Thanks to your generosity and support of Hillel of San Diego, Shoshana Rice, Springboard Ezra Fellow at SDSU, didn’t take the summer off from engaging with students at Hillel of San Diego.
In three months, Shoshana recruited a sizeable cohort of incoming freshmen via social media, launched exciting new social and Jewish education events and is the anchor for many SDSU students who feel very much alone and isolated.
“The sheer number of interactions I have with students presents challenges for me – How will I find enough time each day to reach out and respond to all the students in need of support? How do I find my own inner calm to run Jewish mindfulness sessions, Shabbat and High Holidays services, or manage 10 Jewish Campus Leaders as they create their own programs with confidence and creativity?” says Shoshana. “Right now, as there is a heightened significance to each interaction, I must simply keep going!”
Students have to be desperate for social connection to stay on their computers even one minute longer than necessary, Shoshana quickly learned. However, there are students who actually are that isolated.
“I think having these moments of connection amidst such extreme isolation means the world to these students” she said.
Students spend all day cooped up in their rooms, on their computers for class, so they simply don’t want to get together in large groups over Zoom.
“I’ve really tried everything!”
“I’ve been personally calling and meeting one-on-one with almost every one of the Jewish students we know – returning and new — and a lot of them are struggling and need community more than ever,” reflected this former Hillel president at College of Wooster, in Ohio.
“Lots of our SDSU Jewish students live in houses filled with their friends, but some do not. I think having someone to check in on them, especially someone representing a community that they can feel connected to, has been meaningful to all of them.”
Thank you to our generous donors who are investing in the future Jewish community. Shoshana’s care for our students is only possible because of you.
Read Shoshana’s blog post, “Reflections on Giving Students What they Need in a Pandemic.”
