鈥淎s a high school freshman, I stepped into leadership for the first time through BBYO. My passion for grassroots organizing and teen initiative inspired me to run for BBYO鈥檚 International Board, and I started in February 2020 as the international treasurer. With this position, I was given the platform to take action on causes I鈥檓 passionate about. In early June, I began leading BBYO鈥檚 racial justice education efforts. Against a national and increasingly global backdrop of discussions about racial understanding, it felt like people were finally starting to value the importance of sensitivity and inclusion. Being a Jew of Color, this work felt deeply personal.

鈥淕rowing up, the fact that I was both Asian and Jewish did not resonate with those around me: On my first day of middle school, my math teacher marked me absent because 鈥榤y name didn鈥檛 match my face.鈥� When I told my gym teacher I would be absent from school for the Jewish high holidays, he chuckled and said, 鈥業 guess you can never tell these days.鈥� People tried to connect visual pictures with existing known paradigms, which resulted in misunderstandings and misconceptions of how I identified.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 until joining BBYO in 8th grade that I was able to find a community that both acknowledged and celebrated me. Here I could define my complex identity, not through my appearance, but through my actions. Through my leadership, I was able to convince peers and alumni that systemic racism isn鈥檛 a political issue, but a human rights issue. I鈥檓 proud to have created a comfortable and productive learning space for young adults and have learned so much myself about making tangible steps towards a more inclusive community. Most importantly, this opportunity helped me realize that my experiences were the tip of the iceberg; I had just as much learning to do as everyone else.鈥澛犫�斅燛mma Rosman, Virginia Tech听鈥�25

Emma Rosman is a 2021 recipient of the Handeli First-Year Student Scholarship from 黑料传送门. Learn more about Hillel scholarships for Jewish students.

This Humans of Hillel story featured three students from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The photo features, clockwise and starting from the top, Julie Blitz, Julia Nathanson, and Briana Schwam.聽

鈥淚 shared an Instagram post鈥ust saying what sororities can be doing better and Panhellenic to be more inclusive for Judaism and for all different ethnicities and races. But this was focusing on Judaism. And then Julie shared it and Julia shared it. And then so many other people were talking about it at Virginia Tech, and so many other sororities across the country were like 鈥極h my gosh, this is amazing. Can we talk about it?鈥� And then one of the Panhellenic executive members saw it and responded to me 鈥業 resonate with this so much. I鈥檓 a minority too. I want you to do something about it. And I will have your back.鈥� And that really sparked me, like 鈥榃ow I already have the support from Panhellenic.鈥�

鈥淪o I sent an email to them just with all our different experiences, running down how they scheduled initiation for Yom Kippur and how during recruitment, Julie had a bad experience where when she said she was Jewish, a recruiter stopped talking to her and was very disrespectful in the way she acted. And those kinds of stories that no one really knows about. I brought them up to Panhellenic saying we want to work with them, and we want to make change happen. But we need their help.鈥� 鈥� Briana Schwam, Virginia Tech

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鈥淲hen I posted [the Instagram post], a couple of girls from our sorority who are not Jewish reached out and were saying, 鈥楬ow can I help? How can I support you guys? I鈥檒l just do the best that I can to help you guys,鈥� which really meant a lot because I was very hesitant going into the meeting with our execs, talking with our whole sorority about it the week before recruitment. I didn鈥檛 know how receptive people would be to it. But everyone was so nice and accepting. They told us afterwards that they were so happy that we had brought this up to them because it hadn鈥檛 been something they were aware of before. We talked to them about it, which is awesome that we were able to educate them on it so that we can be more inclusive about it and just educate people, not only our sorority but the Virginia Tech community in general about Judaism and how we can be more inclusive across campus.

鈥淛ulie and I, we鈥檙e both sophomores, so we have two more years with the whole recruiting process. Our biggest goal was to foster an inclusive environment. We told our personal experiences and stories to our chapter. We also just wanted to focus on the fact that what happened to us is in the past, and we just want to focus on how we can improve our chapter and all Panhellenic chapters at Tech. So girls who decide to rush or join other organizations on campus that are Jewish, or a minority in general, they feel genuinely welcomed and not tokenized in any way.鈥� 鈥斅燡ulia Nathanson, Virginia Tech

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鈥淚 had the same fear as Julia and Briana, like 鈥極h my gosh, they鈥檙e going to think we鈥檙e accusing them of something. They鈥檙e going to hate us.鈥� And it was actually the complete opposite of that. Like when telling them that they scheduled our initiation for Yom Kippur and I had to miss some of Yom Kippur for that. They were like 鈥榃e are so sorry.鈥� They had no idea. And that鈥檚 completely okay because not everyone knows. But I think the best part of that whole conversation was they were so grateful that we educated them because they didn鈥檛 know something that we were able to teach them about. They weren鈥檛 apologizing profusely. They were sorry, but they weren鈥檛 like 鈥楻eally? You have to make our lives more difficult?鈥� They were so willing to make this change happen with us.

鈥淭alking to our execs personally made me, and I hope I can speak for Julia and Briana on this, it made me feel more comfortable with our executive team. It made me feel like I was an actual voice in my sorority rather than just another member. Because I didn鈥檛 know these girls from a hole in the wall. They鈥檙e much older than me. I see them as superiors, authorities because they鈥檝e been in Chi Omega so much longer than I have. I was always afraid to speak to them, but talking to them made me feel so included, and it made me feel really secure. Knowing that anything I said they were going to take into consideration and do something about because they genuinely care about all of their members and everyone鈥檚 feelings too.鈥� 鈥斅燡ulie Blitz, Virginia Tech

鈥淏efore attending Virginia Tech, I visited the Malcom Rosenberg Hillel Center and it really spoke to me when I saw the building and was greeted by the extremely friendly staff. When I chose to attend Virginia Tech, I knew Hillel was going to be my home away from home. Upon visiting, I met the Executive Director Sue Kurtz. Throughout my college career, she has served as a mentor, not only in my Jewish values and lifestyle, but also in my development as an artist. Sue is a talented artist herself, and it was her idea to commission Hillel鈥檚 very own life-size Hokie Bird statue to be displayed at the building. Virginia Tech has 40 Hokie Birds placed all around the campus of Virginia Tech and Blacksburg, VA. These birds are painted with different themes. When I was creating the design concept for my Hokie Bird, I thought back to one of my favorite memories as a college student. That memory was聽going to Israel on聽my聽Birthright Israel trip聽when I was a sophomore. With Israel in my mind, I decided to paint the front of the bird with a picture of the聽snake聽trail聽which leads聽to the top of Masada. For the back,聽I decided to paint a sunset over the city of Jerusalem. To me, the bird serves聽as a way to combine Judaism with Virginia Tech and the Hokie Bird with Hillel.聽This聽is the ultimate聽way to connect my passion聽for art聽with聽Judaism, Hillel and Virginia Tech.鈥� 鈥� Shoshana聽Levenson, Virginia Tech 鈥�19