2020

“Participating in the fellowships enabled me to make some of my closest Jewish friends from across the country and channel my passion for social change into real action,” writes JumpSpark Strong Woman Fellow Sarah Dowling.

Pictured: JumpSpark Strong Woman Fellows share community building time with activist Logan Zinman Gerber (top right)

Sarah: I first realized the need for meaningful and effective gun violence prevention legislation in 2016, when an angry former teacher at my sister’s school was intercepted by the police on his way back to school with a gun and ammunition he bought immediately after being fired. 

I learned to turn my passion into action by working with Logan Zinman Gerber, who runs a high school fellowship to teach teens across the country how to enact social change on topics like gun violence prevention, and, in the future, racial justice. Logan taught me about gun violence prevention in a social justice seminar held by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), and helped me present a speech to my United States congressional representatives alongside other Jewish teenagers from my community to lobby for gun violence prevention. 

About a month later, I joined two RAC fellowships, both of which were led by Logan. My gun violence prevention fellowship allowed me to learn about the complex issue in a nuanced light, providing me with the tools I needed for action. I looked forward to each session, and I never left a meeting without something new to think about. 

Participating in the fellowships enabled me to make some of my closest Jewish friends from across the country and channel my passion for social change into real action. For my culminating fellowship project, I led a voter registration campaign that reached over 500 people. Logan still continues to support and inspire me, and meeting with her as part of JumpSpark’s Strong Women Fellowship reminded me of the importance of activism and unity as a whole, especially in the context of the recent attack on the Capitol, which highlighted the division in our nation and reminded us that white supremacy still stands strong.

Eva: While many teens feel stranded this year, discovering opportunities to make a change regarding issues that are important to us is especially important in times as turbulent as the present. Whether we like it or not, our lives are changing, making it all the more important to reflect on our pasts and plan how we want to continue our journeys in the future just as Logan taught us. This year, I have opened my eyes to the world around me, and discovered for myself what issues are important to me. In the past, I have volunteered for a gun violence prevention organization. Hearing from Logan, who has done incredible work regarding gun violence prevention, really helped me to understand what a global issue gun violence is. With this new knowledge, I can decide for myself what I want to do in the future to create change, all while incorporating my Jewish identity. 

When Logan met with our Strong Women Fellowship in November, she pushed each of us to reflect on our own journeys and relationships with Judaism and activism thus far in our lives. Logan has spent the past two years leading teen gun violence prevention and civic engagement campaigns for the Reform Jewish Movement, connecting with half a million voters. In addition, she has been active in her outside work as the national volunteer coordinator for the American Cancer Society, where she assists people in coping with transition, as well as sharing their cancer stories. 

Our session with Logan fostered a greater sense of connection and understanding between the members of our Fellowship. In one activity where we created timelines of our Jewish journey, we found countless similarities among the handful of other girls in our breakout groups. In particular, we all found that while times of isolation from the Jewish community hurt us emotionally in the moment, in the end, these times pushed us to find our own connection to Judaism and only worked to strengthen our Jewish identities. The farther each of us got from Judaism, the stronger our desire for connection grew.

In addition, Logan connected activism and making change to the Jewish value of tikkun olam, repairing the world. Writing anonymously on a Padlet (an online discussion board, where we had posted questions for everyone to reflect upon), several Strong Women Fellows described this connection and how it inspires them: 

“Tikkun olam inspires me to create change. It is also powerful to know that helping in the world was something that my ancestors did.” 

Another Strong Women Fellow described Judaism as “… the coffee in my activism – it fuels everything I do.”

Making these connections was both powerful for us as Jews, and as activists as well. In addition to empowering us to examine our own connections to Judaism and activism, Logan gave the Strong Women Fellows resources we need to pursue tikkun olam in the future, such as her gun violence prevention campaign geared toward young people. 

“There are so many amazing resources out there to help others get registered to vote,” one Strong Women Fellow wrote on the Padlet. 

By giving us the knowledge we need to make personal connections to Judaism and the principle of tikkun olam, meeting with Logan inspired us to create positive change in the world in a way that models our Jewish values.

What we found to be the biggest takeaway from our meeting was that anyone can make a difference. We realized that we all can work to create a world we want to live in and that our work does not have to wait. Each of us has issues we care about, from gun violence to racial justice to climate change to reproductive rights, so we can all fight to create change, one step at a time.

Eva Beresin, 16, is a sophomore at The Weber School in Sandy Springs, GA, who enjoys reading and spending time with friends.

Sarah Dowling, 16, is a junior at The Lovett School in Atlanta who enjoys listening to music and reading

This article was originally published by VOX ATL. Read the full article here.

Story by Mollie Binderman and Audrey Zeff

Now more than ever students need to be prepared for life after school. Internships can introduce you to new careers and make you more prepared for a job of your own.

That’s why it was so impactful hearing Lauren Berger discuss how to find internships and jobs as part of this year’s JumpSpark Strong Women Fellowship. The Fellowship is geared toward teens, many of whom are beginning or have begun the process of college applications, or even making the decision to head straight into the career field. Getting advice on internships and careers from Berger was extremely impactful, because we as young adults are starting to face the time for decision-making for our future. 

JumpSpark’s Strong Women Fellowship is an educational and empowering program where Jewish teen girls talk about issues facing the world and learn to be leaders. We hear from inspiring people all the time. Last month, we got to hear from Berger, who has two websites, one targeted at adults to help them find jobs, and one focused on college and high school students like us. Her website, Internqueen helps us take the next steps in our career by finding internships according to our passions. 

According to Internqueen, Berger’s advice has reached the ears of 6 million people and helped shape their careers. She has also written books and been featured on many notable media outlets like Business Insider, Forbes, Teen Vogue, The Today Show, and more. Lauren’s YouTube channel also has more than 2 million views.

Berger talked about a wide variety of career advice, including how useful it is for high schoolers to get internships. Internships allow job-like experiences and are great on college resumes, which is especially helpful as you’re thinking about college. During the meeting she discussed her own story with us and shared her mistakes and achievements. We all learned a lot about the dos and don’ts when applying and completing internships.

Here are a few of our key take-aways and lessons we learned.

“I learned that it is okay to relax and take a break once in a while.” – Emma

“The value of LinkedIn!” – Rebecca

“To keep up with connections because they may be helpful later!” – Katie

“Reach out to professional contacts at least 3 times a year!” – Audrey

“You should always stay in contact with people.” – Ella

“To always follow up with a thank you email and/or note.” – Mollie

“I really liked learning about how I can effectively prepare for the future!” – Eva

“Always stay in contact with people.” – Rachel

“It’s okay to fail.” – Ariel

Hearing from a speaker like Lauren is so impactful on teens like us as we are growing older and trying to figure out questions like what career we will want to have in 10 years.

Mollie Binderman, 16, is a sophomore at North Springs Charter High School in Sandy Springs, who enjoys hanging out with friends and cooking. Audrey Zeff, 15, is a sophomore at Grady High School who loves playing volleyball and hanging out with friends. They are both participants in the Strong Women Fellowship.

This article was originally published on VOX ATL. Read it here.

Her Campus Media is an 100% woman-owned and -operated organization that provides the opportunity for college-age women to publish their voices, is the No. 1 media portfolio for college women, and works to serve and empower young women. The Founder, Stephanie Kaplan Lewis, recently spoke to JumpSpark’s Strong Women Fellowship, pointing out major lessons that she had learned from her experience starting a successful business. 

Lewis gave useful insights meant to guide any young woman who will one day start a business. Her tips include: follow your passions, build a killer team, pump out a business plan, put the pressure on, and spend hardly any money. 

After her initial presentation, Lewis paused for questions, which gave Fellows an opportunity to ask about her experience or ask for guidance about their own projects and aspirations. For instance, Ariella Ayenesazan, a 9th grader at Peachtree Ridge High School, is following her passion through her own mask business and asked intriguing questions on how to grow her business on different platforms like Lewis did.

Next, Lewis led the Fellows in an exercise where the group discussed Impostor Syndrome and finding one’s purpose through questions like “what drives you?” and fill-in-the-blanks like “Sometimes I worry that I’m not as ___ everyone thinks I am.” Lewis was vulnerable with the group by sharing times when she doubts herself and opened the floor to those who wanted to share their thoughts, reactions, and feelings. 

Lewis began her dream while in college, where she met her colleagues as Harvard undergrads while running a student publication for women on campus. The publication’s popularity resonated with college women across the country who began asking for advice on starting something similar at their schools. She has continued on with her passion to this day. 

Lewis spoke to us as a leader who represents female empowerment, inspiring future generations. The interactive event allowed us to ask questions and stay involved. She responded with impactful answers, allowing everyone to be vulnerable and share some stories of our own lives.

Finally, Fellows created a reflective word cloud that included our feelings and takeaways from the meeting, which included words like “driven,” “inspired,” “strong” and “empowered.”

Here are a few of our take-aways. 

“It was great to meet a successful woman who was willing to share her expertise with us, and she even said we could reach out to her after the meeting and participate in some of the high school Her Campus media programs. I appreciated how open Lewis was in sharing times she failed so we would not repeat the same mistakes. One thing that I will take away is that if someone has enough drive and ambition, they can do whatever they put their mind to, which I think is an important message for young women and teens to hear, because it motivates them to act on their dreams.” – Amelia Heller

“Her story inspires me to create my own path in life, like maybe create my own business one day. She pulled out all the stops to make her dreams come true, which I aspire to do one day as well. Stephanie is someone we can all look up to and learn from. With hard work, anything is possible.” – Kayla Jacobs

“I learned a lot about what it takes to start a company and the struggles faced when doing so. [Lewis’] presentation was engaging and informative, and I definitely took a lot away from it, especially when we went around and challenged our ‘Imposter Syndrome’ views of ourselves.” – Alexa Freedman

I learned how she started her company with very low expenses. I also really loved the activities we did, because it showed how it is okay to show your vulnerable side.” – Ariella Ayenesazan

“It was so interesting to hear her story about how she created her magazine company. It was so inspiring.” – Miriam Raggs

“I learned that it is possible to start a company without any money. I also learned that sacrifices are necessary to be successful.” – Maya Laufer

Amelia Heller, 15, is a sophomore at The Weber School in Atlanta. She loves musical theatre and hanging out with friends. Kayla Jacobs, 17, is a senior at Pope High School who loves to hang out with her friends, volunteer and shop online.

The Strong Women Fellowship aims to empower Jewish girls and young women through activities and speakers like Lewis who educate, energize, and empower the Fellows to be passionate and successful in their pursuits.

This article was originally published on VOX ATL. Read it here.