for college students by college students

February 16, 2012 / 23 SHEVAT 5772

Funding The
Future

Love Of
The City

Four MSU seniors
receive funds for
entrepreneurial
dream projects.

U-M's Hillel offers
students spring
break trip in
Detroit.

VOLUME 2, NO. 2

By Rachael Malerman

By Kelsey Ransdell

Upon graduation this spring,
four Michigan State University
students will walk away with

In September 2011, I was
given the opportunity to

more than a diploma to hang
on their walls; they will be one
step closer to realizing their

become a student leader of an
alternative spring break trip
planned Feb. 26-March 4 in
Detroit through University of

dreams of finally creating their
own companies.

Michigan's Hillel.
Having learned to see what

To help students reach their
goals, the Lester and Jewell
Morris Hillel Jewish Student

was beyond the city's image
through various positive expe-

riences in Detroit the previous
summer, I gladly accepted.

Center at Michigan State
University created the Jewish

Business Entrepreneurial Fund,
which will help finance stu-

Although I was more than
excited to share my love for
the city with other students,

dents' start-up businesses. The
fund will provide recipients

I knew fostering the same
level of excitement among

with $500-$1,500 toward their
business ideas.
Funding comes from the

others would be a challenge. I
soon learned that my interest

in the city was shared when
applicants began trickling in.

annual Ryan Rosman Memorial
Golf Outing and will provide

grants to students throughout
the academic year. The fund
was created in Ryan's memory
and reflects both his entre-

preneurial spirit and immense
interest in business.

"Through the Jewish

Business Association and the
Ryan Rosman Memorial Golf

Outing, we provided grants to
four students this past fall to

assist them in the development
of their own business ven-
tures," said Dirk Roberts, MSU

Hillel program associate.

Passion was the key deter-
minate in deciding which
projects would be funded.

Along with providing students
with financial support, the
application process prompted

applicants to get their business
plans in order.

"The second I heard there
was an entrepreneurial fund, I

applied," said packaging senior
Adam Weiner of Franklin. "I

knew that my business idea
is something that Ryan would
have loved."

Weiner was inspired to

create a barcode application
called PicPackli. He developed
his idea from the problems and

downfalls of current barcode
applications. Weiner's goal
was to create a program that
would help people through

Funding The Future on 22

We compiled a cohort of eight
enthusiastic students ready to
learn. We became known as

the Jewish-Detroit Initiative.
Student-led and run with

Leonardo Mayer Nath (Penn State), Aviv Gilboa (LTC Berkeley), Yaniv Saraf-
Kashani (U-M), Adam Hollenberg (U-M), Justin Federbush (U-M) and Evan
Millman (U-M) at Benchmark Capital, Herziliya Pituach, Israel.

the help of U-M graduate and
Detroit resident Brad Snider,

the Jewish-Detroit Initiative
culminates in a weeklong

Reinvesting In Israel

How TAMID Israel Investment Group is changing the
pro-Israel scene on college campuses.

.

By Allison Berman

0

ver the past four years, the name of the
Israel-engagement game has changed.
Specifically on college campuses, which are
notorious for being hotbeds of anti-Zionist
rhetoric and propaganda, students across the country are
joining an initiative that focuses on Israel in the brighter
lens of its economic vibrancy: TAMID Israel Investment
Group.
TAMID provides students the opportunity to gain real-
world business experience through the scope of Israeli
success and innovation. The curriculum takes members
through three phases: education (Israeli economic history
and business basics), business application (investing in
Israeli-exposed securities and consulting for Israeli start-
ups) and immersion (a funded summer internship work-
ing in Israel designed to build a connection that will last
l'tarnid, eternally).
TAMID was created in 2008 at the University of
Michigan, when then-students Sasha Gribov and Eitan
Ingall noticed a gaping void in pro-Israel programming
on campus. Their vision, to combine students' personal
interest in Israel with their professional ambitions, has run
successfully for the past four years in Ann Arbor. However,
the idea could not be contained solely to Michigan's cam-

pus, and last fall chapters began operating at Penn State,
University of Illinois, University of California-Berkeley
and Harvard.
TAMID addresses students' desire to interact with Israel
beyond the politics and religion by making Israel approach-
able and relevant. At least once a week, members learn
business skills applicable to their everyday lives and con-
duct research and projects with real-world consequences
rare to most student organizations. On-campus engagement
composes the bulk of a member's experience.
The capstone of the program is the summer fellowship.
Since 2010, TAMID fellows from three schools have lived,
worked and experienced the dynamic Israeli professional
sphere. Fellows are placed in the field of their choice;
past participants have worked at start-ups, such as Onavo
and BillGuard, and venture capital firms, including Giza
Venture Capital and Arba Finance. TAMID's fellowship
pioneered the internship-abroad-in-Israel concept that is
becoming increasingly popular through programs such
as Birthright Excel, more Career Israel placements and
Mission Intelligence. However, TAMID uniquely offers
participants continuous engagement before, during and
after the summer.

Reinvesting In Israel on 19

spring break trip housed
at Summer in the City's

Southwest Detroit headquar-
ters.

Hillel is working in partner-
ship with Repair the World

and Jewish Funds for Justice
to build the alternative spring

break on the ground in Detroit.
Prior to the trip, we took steps

to provide U-M's Hillel com-
munity with meaningful ways
to engage and immerse them-
selves in Detroit.

On Sunday, Jan. 8, U-M

Hillel students, professors,
community members and

parents boarded a bus for an
afternoon tour of Detroit. Led

by Jerry Cook of the Jewish

Historical Society of Michigan,
the tour took everyone on a

journey through the city from
the Riverfront up to Eight Mile
Road, following the northwest

migration of Detroit's Jewry.
Highlights of the tour included

the Jewish Community Center,
Detroit's Boston Edison district,
the Heidelberg Project and

Love Of The City on 19

February 16 • 2012

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