Your Email:

Friend's Email:

Note: (optional)

Subject:

Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/11337/full/11337/cultivating-leadership-early/ <br /><br /> <b>Cultivating leadership early</b> <br /> Friday, August 6, 1999 | by <br /><br /><p>Through a new internship program launched this summer, high school students helped run the Jewish community.<br /><br /> The Avodah program, run by Jewish Vocational Service, was a valuable addition to the community. Funding came from the Jewish Community Endowment Fund and the Bureau of Jewish Education's Teen Initiative Project.<br /><br /> Running six weeks through last Friday, the program exposed young people to the value of working in the Jewish community and infused the community with young talent and fresh ideas.<br /><br /> Avodah interns worked on critical legislative issues, developed programs for Jews in the former Soviet Union and planned a community service for Yom HaShoah.<br /><br /> The project, to its credit, recognizes and cultivates leadership potential early, at a formative time in young people's lives—a time when Jewish identity is taking shape.<br /><br /> Avodah is modeled after JVS' successful Kohn Summer Intern Program, which gives college students the chance to spend their summers working at various Jewish agencies.<br /><br /> That program has been integral to the Jewish community for years, assisting organizations and showing young people a broad rubric encompassing opportunities for fund-raising, creativity and activism.<br /><br /> Avodah's coordinator plans to enact a series of programs through JVS to involve more teens in the Jewish community during the school year. Indeed, why limit the teens' involvement to the summer months?<br /><br /> Some interns say they hope their experience in the Jewish community will not be their last. We share that hope.<br /><br /> When young people get involved in the community and are passionate about what goes on in it, we all come out winners.</p> <p> </p>

Please enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below: