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Nimrod Kozol, Israel Fellow; Robyn Berkowitz,
director of engagement; Josh Fishman, pro-
gram associate: and Audrey Bloomberg,
director of student life

New Faces

MSU Hillel makes some staff changes.

Michigan State University Hillel has had some staff changes and

additions going into this academic year.
Robyn Berkowitz of West Bloomfield has been promoted to

the position of director of engagement at the Lester and Jewell
Morris Hillel Jewish Student Center at MSU. A 2008 MSU gradu-

ate with a degree in communications, Berkowitz has been pro-

gram associate at Hillel since 2008.
As director of engagement, she will oversee student engage-

ment, the Jews in Greek Life Program and graduate programming.

She also will supervise student interns. Additionally, Berkowitz

will be in charge of staffing the Hillel Campus Alliance of
Michigan (H-CAM), an organization that provides resources and

opportunities for Hillels throughout Michigan, including Albion
College, Alma College, Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant,

Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo College

and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
Audrey Bloomberg is the new director of student life at MSU

Hillel. Originally from Farmington Hills, she earned bachelor's degrees

in history and international studies from MSU in 2006.
As director of student life, her responsibilities include provid-

ing Jewish learning opportunities, developing student leaders,

staffing Taglit Birthright-Israel and Alternative Break travel
opportunities, and also working with students to develop pro-

gramming for MSU Hillel and H-CAM.
Prior to joining MSU Hillel, Bloomberg previously worked

as the program director at the Hillel Foundations at Eastern
Michigan University in Ypsilanti and the University of Illinois,

Urbana-Champaign.
Josh Fishman, a 2010 MSU graduate with a degree in busi-

ness administration, joins the staff as program associate.
At MSU Hillel, Josh will oversee the athletic program, the out-

doors initiative and freshman programming.
Fishman of Farmington Hills was a student leader at MSU Hillel

as an undergraduate and was the Jewish Business Association

chair and senior class representative for the Jewish Student
Union. This summer, he staffed the Alaska trip through Oakland

County-based Tamarack Camps.
Nimrod Kozol is the new Israel Fellow at MSU Hillel. He is a

recent graduate of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where
NEW FACES on page 46

Next Issue:

Read more about students from Metro Detroit
studying, living and gaining experiences on
other campuses in Michigan, across the country
and in Israel. Look for the next issue Nov. 11.

OCTOBER 21, 2010 / 13 CHESBVAN 5771

Nature And Nurturing

Volunteer work in Cape Town, South Africa,
brings life-changing lessons.

By Danny Bittker

Tanning my sum-
mer was always
easy and auto-
matic. Return to
Camp Tamakwa. For 11
years, I basked in the sun
of Algonquin Park with
my lifelong friends. Until
2010, when spending my
entire summer in Cape
Town, South Africa, teach-
ing kids entered my mind.
A volatile nation ...
8,300 miles away from
home ... during their
winter season ... for three
solid months. Now, I love
I was able to call this
incredible city my home
this past summer.
The reason I came to
Cape Town was for a
summer internship with
a small, but active non-
Danny Bittker, upper left, with students in Nyanga, South
profit called Africa Unite.
Africa
The organization promotes
human rights and youth
development in some
Africa Unite's after-school program. I also worked on
of the poorest communities in South Africa. My work
human rights seminars for youth and refugees in the com-
spanned many different levels, from marketing and adver-
munity. My objective was to provide some real-life tools
tising to teaching children, educating adults and meeting
and skills that motivate these knowledge-starved students
government officials.
to change their daily path.
During my stay, I had the good fortune to experience
It was ambitious and perhaps overly optimistic, but their
wild adventures and life-changing lessons, but most
wide-eyed faces and ear-to-ear smiles gave me a feeling of
importantly it taught me that everyone deserves a chance.
hope that they were learning something that will translate
Each week, I spent several hours working in the Cape
to a bigger life than their status quo in Nyanga, Gugulethu
Flats — the communities surrounding the city of Cape
and Khayelitsha.
Town. While we have major job losses at home, these
While in Cape Town, I was also fortunate to visit
poverty-wracked towns have unemployment reaching 91
numerous museums and historical sites. One remark-
percent in some areas. In an instant, I gained a newfound
able visit was the South African Jewish Museum, which
sense of life perspective.
contains a Holocaust Center that depicts South Africa's
In those communities, I taught job skills and entrepre-

p

neur classes to high school students who are involved in

NATURE AND NURTURING on page 46