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| Finding Jewish students. Meeting them. Talking to them. And listening. Hearing their story. Telling yours. Making an impact. Allowing yourself to learn. Teaching. Relating Judaism to something they care about. Introducing them to other students. Watching them make connections. Helping them make connections. Making mistakes. Learning from them. Being a role model. Thinking creatively. Having fun! There are many different ways in which you can “engage” a student. Click on the links below to see a few. But be sure to read below for more specifics about engagement here at Miami. TABLING TABLING EXAMPLES NOSHES, JAVA W/JEN, ETC. ENGAGEMENT STORIES |
| Engagement v. Empowerment The typical engagement student is not someone who comes to Hillel all of the time. In fact, you should be spending most of your time meeting students who do not. Sometimes this is hard to do, but force yourself-you’ll be glad! Those who already have a strong connection with Judaism or those who often take major leadership roles are often referred to as empowerment students, using Hillel language. Your job is to keep a balance between the two. Perhaps work with empowered ones to help your engagement strategies, but talk to your coach and do whatever the both of you think will work best on your campus! |
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| Engagement and empowerment at Miami: Most of the students on Miami’s campus are potential engagement |
| The Role of the Jewish Encounter in each of your programs. “Torah Text Study: come on the 20th of Nisan!” Yikes! As an engagement professional, this is probably not the best way to advertise a program for students who are not active in Hillel. In fact, many unaffiliated students need a gradual transition from being a secular Jew to an educated Jew. That’s why social programs are important, however, how can you initiate a meaningful connection to Judaism without being too intimidating? Hmmmm…it’s a tough question to answer, and one that comes through trial and error for the most part. Sometimes it’s a good idea to insert a Jewish joke at a program. Other times, you might table with an informational sheet about a holiday. The best example that I can give for a gradual shift to deeper Jewish learning can be illustrated through our Ladies’ Nights. The first month’s activity was simply painting candle holders, then tzedakah boxes where we learned what tzedakah was, but by the end of the year, we were looking at excerpts from the Torah and relating it to our beliefs about interfaith dating! The best advise that I can give in terms of Jewish encounters is to realize that every student connects to Judaism in different ways: some through music, some through science and others through sports…find what is meaningful to each student and add a unique twist that will capture their interest. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how interested students are if you simply ask “what do you think?” and then say “do you want to know what Judaism says?” I haven’t found anyone who said “no.” |
| students. It is a very secular campus, so many students see themselves as students, boyfriends/girlfriends, brother/sister or son/daughter before identifying with being Jewish. This is what makes your job so important! This is not to say that students are not interested in having a Jewish life. In fact, there are many students that would be considered “empowerment” students, students who already have a connection to Judaism and work to perpetuate more Jewish programming on campus themselves. I would argue that not everyone on the student board is an empowerment student, so technically although you are supposed to work mostly with engagement students, you’ll probably be working with student board members as well. |