Rena, congratulations on your new role, and thank you for all you are doing for your peers and the Jewish Future. Tell us, and our investors, what being a leader means to you? I believe an NCSY leader should be a role model for teens and to the people around them. I’ve got to be confident but willing to learn, able to speak and relate to anyone and know how to get others motivated for our common goal. Before you share your visions with us, tell us a bit about how NCSY has affected you? NCSY is my family, my second home, my inspiration, and my Jewish anchor. It's weird to look back now and see that not even two years ago, I was a completely estranged. The past two years I’ve been involved with NCSY have changed my life. NCSY has had such a positive impact on my life that I only wish to share this same feeling with everyone around me. Rena, we heard you had an exciting summer with NCSY in Israel. Tell us about it. I chose to attend Michlelet, hoping this "intense learning" program would fill the gaps in my Judaic knowledge and provide me with the Jewish education I lack during the year. And I came away with so much more! I now have a newfound love for my Jewish homeland, a stronger sense of Jewish values, friends that will last a lifetime, an intense love for the learning of Torah and a clear picture of what I'd like to do with my posthigh school future. What are your big plans for this year? In a word, “Recruitment!” We’ll do three things. First, we’ll advertise more in the local Jewish shopping centers, synagogues, Jewish meeting places and newspapers, next, we’ve got to social network more efficiently. Finally, we’ll empower our best asset – the teens themselves! Maybe we’ll even have sessions during our shabbatonim on how we can spread the word and get our friends involved! Any last messages? Sure – I want to make sure our donors know how much we love them. Although we, the teens, get to have all the fun, THEY get all the credit! To follow Rena and her friend’s growth, visit us at southern.ncsy.org. 7200 Camino Real, Suite #104 ~ Boca Raton, FL 33433 ~ southern.ncsy.org Our local teens are lucky to have Bernie and Melanie Kaminetsky as Jewish communal leaders. The Kaminetskys support everything from Israel Advocacy to Jewish education and outreach. In fact, Bernie is currently an AIPAC National Board Member, and Melanie is a longtime Executive Board Member of the Weinbaum Yeshiva High School of Boca Raton. Q. What do you think are the most successful engagement programs for Jewish teens? A. Israel programs! We MUST get teens excited and passionate about Israel and teach them all we can about our country and heritage. That’s why we were thrilled to sponsor NCSYers traveling to Israel this summer on TJJ. Q. You’ve raised your own teens and been involved with their peers. What trends do you see? A. Teenagers are a critical demographic, but we see them growing less enthusiastic about Judaism. Fewer and fewer are spending a year in Israel studying and that’s a shame, as it was the absolute norm for our kids and their friends a few years ago. It’s our conviction that by sending NCSYers to Israel, we’ll start to reverse that downward trend. Q. What’s new and exciting on the horizon, in your view, for Jewish kids out there? A. Last year, I [Bernie] attended NCSY’s YouthCon – the Informal and Experiential Jewish Educators Convention. It’s the common ground for Jewish Educators to network, inspire and learn from one another’s accomplishments. I had a complete paradigm shift in my understanding of what’s going on in the outreach world and all the creative solutions being implemented for our teens. What’s new and exciting? Ask them! But for us, it will always be getting more kids to Israel to learn and to grow! Thanks to the Kaminetskys and donors like you, teens are falling in love with Israel. Visit www.southern.ncsy.org to learn more. Public School Teen Energizes Hundreds with Her Story of Growth Even before last year's school session let out, your investments inspired a new generation of leaders to take the helm. On June 13th, Shaani and Dr. Adam Splaver of Hollywood, FL, hosted the first 201213 Southern NCSY Regional Board (RegBo) meeting. It was there that outgoing officers passed the baton to incoming leaders and even participated in peertopeer mentoring. Fifteen teens gathered together with seven more video and phone conferencing in from remote locations all around our nine state district. Regbo members discussed their roles and responsibilities, what it means to be leaders amongst their peers and how to become Jewish activists. They began their strategic planning for the upcoming school year and presented programming ideas in front of their fellow officers for consideration. Teens were divided into four committees, and made commitments to themselves and each other to take active roles in the arenas of Publicity, Recruitment, Finance or Social Action/Education. And They’re Off…RegBo Grabs the Reigns Exclusive Inside Information for Southern NCSY Investors and Friends der