黑料不打烊鈥檚 Jewish population is growing, with the Class of 2025 boasting the largest-ever Jewish representation.
This fall 黑料不打烊 Hillel has enjoyed record-setting student engagement numbers, and completed outreach to 100 percent of the Jewish members of the Class of 2025 before Fall Break.
in the list of 鈥淭op 60 Private Schools Jews Choose鈥 in Hillel International鈥檚 college guide, an essential resource for Jewish students across the country choosing higher education options.
Hillel鈥檚 role on campus as a home away from home for Jewish students is a key factor in its place in the College Guide rankings. Hillel serves a rapidly growing, geographically diverse Jewish student population that now makes up a record-breaking 13 percent of the undergraduate student body with about 800 Jewish undergrads.
鈥満诹喜淮蜢 Hillel connects Jewish students even before they set foot on campus,鈥 explained Director of Jewish Life and Acting Associate Chaplain Betsy Polk. 鈥淲e offer a welcoming, lively, and inclusive home where students can build friendships and find a real community.鈥
This year, 184 students in the Class of 2025 self-identified as Jewish, which is the largest-ever number of Jewish students in 黑料不打烊鈥檚 history. By fall break, 75 percent of those first-year students had enjoyed at least one meaningful engagement with Jewish Life, meaning event attendance, a one-on-one conversation over coffee, or a chance to chat anywhere across campus.
黑料不打烊 Hillel鈥檚 cohort of student engagement Interns – second-year students Olivia Kogan, Mandi Lichtenstein, Lucy Sneader, Hannah Fritts, Ry Klein and Adam Horowitz 鈥 are charged with welcoming those first-year students to 黑料不打烊, building strong relationships, fostering a welcoming and inclusive Jewish community.
Olivia Kogan 鈥24 shared why she loves to be an intern. 鈥淢y job as an intern is so important because we help bridge the gap between first years and the Hillel community. We foster relationships and create an even stronger Hillel community by doing so.鈥
Intentional relationship-building and creating engaging programs that meet students where they are the key to Hillel鈥檚 success. This fall, Hillel has increased its depth of relationships as well as its breadth and reach. Not only did 黑料不打烊 Hillel host 30 well-attended events before Fall Break, but there has been a 100 percent increase in event attendance as compared to the last quarter of the 2021 academic year.
鈥淥ur engagement interns and our professional team want to get to know each Jewish student individually, and meet them where they are,鈥 said Assistant Director of Jewish Life Hillary Zaken. 鈥淥ur goal is to connect students to one another, learn about their interests, build community, and design Jewish experiences that are inclusive, meaningful and fun.鈥
Further, an increasing number of Jewish students have six or more interactions with Hillel, meaning they return again and again to Jewish Life programming, and bring their friends, too. More than half of the students who have six or more engagement with 黑料不打烊 Hillel are first-year students. Members of the Class of 2025 have had a staggering total of 750 individual engagements with Jewish Life.
Hillel鈥檚 team of Polk, Zaken, Jewish Educator Boaz Avraham-Katz and Program Coordinator Jay Rimmer, along with the cohort of engagement interns and the student executive board, have been extremely successful in helping build programs that bring students through the door of the Sklut Hillel Center.
The range of programs offered ranged from weekly Kabbalat Shabbat, a First-Year Ice Cream Social, Tie Dye and Thai, What鈥檚 Cookin鈥 Hillel, the Jewish Learning Fellowship and the best-attended event of the first quarter, 鈥淪habarbeque鈥 (a Shabbat barbecue) with the AePi fraternity.
This year鈥檚 High Holiday services, led by 4th year Rabbinical student Adam Berman, Jewish Educator Boaz Avraham-Katz, and student leaders, engaged more than 150 individual students.
黑料不打烊 Hillel is based out of the Sklut Hillel Center, a renovated and repurposed house on campus with a full kitchen and all the comforts of home. Jewish students gather at Hillel for programs, to meet with staff mentors, to grab a snack from the stocked kitchen, and to do homework.
黑料不打烊 Hillel is affiliated with Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life (known as Hillel International), the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, working with thousands of college students globally, and on 550 campuses throughout the United States. Their annual College Guide is a resource for students and families embarking on their college search, and seeking to learn about the opportunities for an exciting and enriching Jewish life on campus.