Building A Federated Framework
•
Networking
Students from around the
country make the rounds of the GA.
opportunities and meet other regu-
lars from around the country.
Bree Kessler, 19, went to a Jewish
day school and was involved in
Atlanta
afi Cohen showed up in
organizations like BBYO and
Atlanta for the 1999
NFTY. Now a second-year student .
at the University of Michigan, she's
General Assembly with
people to meet, places to
no stranger to gatherings like the
see and a briefcase full of resumes to
GA.
"I'm just involved in a lot of
pass around.
organizations," she said. You run
Like any attendee, Cohen, 22,
into the same people every place
had circled the sessions he wanted
to attend and had a group of friends
you go.
Unlike many of the students,
from around the country with
whom he was looking forward to
Kessler came to the GA not as a
member of Hillel but representing
catching up.
Lights In Action, a group that tries
But the Brandeis University
to reach uninvolved Jews at colleges
senior's first priority was to land
across the country. As a presenter,
himself a job. "I'm trying to relo-
she finds she relates to the profes-
cate," he said. "I have a stack of
sionals at the GA at a more even
resumes and I'm here to network."
level than perhaps some oflher
Cohen is one of hundreds of stu-
dents who attended this year's GA,
peers.
Some of the students e oy the
including 250 from various campus
Hillel chapters. They attend all the
GA but feel more like ot3' . rvers
than true participants, allured to
same sessions as their professional
:f
e __attend
everything but noeeally
part
counterparts , but d.
-
ng.
Its
been
seg+gated,"
home with the same e
Raucher, a 20-year-old
Some are attending_ their
first
5r
e at'Hofstra Urakersity on
major Jewish event.
see - 'FM
ong Island. "There's defiiitely the_=
nize every young face t
kids' convention:ar d the dults'
summers in Israel or other pro-
grams. Many look forward to the
, attericlina
ses-
sessions but watch quietly instead of
,
friends were
participating. For others, the GA is
Tpriine mission:
simply a place to see and be seen —
er graduation.
especially by the right people.
Cohen flew up for
"It's like a clique," said Jason
iect f lly to -liarn about
Smith, a sophomore at the
sehOols.or;Istaa:Programs.
University of South Florida in
had no
Tampa. "It's like a whole group of
a place
people you already have something
bring a
in common with."
lb
For the most part, the students
, 17 busi-
than 24
in-
stick together, hanging out
groups inside sessions and on-clus - -
ours after-at:1.min
Many bring .a pile. of resumes to
ters of chairs and couches on the
--hand out and ja down` e-'snail
exhibitioifflO6r:,- - They wander the
booths in-grOtrp-s; :p-iteking up free-
address-es of new contacts on
notepads, trading info with other
bies like pins and sunglass cords and
snapping each other's photos with
students outside sessions. Susan
Sherr, a recruiting consultant for the
disposable cameras._
United Jewish Communities, said
For the students who have been
she interviewed 80 students in the
involved in Jewish activities their
whole lives, the GA is just another
first two days.
"I can't go down the hallway in a
occasion to learn about trends and
straight line here," she said. "I get
. Michael Weiss is an Atlanta writer
stopped every two feet."
MICHAEL WEISS
Special to the Jewish News
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