Shalom magazine - The Atlantic Jewish Council

C a m p u s L i f e
Campus Life
By Bill Chernin, Director of Campus Services, Atlantic Provinces
It’s a
challenging
thing to
write about
what happened
on campus in
the summer,
since not much
happens on
campus in
the summer. I think it might be
interesting for you to read about
what goes on behind the scenes, in
preparation for a new school year, so
here you go.
By late August we have plans with the
student leaders to attend their society
fairs and for their first programs, on those
campuses that have JSA’s (Dal/Kings,
Acadia, Mt. Allison). The society fairs are
where many of the new Jewish students
make contact with the Jewish student
groups.
In Halifax it’s much the same, but on
a much larger scale. Arrangements are
made to make the 1st year students living
in residence aware of us, a program is
planned for these same students, and the
JSA bbq (our most attended program of
the year) is also planned and waiting to
happen. The JSA exec, which was elected
in the Spring, will also start holding
meetings, and planning. Additionally,
with our Hillel Atlantic emails, we notify
students of the High Holiday services
across Atlantic Canada, and try to facilitate
invitations for them to Holiday meals.
We also try to develop new programming
opportunities and engage new students
on the smaller campuses by utilizing
those students we met at our Regional
Shabbatons the previous Winter. For
example, this year we have a student at
St. Mary’s who would like to organize
programming there, and we can put her
in touch with another new St. Mary’s
student who contacted us through our
Hillel Atlantic website. The same is true
at Mt. Allison. Enabling these connections
on small campuses is very important
because they have so few Jewish students.
(Whenever we make contact with a new
student on a new campus, we immediately
offer them leadership advice and readyto-go
programs, so that they can begin to
program). During this first round of activity
we also advertise our next set of programs,
including the Shabbat dinners, the smoked
meat dinners, the basketball league in
Halifax, etc. and we welcome suggestions
and involvement from all students
regarding the type of programming they’d
like to participate in; It’s through this
surveying of students across the region that
we developed our Remembering Dachau to
Defend Darfur program, and last year our
new social justice group ROW (Repair our
World) – ROW’s website will be completed
for September so they can start signing
up new members and begin their first full
year of operations. By November we begin
planning our regional Shabbaton (held
every January).
The name of the game, as you can see,
is engagement. This past summer the
national organization which funds our
programming, (NJCL)
re-branded itself Hillel
Canada, much as we
re-branded ourselves
Hillel Atlantic several
years ago. At their staff
conference in August
we will learn about
various methods of
engagement, through
topics such as the
“Art of Relationships
– approaches and
models,” “Jewish
Emerging Adults
-search for meaning
and mentorship,”
“How to Teach People
with Big Questions,”
and “Models of
Engagement.” Topics
Page 10 Tishre 5771 - Vol 35 No. 2
are chosen based on the experiences of
our planning committee (of which I’m
a member). It might also interest you to
know that last year, myself and the other
staff members who work alone, were
organized into a team of our own, called
“Emerging Campuses,” which we have all
found to be rewarding, in regards to our
training, our problem solving, our program
sharing, and our general satisfaction.
I’ve spoken very little about Israel
advocacy, but suffice it to say that it goes
forward as always, with efforts underway
to arrange a speaker tour of several
campuses for the fall plus a premier
speaker for Halifax, the modification of our
Propaganda or Education campaign, and
collaboration with, and support from, our
national partner, the University Outreach
Committee. Our core leadership is in place
for the Israel Affairs Committee. Birthright
Israel trips will run in December and next
summer, Hebrew University and Tel Aviv
University, will visit us again this fall,
along with MASA, and our community will
undoubtedly diversify, strengthen, and
grow this year. I hope you all enjoyed this
little journey behind the scenes.