firsthand experience get involved by Jamie Gorosh _Jewish youth groups have a blast! from death to freedom March of the Living an unforgettable trip of extremes. - froze. I had been walking, arm-in-arm with a friend under the cloudy sky until suddenly I could not take one step further. It happened when I was about 50 or so feet in front of this huge, strange-look- ing dome-shaped building. I knew exactly what was in this building, which is precisely why I froze. I literally could not bring myself to look at the mound of ashes I was about to face in the mausoleum at Majdanek in Poland. When I finally did muster up that courage, my mind went a little numb with the view. "All those people ...," I thought. March of the Living participants enter Auschwitz. I was fortunate to be one of the 8,000 worldwide participants in the March of the Living 2008. Dur- ing this trip in May, we spent one week in Poland to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day and the next week in Israel, lucky to be a part of Israel's 60th anniversary celebration of independence. This trip was filled with extremes. I can barely find the words to describe how it felt to participate in the March from Auschwitz to Birkenau, and a picture can hardly capture the image of thousands of people linked together wearing the same blue jacket. People came from around the world but there was only one flag, the Israeli flag. Proud, I guess, would be the one word to sum up the feeling of being a Jew able to march for the living, and to show that we will never forget those who had to march to their death. Just a few days after the March, I arrived in Israel, which provided yet another extreme emotion. This time, though, it was happiness. I had been to Israel twice before this trip, but never before had I felt so relieved to be there. It was a transition from darkness to light. Coming from such an awful place made see- ing the thriving young country that much more spe- cial. Not to mention, being there for Yom Hazikaron (Israel Memorial Day) and Yom Ha'Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) on the 60th anniversary made the experience unique. I feel so lucky to have participated in this trip and my hope is that many others can have the same ex- perience I had. Learning about the Holocaust is one thing, but seeing where it happened was quite a differ- ent story. I have no doubts my Jewish identity has been strengthened because of this trip. The March of the Living was an unforget- table experience. Jamie Gorosh, 17, recently graduated from Bloomfield Hills Andover High School. Helping out at Farmington Hills-based JARC's annual Spring Elation, this year held for the first time at the Detroit Zoo In Royal Oak, are Extreme Teen volunteers Ben Arnovltz, Bradley Zucker, Joey Leshman, Alex Steinberg and Max Unger. Zachary Br*, 13, of West Bloomfield created a special mosaic with some help from Dan! Katsir and Gail Kaplan, local Judaic artists. The 42-inch mosaic depicts the logo of Young Judaea, Hadassah's Zionist youth movement, which Zachary has been involved In since first grade. He will give this piece to Camp Young Judaea Midwest in Waupaca, Wisc., where he has spent his summers since age 7. Zachary contributed to the project with some of his bar mitzvah gift money. He also has volunteered to help seniors making a mosaic in the Hechtman Jewish enterprising teen Apartments in West Bloomfield. by Sara Smoler savage colors mazel toy, seniors 2008! Teen designer launches her own clothing line. Seniors> your contributions have helped make Teen2Teen a success. We wish you well next arissa Berman, 17, of West Bloomfield has a passion for fashion that was fu- eled by selling costume jewelry, acces- sories, perfume bottles and more in her dad's retail furniture store and by reading fashion magazines. Now she's gone a step further by creating her own casual clothing line. She began by drawing the designs on her computer. She then met with a printing com- pany. After seeing the material she chose, they decided to use silkscreen, flock and foil printing methods. She named her brand Savage Colors and created the logo and tags for the line launched in March. Sav- age means wild arid fierce, which is exactly what she wants to express. The designs in her "Tranquility Col- lection" relate to a free spirit and are filled with images of Buddhas, peace signs and doves. year at college, in Israel or wherever you land. And keep writing for us — you'll still be teens Marissa Berman with her Savage Colors clothing Along the way, Marissa learned about budgets and time management, especially when it came to keep- ing up with her busy school schedule. She also learned about the industry she hopes to work in later in life. Marissa will be a senior at Bloomfield Hills Andover High School. Her clothes range from $30 to $45, and are sold at Rear Ends in West Bloom- field, Utopia Salon and Spa in Northville and at w-ww. savage c ol o rs. corn. Sara Smoler, 16, Mil be a junior at Bloomfield Hills Andover High School. for another year of two, y'know. Birmingham Seaholm: Hadas Corey, Grace Klein, Jacob Rosen, Spencer Wayne Birmingham Groves: Arlel Mann Bloomfield Hills Andover: Jamie Gorosh, Alexa Eisenberg Farmington Harrison: Hannah Cohen Frankel Jewish Academy: Raquel Cohen, Danielle DePriest, Rachel Goutman North Farmington: Morgan Pomish, Scott Scher, Stephanie Steinberg West Bloomfield: Kale Davidoff, Allie Gold, Allison Shipper Yeshivat Akiva: Davidi Lehmann teen2teen June • 2008 B3