Personal Statement

Growing up as a Hasidic Jew on the north side of Chicago, I witnessed the benefits of living in a civically engaged community first-hand. I remember distinctly how every time my mother was too sick to cook for my family, the rest of the mothers in the community would provide us with three square meals a day, left quietly on our doorstep with a kind note. I learned the joys of providing and being provided for. As a Newman Fellow, I would bridge the gap between my peers and my fellows, providing a source of connection between my school and the network of Newman fellows. It is especially important, as students return to classes from an extended season of isolation, to provide them with an environment that is not only welcoming, but transformative. The goal of civic engagement is to improve the quality of life of those within a community, through social and political means. However, for many students, the idea of societal change seems an impossibility. It would be my job to empower them to change themselves, and, in doing so, help them believe in the possibility that they could change the world.