For Michelle and Max, Milken was not only where they met, it was the thread that continued to bring them back to one another over the years.

The two first crossed paths in AP Biology at Milken Community School as members of the Class of 2003. Michelle remembers Max as smart, cute, and known around school for being on the basketball team. Like many high school couples, their story did not follow a perfectly straight line, but their shared Milken community remained a constant through every stage of life.

After graduation, Michelle attended the University of Southern California and Max went to the University of California, Los Angeles. They stayed together during freshman year before eventually breaking up, but because so many of their friendships and connections were rooted in Milken, they never fully lost touch. Whether through mutual friends or simply running in the same circles, they remained connected long after high school ended.

Years later, after college, the two rekindled their relationship and eventually married in October 2012.

Today, Michelle and Max still live in Los Angeles, where they both work in real estate and are raising their three children — Ethan, Jordan, and Simone. Building a Jewish home and raising their children with the same values they grew up with has remained deeply important to both of them.

They credit Milken with shaping not only their relationship, but also their sense of Jewish identity and community.

“The connections and relationships are invaluable,” they shared. “No matter how much time passes, when you see someone from your Milken past, it feels like no time has passed at all.”

Now, more than 20 years after meeting in high school, Michelle and Max are experiencing Milken from a new perspective: as parents hoping to pass along the same sense of community, connection, and Jewish values to the next generation — with Ethan, Jordan, and Simone already waiting in the wings.