This week, both Steven and Felix spoke about leadership on campus. 
Steven focused his blog on governance, commenting on the most recent PLA class where President Rodney Erickson spoke about governance at the University. He felt that this was the most "enlightening" class, as it gave him an idea of what governance should look like. Most of the time, student leaders are learning by doing. The class focused on the Board of Trustees: who are they, what do they do, and what is their purpose? The conclusions? A good board of trustees should work well with the administration toward a common goal. They should be transparent and loyal and should work to benefit their investors (teachers, students, alumni). One phrase that Steven used in his blog that I really liked was "Nose In, Fingers Out" This allows the BoT to oversee what the administration is doing without making decisions on their own and going over the head of school leaders. Steven made another good point, that an effective Board of Trustees needs to know their role within the university. If this group of people wants to be making all of the decisions, they will not work well with the administration. Also, if they let the administration do everything, there is no body to monitor the actions of school leadership. Balance is very important to governance at a large University. 

Felix spent this week's blog post commenting on the role of the University Office for Global Programs at Penn State. After describing their role on campus, he described many factors that are making it challenging for this office to function effectively on the behalf of international students. This office is supposed to help international students transition to American culture and Penn State University. Their office is underfunded and they cannot do a lot of the programming necessary to accommodate the needs of international students. They have a high turnover of staff which makes challenging to make changes. This office does do a good job of making and maintaining relationships with other countries and schools, Felix concludes that the purpose of this office should be "to internationalize the campus and ensure mutual understanding among US Students and any and all groups of international students." We both need to learn about each other. It is not enough that the international students find a home and friends at this campus; American students need to understand the culture and customs of these foreign students and help create a globally aware campus. 

This past week, I had the opportunity to go to New York and look at graduate schools. I am interested in pursuing a masters degree in Jewish education. My eventual hope is to become a religious school director in a synagogue setting, responsible for hiring and training teachers, evaluating and modifying the school curriculum, creating end executing family education programs, working with synagogue professionals and congregants on behalf of the religious school. 

The school I looked at was Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The three year masters in Jewish Education program has students spend the fist year in Israel and the next two years at the New York campus. Students learn Hebrew, Jewish history, pedagogy, Jewish philosophies, and are given the opportunity to work in the community with a mentorship program.  Not only do they learn in the classroom, but they are applying what they learn in a real-life situation. 

The open house I went to was a wonderful experience. The directors of the rabbinical, cantorial and education programs came to meet with prospective students. Being the only person interested in education, I got a chance to have a one on one conversation with the director of the New York School of Education. It was a really nice chat. I got the message that this school is really about practicing what they preach. The teachers are all involved in program where they are moving the field of Jewish education forward, trying new techniques and programs and really leading the field to new places. After our conversation, the whole school, students and faculty, came together for Thursday morning services. Students led t'fillah (prayers). And a fourth year rabbinical student gave a really lovely sermon about the inclination in us all to do good and evil. After services, the whole school came together for a bagel lunch and a discussion--students and teachers asked the rabbinical student who presented the sermon questions about his sermon, commented on what they enjoyed, and critiqued what they felt was missing. It was a really interesting conversation, and I would have been intimidated if I were the rabbinical student in the hot seat. After lunch, I had the opportunity to attend a survey of Jewish history course (part 1). They had a lively conversation about sects in Judaism and the Karatites. Following class, the prospective students attended a student panel where they got to ask current students  the questions they'd been waiting to ask. 

It was a really wonderful day and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to attend the open house. Now I just have to work on getting in!! More updates to come as I work through the application process :) 

For my English 202H class, we had to pick a topic about literacy and write an annotated bibliography on that topic. My group picked gender and literacy, focusing on women's access to education around the world. The paper is written and our presentation is done. And then thishappens. A 14 year-old girl was shot and almost killed because she was going to school. As the article indicates, her attackers thought she was too Western. Malala Yousafzai, at 14, has become an activist for women's education to the point where the Taliban is threatened by her. If she survived this attack, a spokesperson for the Taliban said they would attack her again, according to the NY Times article. She was awarded a national award for peace in 2011, at 14. I'm very impressed that such a young girl has the courage to stand up for her rights, in a country like Pakistan where the Taliban rules. While killing a woman is considered sinful in Islam, according to the article, special exception was made for Malala because of her public persona. She kept a blog for the BBC about going to school as a girl in Pakistan, where the girls would hide their uniforms and books in their bags and under their clothes so that they wouldn't be recognized as school girls. She wants a career in politics, to fix the situation in all of Pakistan and to be one of the good leaders that Pakistan needs to become one of the best countries in the world, according to Malala. Malala is an inspiration--standing up for what she believes in and working to make life better not only for herself, but for future generations as well. I hope that she gets the necessary medical attention and recovers fully from this horrible attack. 

Working on group projects is never a fun situation. Especially when the groups are small. In some situations, everyone is willing to put in their share of the work and truly make it a group project. However, the majority of the time, there is that one kid who brings down the whole group. Doesn't do their work, or doesn't do their work on time. This makes that much more work for the rest of the group who not only have to do their own share, but they also have to pick up what their group member left behind. 

This is happening to me in my English class this semester. The teacher split the class into two sets of groups. One group was to lead a discussion based on the previous night's reading. The other was to work collaboratively on a annotated bibliography. For the discussion lead, my group had two members: my self and another student, whom I'll call Don. In order to successfully accomplish the discussion activity, the group leading had to read the selection early and generate a list of 5-7 questions to be distributed to the class 24 hours prior to meeting. Two days before the discussion, I sent Don my list of questions and asked him to add his and email it to the class 24 hours before class. When I hadn't heard from him 20 minutes before the deadline, I finished the set of questions and sent the email myself. Three hours after the deadline, I hear that he is still working on the reading and is a bit behind. Will he finish the reading before class? I wondered. The teacher commented on how good our questions were and was excited for us to lead the discussion the following day. In class, Don did a good job of asking questions and calling on students that hadn't spoken much. We both contributed equally to the leading part of the discussion lead. My question is this: do I tell my teacher that Don wasn't prepared before class to write any of the questions? Does that make me a tattle-tale? A good group member? 

The second group was working together on the annotated bibliography. We decided as a group to work on the topic of gender and literacy around the world, each of the three of us taking a different region to research. We each had to generate five annotations and collaborate so that they sounded as if written by a single person. In addition, we had to put together a presentation for the class to show them what we researched. My two group members I'll call Leigh and John. Leigh was working on a Asia as her region and John was focused on Africa while I looked at the Middle East. We decided that the Sunday before the assignment was due, we should all post our annotations on the GoogleDoc and meet to revise them together. Leigh and I had all of our annotations completed at this point; John barely had two done. After the meeting, we said our edits and revisions needed to be completed by Tuesday night so that someone could upload them to the folder before the deadline. By Wednesday evening, John still had not completed his part of the presentation while Leigh and I had worked on editing the annotations and compiling the PowerPoint. The issue here is that we are getting one grade for the whole group. If John doesn't pull his weight, my grade goes down. To what extent do I do his work? I would be working toward my own grade, yet he would not be contributing to the group project? 

I'm curious to know what you would do in these situations. 

In Steve's blog this week, he commented on the Etiquette Dinner that the sophomore class as the opportunity to attend early in the semester. He remarks that these customs and "rules" may inhibit a person from actually enjoying their food. And to an extent, I would agree. If you are so worried that you are eating at a pace slower than your host, you may scarf down your food without actually enjoying it, and that wouldn't be good for anyone. And while knowing which direction to pass the bread will not make or break your dining experience, learning the proper way to eat bread and butter or how to handle your napkin during a meal can make people feel more comfortable at a formal dinner. It made dinners on the field trips less intimidating, our table mates could comment on our etiquette at the table and it made everyone feel more at ease. I greatly enjoyed the etiquette dinner and wish the seniors could have a second go round!
Felix spent his blog commenting on the effects of the first Presidential debate on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the debate as a meeting ran until 10pm that evening. However, the comments I heard all echoed what Felix discussed. Romney seemed more put together for this debate and Obama was just kind of there. Does your eagerness to participate in a debate make you a better qualified candidate? When Romney's facts about healthcare get corrected by his own staff, it makes me questions what he's actually telling his constituency (See article from NPRhere). There was nothing incredibly remarkable about this debate. I wonder if anything more will come from the others later this month. I thought this cartoon did a nice job of summarizing what I heard from the debate: 
http://albany2cents.com/wp-content/plugins/sam-images/lat-na-tt-romneys-debate-20121004-001.jpeg

Pride: a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired

The past ten days have been filled with pride. As Co-Religious chair for Hillel, I have worked tirelessly with my co-chair to put together High Holiday services here at Penn State. This started in April, after Passover, when we decided we wanted to find a new rabbinical student to lead services for us. We wanted something different, something more musical and that created a better sense of community. We put together a job description and some qualifications we were looking for. The summer was spent interviewing potential candidates and gathering students to participate by reading Torah and haftarah on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.

Once school actually began, there was more stress as the students we were working with changed--it was too much work to learn the Torah portion or they didn't have enough time to dedicate to it. All fair responses, just more stress for the two of us. We started working with our rabbinical students, a married couple from Hebrew College in Boston. They were wonderful--she had been leading High Holiday services for many years and had the experience necessary to lead Penn State Hillel--diverse group of students who were away from home for the holidays with a variety of backgrounds and traditions--and he had the musical background we had been hoping for in our services. Working with them was a great experience. They were very organized and willing to jump in when students were confused or too sick to come to services.  

But back to pride. It's exciting to see your hard work pay off. It's thrilling to watch others succeed--the vocal performance major singing Kol Nidre, the almost operatic prayer that begins the evening service for Yom Kippur, for example. And it's really nice to be recognized for your hard work. Not publicly, but when you're having that one on one conversation to thank someone for their hard work and they turn around and tell you congratulations on the wonderful service you helped put together. At the conclusion of Yom Kippur services, I felt prideful. I just accomplished organizing High Holidays for 300+ people. I watched my friends and peers chant Torah, sing Kol Nidre, light candles, read dramatically about the ritual sacrifices of the high priests, and participate in making their own Jewish life away from home. These students came out to services. They could have gone to class. They could have stayed in bed. But they came to services--they chose to participate in a Jewish custom. And that makes me proud. My role as a Hillel board member is to spread Jewish life on campus. And I see that accomplished when students decided to participate in Jewish life in whatever way they choose.

Pride is praying Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King, a traditional High Holidays song that asks G-d to pardon us and forgive our sins) with many students, and hearing the congregation come together in the crescendo so that the huge room that is the worship hall at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center just feels like home. 

This past Sunday began the 10 day celebration that is the High Holy Days in the Jewish faith. Our holidays begin the evening before they are typically indicated on a calendar because our days start in the evening. This comes from Genesis where G-d separated the light from the darkness and there was evening and morning a first day. Because evening was mentioned first, our days start in the evening. But that's off topic. 
What I want to describe is the high holidays from a Jewish professionals perspective. This is not necessarily the time for deep contemplation and reflection, like it would be for any lay-service-goer. The days are filled with stress and chaos as the new Jewish year begins. As religious co-chair for the Hillel student board, I was responsible for coordinating all of the student aspects of the high holidays this year. This meant interviewing and hiring the rabbinical students that would be leading our services, working with them to find the places where students could participate, gathering the materials necessary to allow students to be comfortable participating, keeping track of who was saying what when, and passing out service parts the day of the service. This process started in May when my co-chair and I decided we wanted to look for new rabbinical students.

It is always a struggle to fill in all of the holes on the spreadsheet. Students are not comfortable reading Hebrew out loud, they fear they don't have sufficient time to practice, and they don't know how long they will be at the service before they have to leave for class. These problems make it challenging to include students in the service. Yet we didn't want the rabbinical students to be doing everything. Now finished with Rosh Hashana, and half of our responsibilities are complete, things seem to be going well.

Sunday night, we had the pleasure of hearing Dean Brady speak for the sermon, asking us to consider that we can only be G-d-like when we work together and take care of this wonderful gift of creation we have been given. The most complicated part of the evening, was not the service however--it was coordinating dinner for 300+ people. Luckily 300 people paid, but only 250 people showed up. After three years on board, we finally figured out how to smoothly run dinner--the lines weren't very long at the buffet and clean up was done in under a hour!

Monday and Tuesday services were lovely. I loved having two leaders, constantly keeping you engaged in the service. We made a small little community there, blocking off the back half of the worship hall at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center forced everyone to be close to each other instead of spread out in all corners of the Worship Hall. It was wonderful and a nice change from the services we've had in the past.

I hope you all take some time in the next week and think about the person you want to be in the next year. Think of your struggles and the hardships you've overcome. Think of your accomplishments and what you can do to better your self. Shana tova u'metuka--have a good and sweet new year!

It was a Tuesday. Just like today. I was in 5th grade finishing up my lunch when the principal rushed down the hallway and asked everyone to go to the auditorium. Okay, I thought, guess no recess today. I went and sat with my friends as she explained that the United States had been attacked. Terrorists had flown planes into the World Trade Center. I didn't even know what the WTC was. Terrorists? Here? Attacking us? That only happens in the Middle East at bus stops and pizza parlors. Why here? Why us? 
I didn't get it. I didn't understand. Girls were crying, their parents worked in New York and were justifiably worried. I didn't have connections with New York. I didn't understand. When I went to see my dad at the end of the day, he couldn't refresh the LA Times website fast enough (NY Times was down completely). All we watched at home was the same video of the towers smoking and crumbling to the ground. It was the only thing on the news for days. 

When I got to school the next day, we had homeroom for an hour or so at the beginning of the day (usually it was 15 minutes, max). We sat in a large circle, 45 girls talking about what they were feeling, what confused them, how we could be there for each other. It was a day like September 12, 2001 where I was really grateful to know every single girl in my grade. We were there to support each other and help each other through the hard times ahead. We muddled through the confusion of breaking news, disturbing videos, and emotional parents together. 

An alumna from the school perished in 9/11. My dad taught her. It was hard to watch him go through the grieving process for a student I never knew, from a situation that was still hard for me to comprehend. We now have a memorial scholarship in her name--everyone at my school now knows who Johanna Sigmund is.

One of my friend's birthday is September 11. It never mattered 11 years ago that her birthday was 9/11. Now, it's different. It's still her birthday, but it's hard to wish her a happy birthday without thinking of the events of that Tuesday. The people who perished, the heroes who tried to save them, the country that was forever changed by the actions of a few. Happy Birthday Jen. 

This past week, Steven wrote about his personality using the Myers Briggs Test. He is an ISFJ. When I took the test, (available here), I was described as an ISTJ--an introverted, sensing, thinking, judger. I am slightly more introverted than extroverted, a difference that has decreased since middle school when I first took the test. I attribute this change to my work in leadership positions--in the PLA, on Hillel board and as a Hebrew school teacher. The sensing is opposed to intuition--I don't go with my gut too often, rather I feel out the situation and make decisions only after observing my surroundings. The thinking is the only difference between Steven and myself. Steven spent this portion of his blog describing his emotional reaction when going into class. When I talk about my emotions, I tend to rationalize and think about why I feel the way I feel without actually describing my emotions. I scored 100% as a judger over a perceiver. I prefer the orderly and controlled settings using logic and reason to make my decisions rather than jumping in to a new situation ready for anything. It will be interesting to see how these letters change, if at all, as I continue to grow and mature. 
Felix spent his previous blog discussing the Democratic National Convention. I have to be honest: politics is not my favorite topic of conversation. I am not one who likes to engage in debates and the topic politics always seem to be a good way to get into an argument. I followed the Republican nomination process, and watched Obama's speech at the DNC, but don't really enjoy following every detail. Felix in his blog post however, made some good reflections about Obama's speech. I enjoyed the comments Felix made that focused on the purpose of Obama's speech: "The epic centerpiece however, was not the issues of the time but a vision of democracy and citizenship that reminded everyone of what elections are really all about." The election process, especially in our day and age with the role technology plays, has become very negative--always complaining about what the other candidate does not believe or how his plan is wrong. The purpose of an election, and democracy is to vote for someone--not against his opponent. We shouldn't be voting for the lesser of two evils, rather the person who stands for the people and focuses on making the lives of the constituency better. This election will be one to remember, and I'm excited to see how it unfolds. 

This summer I worked as the Chavayah specialist at a JCC camp back home. Chavayah is a Hebrew word that means experience. My job as a specialist was to educate campers from 4 years of age through eighth grade on the idea of B'tzelem Elokim. This phrase means "in the image of G-d" and refers to the idea that we are all created with some likeness of G-d. We all have to respect one another because we were all created in the divine image. However, no two people look the same--there is something special, unique about each one of us.

This concept is a little more complex than one would believe at first, yet it was challenging to develop eight distinct lessons that highlighted different aspects or applications of this concept and that were appropriate for the wide age range.

The first lesson I did was teaching a song called B'tzelem Elokim by Dan Nichols. It talks about the unique qualities that each one of us possesses and that when we share those gifts that our godlike qualities appear. For the younger campers, I just had them learn the chorus of the song while the older campers made up their own verses.

Other favorite lessons included a scavenger hunt where campers used the lyrics from the song to do activities that brought out their godliness such as cleaning up the campground, complimenting their friends, or standing up to bullies. We also did an activity that put campers in someone else's shoes. They had to read a book with saran-wrapped glasses, write a letter without their thumbs, button a shirt while wearing ski gloves, listen to a conversation with earplugs in, and run up stairs with pebbles in their shoes. This activity allowed campers to be grateful for the gifts and abilities they had.

Additionally, campers tried to answer the question "What does a Jew look like?" with the goal of eliminating stereotypes and prejudices. We first got out all of our stereotypes--the question "what does a Jew look like?" was posted on every table as campers walked in. After we answered this question and shared it with the group, we looked at pictures from around the world of Jews from different communities and tried to figure out what was disproved from our stereotype list. Finally, campers were split into groups and asked to create an image of what a Jew looks like. The problem was that any representation would be inaccurate because a Jew does not look like anything specific more than an American looks American. While working on their pictures, a number of campers figured out what I was doing and were able to explain why we were doing this activity this summer. While we are created in the image of G-d, that doesn't mean that we as people, or we as Jews are created to look like anything. B'tzelem Elokim is more about our actions and how we relate to people than the way we physically look.

While I wish I could have worked with the kids more during the day, and while it was challenging to do these various activities, I really enjoyed this summer and learned a lot. Hopefully these lessons and teachings will play an important role in my journey to becoming a Jewish professional.