experience for our kids, and one of our greatest assets at BJEP is our teachers," Dobrow said. "They bring an energy and enthusiasm (to teaching) that I think is really unparalleled."

Almost all of the approximately 45 teachers and aides at BJEP are Brandeis undergraduate students. In addition, many other Brandeis students contribute to the program as tutors or substitutes and in other capacities. Teachers for each grade have separate curriculums, each going into the particular areas of focus in depth. The quality attributed to the teaching at Brandeis derives substantially from small details of the work. For instance, Sands said that every teacher writes a lesson plan each week, in addition to sending a letter home to every child's parents concerning what is being taught in class. Classroom topics include biblical Jewish texts and history, Israel, holidays, life cycles and the Holocaust. In addition, all students have Hebrew, art and music programs.

"The curriculum is very untraditional," Sands said. "It's experiential. It's interactive. We operate on the premise that children are going to learn based on what they experience, (and) kids for the most part are very happy being here, which is unusual for a Sunday school."

The depth of study in each curriculum area, particularly the Hebrew program, is unique. In addition to learning the words and tunes of prayers, Sands said that BJEP aims to provide every child with a real understanding of the meanings behind them.

"In the greater Boston area, there are three or four other (unaffiliated) programs, but they don't teach Hebrew. It's very singular," Sands said.

At the end of their studies, about 90 percent of BJEP students are able to read Torah for the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony, a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, according to Sands. Between a third and a half of every graduating class also proceeds to study at a prominent afternoon Hebrew high school for about 750 Boston-area children - an especially meaningful statistic considering most of the students' prior religious background.

Sands said, "We have a very heterogeneous group. We have interracial families. We have mixed marriages and adopted children from Asia, South America ... and families that come from over a dozen communities."

Amy Schneider '04 is in her second year teaching at BJEP. Her class consists of third grade children who, like the others attending BJEP, come from many different kinds of families.

"You get a great cross section of kids. Because it's not affiliated with some specific group, you get kids from all kinds of backgrounds. And it's interesting because there are so many backgrounds," Shneider said.

The diversity which makes BJEP stand apart can also create significant challenges for BJEP staff and faculty. Teachers must deal not only with the differing degrees of knowledge among students, but also with the parents' various degrees of knowledge and the differing priority that parents place on their children's religious school education.

Adena Kemper '06, who teaches another third grade class, said, "We get a whole range of students and so sometimes it's really frustrating because ... (they can get) rowdy and sometimes one of the parents may not want their child to be there."

In addressing this issue, Sands noted that there are many programs geared toward the education of the whole family, including parents. Some days, parents attend Sunday school with their children so that "the parents and children learn something together," as Sands said.

Each parent is obligated to help out with certain projects throughout the year, said Rachel Present '06, who teaches first grade at BJEP. "The commitment level of parents is a lot higher than it was for the parents at home," she added.

Even so, the lack of a synagogue tied to the program creates obstacles for BJEP.

"It's the most supportive environment I've ever worked in, but at the same time, we don't have a synagogue to back us up or a congregation, so it's hard. We're trying to be the sort of nondenominational Judaism (program) and we have a lot of resources, but it's difficult because we're lacking a lot of resources that a regular synagogue would have," Kemper said.

Nonetheless, the BJEP curriculum and educators manage with their available courses, and most people involved agree that their experiences at BJEP have been overwhelmingly positive.

According to Sands, most Brandeis students become interested in BJEP through word of mouth. Many teachers started out as substitutes for the program. Others, like Kemper, learned about it through the Hillel office or other sources. Sands mentioned that BJEP is also welcome to graduate students who could provide administrative support or act as assistant directors.

For many Brandeis student teachers, graduation does not mark the end of their teaching careers. Dobrow has seen a trend over the years of many Brandeis students continuing to take up teaching roles, whether at BJEP, in Jewish education or in other forums.

Schneider plans on becoming an English teacher after graduating with her B.A. in English this spring.

Kemper, working toward a degree in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, plans on becoming a rabbi.

Present, a philosophy major, said she might pursue a career in Jewish education, but is not yet sure.

Regardless of future plans, both teachers and students at BJEP will continue to learn and benefit from the educational programs BJEP offers.