sharing experiences

continued from page TT1

by Arica Cykiert

no sleep for these girls

Friendship Circle Wake-a-Thon allows female volunteers
to bond over activities and to raise funds.

alking through the doors of the Friendship Circle building in
West Bloomfield at 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 22, I looked around and
saw tons of people dressed in their team colors from head to
toe. This is my first year volunteering
at the Friendship Circle and I didn't
know what to expect. All I knew was
that this was the major program all
the girls were so excited about. It was
the Friendship Circle Girls Wake-a-
Thon 2011.
The Wake-a-Thon was an event
to raise money for Friendship Circle
and the good work it does with chil-
dren with special needs. The fund-
raiser raised almost $10,000.
The Wake-a-Thon was also a way

Members of the Red Team

really get their hands Into

the meal they are making

during the Iron Chef

competition.

for the girl volunteers to
bond. There were more
than 100 volunteers from
all over town. I started off
only knowing a couple of
The Orange Team poses together during the recent
girls; but by the end of
Friendship Circle Wake-a-Thon.
the Wake-a-Thon, I knew
so many more.
We got started once the clock hit 11 p.m. All the volunteers split up into
their teams and started to make up their own cheers to get everyone pumped
up. Everyone looked so excited and ready to have an amazing night.
The first event was solving a mystery. We were told someone stolen all
the money at Friendship Circle and we had to figure out who. The mystery
involved communication with our team and putting pieces of information
together. The mystery was only one activity we did throughout the night.
Around 3 a.m., we played Iron Chef. We had 10 minutes to run around
the Friendship Circle building searching for boxes with food ingredients
in them. If you found a box, you would take it and place it on your team's
table. Afterwards, we had five minutes to switch the ingredients we had
with other teams. Then we had a long time to make a meal, using the most
ingredients we could.
It was so much fun to cook with only the ingredients we found in boxes.
All the teams were so creative and everyone helped to make something deli-
cious. We had judges taste the meals we created. My team made macaroni
and cheese, hash browns and cheesy pasta. The winning team made French
toast, chocolate chip pancakes, grilled cheese and salsa and chips.
After staying up for eight hours straight playing games and hanging out,
we sat down in a circle at 7 a.m. talking about how Friendship Circle im-
pacted us. For me personally, Friendship Circle has im-
pacted my life in a way that isn't even describable. The
kids with special needs we work with are truly inspirational.
Volunteering at Friendship Circle has made me realize how
much I love to volunteer and make other people happy.

Arica Cykiert, 15, is a freshman at Frankel Jewish Academy

in West Bloomfield.

TT4 teen2teen February 17.2011

Hillel eighth-grader Gavi Weisberg, ECC students Samantha Block and Ethan Endeiman

and eighth grader Rand! Traison, all from West Bloomfield

students in the school with the youngest, allows the eighth-graders to hone
their leadership skills and become role models and an important part of the
ECC.
"The eighth-grade students have done a wonderful job playing and bond-
ing with the youngest and newest students in our school," said Mr. Cutler, the
eighth-grade teacher working in collaboration with the ECC.
The seventh-grade nutrition mini-class also cooks and gardens with ECC
students.
One memory I will never forget was during my first week working in the
ECC, just before the High Holidays. I was invited to the table by an adorable
3-year-old girl. I asked her what we were playing, and she said, "I'm playing
Rosh Hashanah, would you like to join me?" I sat down to a beautiful pretend
holiday meal, where a 3-year-old said the prayers and knew
the traditions better than I did. Who knew a 13-year-old could
go to the ECC and learn something new!" f.

Jillian Goldstone, 13, of West Bloomfield is an eighth grader

at Hillel Day School In Farmington Hills.

{ fun fact

•.

Most lipstick contains fish scales.

(fun facts provided by Maddi Gonte)

Reporters I Chavivah Bluth, Molly Grossman, Hannah Korelitz, Avi Mendelson, Avielle Movsas, Jamie Rashty, Stephanie Schulman (Akiva

Hebrew Day School, Southfield); Yona Isaacs, Gabriella Ring, Claire Sinai (Berkley); Nechama Tawil (Beth Jacob, Oak Park); Madeleine

Gonte (Birmingham Groves); Rachel Gorosh, Emily Schottenfels, Mara Stein, Rachael Vettese, Rachel Wein (Bloomfield Hills Andover);

Abby Hyman (Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood); Mad Cohen (Community, Ann Arbor); Emily Zussman (Detroit Country Day, Beverly

Hills); Jillian Apel, Tamar Brown, Arica Cykiert, Abbie Ginis, Polina Fradkin, Emily Goodman, Helene Glickman, Rachel Goutman, Heather

Grossman, Jessica Kahn, Rachel Klein, Noam Saper, Talia Schechet, Lexi Smith, Zoe Soble, Maddy Sot, Sara Weinfeld, Samantha Zwick

(Frankel Jewish Academy, West Bloomfield); Rachel Hollander, Ad Well (Harrison, Farmington Hills); Daniel Chandross, Jillian Goldstone

(Hillel, Farmington Hills); Mayer Schneider (home schooled); Rachel Berlin, Sam Gringlas, Elie Neuman, Nate Strauss (North Farming-

ton); Rob Pasick (Novi); Jordana Hoffman (Oakland Earlyl College, Farmington Hills); Lily Grier, Liza Kohlenberg (Orchard Lake Middle,

West Bloomfield); Batsheva Honig (Walled Lake Northern);Liz Nagle (Walled Lake Western); Jennifer Finkel, Abigail Jankelovitz, Heather

Rosenbaum (West Bloomfield); Liza Kohlenberg (West Bloomfield Orchard Lake Middle School); Mackenzie Coden (West Bloomfield

Walnut Creek)

Photographers I Jessica Avery Polk (Frankel), Colton Graub (Cranbrook-Kingswood )

supervising staff

Chief Operating Officer I F. Kevin Browett
Editorial Director I Robert Sklar
Executive Editor I Keri Guten Cohen

J Jewish
Federation

Creative Director I Deborah Schultz
IT Director I Deanna Spivey
Teen Consultant I Jon Layne

Supported by a generous grant from
of Metropolitan Detroit the Stephen H. Schulman Millennium Fund.
' ''•
A Jewish Renaissance Media publication © 2011

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