Well I am now officially “getting old” (My brother in law Jon will love this). At the Annual NCSY Staff conference this week they gave out milestone awards for years of service as staff members. !0 years to Moshe Isenberg (greater Midwest); 18 years to Tzali Freedman (Central East) and 25 years to me (Seaboard, NY, Central East, NJ and now International). When Rabbi Burg gave me the award he started off by saying (paraphrase) Twenty five years, that's a really long time. Boy, this person is old. How many of you here were not even born yet 25 years ago (over half the staff raise their hands)….
Anyways, I'm very excited about our new Alumni Connections team and the great synergy we now have with the regions and I am enthusiastic enough to start all over again (of course I wouldn't mind skipping some aspects of being a teenager) ;)
Welcome to Avital Moss (winner of Best Advisor award from West Coast) who has joined our staff to focus on Birthright. She has already made a lasting impact on over 250 Birthright applicants in less than a week!!!
Olivia Wiznitzer is also new to the team. She edited this newsletter, is creating many new services for our alumni and has already distributed the information on our recent grads and where they are going to college BEFORE school starts (what a concept). We have even been told by many of our staff that college Jewish professionals called them to ask about specific kids on the list!!!!
There are a lot of exciting things to come this year for our alumni so pay attention cause the best is yet to come!