16 Reasons Why I Will Be a Terrific USY on Wheels Staff Member

Every summer, USY on Wheels enriches hundreds of teenagers' lives. Here is a look into why I want to join the team of people who make an immeasurable difference in USYers' lives by staffing Wheels.

1. I love working with teenagers.

One of the main reasons I want to staff USY on Wheels is because I love working with teenagers. To be able to do that as a job seems like a dream. During my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I served as the Secretary and Vice President (respectively) of my class council at West Essex High School. With my council of four, we planned a freshman Semi-Formal dance and a Sophomore Class Tricky Tray fundraiser at which we raised over $16,000 for class programming and charity. As a junior, I served as the USY chapter president for Caldwell USY, a role that sparked my passion for leadership. I worked and talked with my advisor and board of fellow teenagers to plan bi-monthly events for our USY chapter and to further our collaboration with the shul. The next year, I served as the Hagalil Regional President of USY, where I worked with the other regional board members to plan kinnusim and day events. In this position, I interacted heavily with teenagers – from overseeing various committees to staffing Kadima conventions. Most recently, I co-chaired USY’s International Convention in New Orleans. Although the planning stages were incredible, the best part was standing side-by-side with USYers at IC. One of the most rewarding parts of IC was working and interacting with the hundreds of USYers there. My favorite part of IC was sorting Mardi Gras beads on the day of service because I really enjoyed getting to know the USYers next to me and hearing about their own experiences. In addition, this summer I was a bunk counselor for incoming 7th graders at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. I also served on the Peulat Erev Va’ad, working with two other tzevet members to plan an evening activity for the edah every night. I feel I have a lot of experience in working with teens, but I think the most valuable experience I have is having been one. Wheels was a huge growing experience for me, and my staff played an integral part in helping me mature. I remember sitting at the front of the bus with Jordana and asking her for advice about my “boyfriend” (#datedforthreeweeks) while we listened to Maroon 5 together. I remember asking Jordana about her experience on Nativ and whether or not she felt safe in Israel. To this day I remember how I felt as a Wheelnik and how comforted I was by my staff’s words that stemmed from her own experiences. I know that I am equipped to answer USYers’ questions, both logistical and personal, because I too asked those same questions three years ago and now have the experience to answer them.

2. Thanks to my semester studying at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, I have ready a pocket of Talmudic and biblical texts that I want to bring to sichah on Wheels.

3. I'll make every moment an ETM (Exciting Teachable Moment)

A responsibility I look forward to taking upon myself as a Wheels staff member is teaching Wheelniks about Judaism, USY, and themselves in an engaging way. Having led kitot at Hagalil Kadima kinnusim as a senior in high school, I feel comfortable and am excited to create interesting dialogue between USYers in a sichah setting on Wheels. I also worked in the nursery school of my synagogue during my senior year as a teacher's assistant. From the children I learned how to forge relationships and the meaning of compromise. Helping them decide which puzzle to complete could very well translate into helping Wheelniks decide which SA/TO project for the bus to pursue throughout the summer. On a less formal level, I found myself behaving as both a counselor and a teacher this past summer as a madricha for 12-year-olds at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. On the first day of camp, I told my bunk of girls that everything in camp is what they make of it. I explained that something like Wednesday Shacharit may not seem like the most enthralling activity, but if they try to connect to the prayers and the kehila around them, they might enjoy it a little more. For the rest of the summer, every Wednesday I woke up to my 15 campers cheering "WEDNESDAY SHACHARIT!" and was delighted to see their faces deep in both thought and excitement as they chanted the morning prayers. Throughout the summer I also found myself up late at night on the bunk's mirpeset (porch), teaching my campers Torah readings for Shabbat and for their Batei Mitzvot. On Nativ, I love teaching my peers how to crochet kippot, a skill that I learned from my madricha on Wheels. I can't wait to spend hours on the bus helping a Wheelnik start a kippah or learn a new Kabbalat Shabbat tune.

4. I’m a professional lice picker after the recent Nativ lice epidemic.

5. I’ll bring meaning to the words Shomer Shabbat and Shomer Kashrut.

This year, I began to fully observe the laws of Shomer Shabbat and Shomer Kashrut. By fully, I mean that while I followed the laws of Shabbat and Kashrut during high school, I constantly questioned certain customs and their significance. Only now after having the experience of being in Israel and the independence to decide how I want to practice my Judaism do I stand behind my beliefs. I now, with confidence, look forward to going to synagogue and even going to minyan on Nativ to be surrounded by those with the same interest in tefillot as me. I look forward to turning off my phone for Shabbat to spend a little more time resting and socializing with my peers than I do on a day-to-day basis. I hope to help the USYers on Wheels learn to enjoy keeping Shabbat and Kashrut by explaining my newfound enthusiasm for the laws that I sometimes felt were left blurry.

6. I’m a pro at zipping Wheels duffels.

7. I want to be a Jewish educator for USYers.

The Jewish educators I've found most influential to me have not been my Hebrew school or my Yehadut teachers at camp. Rather, I've always been most inspired by the Jewish teachings I've learned from my camp counselors and USY staff members in informal settings. I want to be someone who Wheelniks approach with Judaic questions and thoughts, and I feel that my personal Jewish education (both formal and informal) has equipped me to be that person. I started attending my synagogue's Hebrew school in first grade, and graduated from the program after ninth grade. While I learned about the technicalities of Kashrut and Jewish customs in Hebrew school, I only further processed what I had learned once I entered the USY and Ramah worlds. In Yehadut class in camp, I discussed topics like religious Israelis opting out of the army, the Conservative Movement's opinion on ordaining gay rabbis, and more. I appreciated debating these topics with Rabbis who worked at camp and with my camp friends, even after we left the yehadut pagoda. In USY, my Jewish education expanded even further. At Hagalil and International conventions, I was fortunate to learn about Judaism and individuality, helping the environment in a Jewish atmosphere, and what it means to be a hero. I have always felt that I learn the most in settings where dialogue is present, rather than a lecture-type environment. This past semester I had the incredible opportunity to study at the Conservative Yeshiva, where I studied Talmud, Halacha, Chasidut, Zionism, Hebrew, and participated in a Theology Workshop. For the first time in my life, I studied with the same chevruta everyday for four months, learning from his Jewish background and education. During my time at the Conservative Yeshiva, I learned about the Jewish religion and even more about myself. I learned how to ask questions and how to truly study. I really enjoyed learning in chevruta and then meeting up with the rest of the class for shiur. I hope that on Wheels I will be able to lead a sichah and use this approach, because I feel it breaks up the time well and facilitates the most productive conversation and learning. I also feel that the Yeshiva was the most supportive learning community I have ever been a part of, and I hope to bring that same feeling of support and comfort to sichah on Wheels. I was the only Nativer in Yeshiva this year who had never attended a Jewish day school, and I think it's important for Wheelniks to know that they can still learn however much they desire on and after Wheels no matter their prior Jewish education.

8. I can make a killer morning playlist.

9. My life has been a mash-up of organized Jewish groups, and I don’t think my work in them is complete.

As a camper, I went to Camp Ramah in the Berkshires for seven summers and worked as a counselor this past summer. Ramah is the place where I first heard the beautiful tunes of Kabbalat Shabbat and the place where I realized I wanted to work with kids. During my Gesher summer (going into 11th grade), I was a Counselor in Training for 11-year-olds. This experience set me up to be able to work with others (my co-CIT’s) and taught me how much of a difference that staff in Jewish organizations can make. For me, Ramah and USY have never been mutually exclusive. In the summer of 2010, I went on USY on Wheels, which turned out to be the start of my USY journey. From there, I served on my chapter board, as Regional President, and most recently as IC Co-Chair. During my junior and senior years of high school, I also participated in the Write On For Israel Advocacy program, which is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest. Within the walls of the Columbia University Hillel and on the mountains in the Golan, Write On taught me how to be educated on Israeli politics and current events and how to advocate for Israel, especially on the college campus. I can’t stress enough how much my experiences in these three Jewish groups were molded by my staff members and advisors, and one of the reasons I want to staff is to be the staff member who helps mold the Wheels experience into an incredible one for the USYers, but more on that in a bit.

10. I know over 12 Adon Olam tunes.

11. I want to bring a lot on the bus, especially my creativity.

I’ve always enjoyed being artistically creative, and I would love to apply my artistic abilities to the Wheels bus. I can help Wheelniks decorate their siddurim and create decorations for birthdays. This past summer, I created a Nikayon (cleaning) wheel for my campers. The theme of the chart was mustaches, which seemed to be a huge fad this summer. The chart kept my campers interested in which job they had each day. On Wheels, I can make creative charts to ensure that the USYers know their responsibilities. In addition to my creativity and enthusiasm, I also have much programmatic experience from my leadership positions in USY and from being a camper and camp counselor. I’m excited to adapt and create new programs for the Wheels bus. One program, which I created this summer at camp and hope to bring to Wheels, stands out particularly – Deal Or No Deal. Taped to the wall there will be many “cases” (pieces of paper) with a different prize written on each. Some of these prizes might be a Shabbat lunch date with the Rosh, the chance to make the morning playlist for the bus one day, or being the first table called up for a meal. The bus will be divided into groups, and each group will then pick a prize off the wall. Each group can either keep the prize they get (deal) or choose to give it up in hopes of picking a better prize (no deal). By the end of the program, each group will have a prize that the staff will follow through in giving them. This is only one example of a nighttime program I’m excited to share with my co-staff and hopefully run with the Wheelniks. In addition, I have experience using creativity to mediate conflicts and social issues. As USY chapter president, I dealt with issues that arose between two board members who constantly disagreed. With my advisor, I was able to solve this issue by having conferences with the two board members and talking about a reasonable solution. In addition, this summer I sometimes had to mediate social conflicts (bullying, exclusivity, etc.) between campers both within and outside of my bunk. To solve the problems between the girls in the edah, my co-staff and I wrote a program during which we showed the movie "Mean Girls," pausing at specific scenes to have a dialogue with the campers about issues such as gossiping, casting judgement, and cliques. By the end of the program, the girls were much more unified and seemed to have more of an ability to process their behaviors and deal with their conflicts. I feel that this experience will allow me to create a supportive and peaceful environment between all of the Wheelniks. If a problem or conflict does arise on Wheels, I know that I will be able to work through it with the Wheelniks.

12. Hiking for 72 hours in the desert on Nativ has taught me numerous word games to keep USYers entertained on long bus rides.

13. I want to give my Wheelniks an experience as amazing as my staff gave me.

As I mentioned before, my experiences on USY on Wheels and Pilgrimage would have been far inferior if not for my unbelievable staff. To this day, I feel comfortable to Facetime or Facebook message my Pilgrimage staff Jess about anything because of the support she provided me throughout the summer. I want to be a staff member on Wheels so that I can provide the same feeling I got from Jess. I want to help a Wheelnik find his or her voice in a group larger than they might have been a part of before. Maybe I will teach a Wheelnik how to lead a service they were once too anxious to even think about learning. I want to inspire Wheelniks to continue to seek their Jewish identities both within and outside of USY, just as I was inspired to do on Wheels. I don’t know if I would have thought about applying for IC Co-Chair if Jacob Stoehr hadn’t shared his Co-Chair experience with me as we sat together on the bus ride to San Francisco. I would love the opportunity to be a positive role model for USYers, and I know that staffing Wheels could absolutely give me that opportunity.

14. I am a team player.

The most successful team on which I’ve been a player was the IC trio of Lisa Alter Krule, Jake Wassermann, and myself. As a team, we planned the ins and outs of IC NOLA. As I reflect, I see two defining characteristics that made our team successful: we all had different strengths and weaknesses and we knew how to divide and conquer. While Jake was great at keeping calm, I struggled with pausing from IC planning to take a break to breathe. But as a team, we comforted each other and balanced out each other’s weaknesses. At the same time, I enjoyed working on technological aspects (AV components like making videos and trimming sound clips) while Jake preferred to write out details of the schedule. On the other side of the world, Lisa worked with registration numbers and ironing out volunteering options. Almost every night we would come together with Lisa via Skype to recap what we had each accomplished over the day and to set new goals. My role on the team was pushing us to power through and accomplish what we had set out to do. Some nights we stayed up way past our "bedtime," but because of our persistence and my role on the team, our programs came to fruition and the details were all figured out by the time IC came around. From this team, I truly admire Jake and his leadership characteristics. Jake is a people-person. Every night when we sat down to work, Jake would ask me how my day was. He was always able to speak to people with a calm demeanor and rarely lost his cool. I sometimes got caught up in the hectic work schedule of planning IC, but because of the balance between my desire to keep working and Jake’s ability to say “everything will be okay, let’s just think of another plan," IC NOLA was legendary. With my co-staff on Wheels, I will create unforgettable bonding activities, evening programming, creative tefillot options, and more. In addition, we can split up to work with our respective va’adot of Wheelniks and then join together to create one cohesive community.

15. I’ve mastered the art of sleeping on a bus and am excited to share my expertise.

16. By the end of the summer, my Wheelniks will say “Gaby’s always smiling and laughing and that makes me feel like I can talk to her about anything. I can be weird and crazy with her and I can trust her even when things aren’t going as planned.”

In general, I have a very positive attitude and try to make even the most mundane of activities fun. I want a Wheelnik of mine to look back on the summer and remember the time that we were waiting in line for Space Mountain when I spontaneously started a game of Big Booty. I want this Wheelnik to tell his or her friends about the time when we quoted the movie "She's The Man" start to finish on the bus ride to Tennessee. I want this Wheelnik to remember the time that he or she was sad or stressed and I was able to make him or her laugh. Most importantly, I want this Wheelnik to return home from Wheels inspired to always emulate this same positive attitude.

If given the opportunity to staff Wheels, I would do everything I can to make it the best summer of my Wheelniks' lives. I look forward to creating amazing new memories with my Wheelniks and making sure that USY on Wheels is only the beginning of their Jewish experiences.