Jewish

for college students by college students

VOLUME 4, NO. 2

edu

May 23, 2013 / 14 Sivan 5773

Meaningful Experience

U-M students spent their spring break
connecting to Detroit.

By Rachael Malerman, Zoe McCoon and Ryan Achtman }

jewish@edu

L

writers

wing in Ann Arbor, Detroit can seem distant at times.
Headlines flash, and it seems that the troubles of the city are
miles away as we remain settled in our beloved college town.
As we, 13 University of Michigan students, spent the week in
Detroit through Jewish Detroit Initiative's Alternative Spring Break, we
formed a connection with the city deeper than can be described in a
news story. In partnership with Repair the World and U-M Hillel, we
had the opportunity to invest time with seventh- and eighth-grade
Amelia Earhart Middle School students in southwest Detroit.
So, why is it we often dehumanize Detroit and look at the city as
a "blank canvas"? Realizing this gap, Hayley Sakwa and Rachael
Malerman created the Jewish Detroit Initiative (JDI) in 2011 as
an opportunity to connect students not just with Detroit, but with
Detroiters. JDI has attracted students from all over the country and
helped foster their relationship with the city. JDI's second spring break
trip attracted twice as many students as the first.
While in Detroit, we had the opportunity to paint and refurbish
classrooms at the Woodbridge Community Youth Center, including the
Girl Empowerment Room and the Technology Room. When we weren't
working in Woodbridge, we were ice skating, bowling, walking around
Downtown and visiting the Wayne State planetarium with our new
middle school friends.
As Mykah, an Earhart eighth-grader, said, "I met my best friend this
week."
Interacting with the students allowed us to understand Detroit
through the eyes of some of its most energetic young residents.
In addition to getting to know the city on a human scale, we
explored the root causes of complex issues that can't be solved with
a fresh coat of paint. We delved deeper into race issues, food justice,
teachers' unions and immigration, among many other topics we
worked to understand during our trip.
Living in southwest Detroit for the week brought these issues to life
beyond the confines of conversation. These conflicts affect most every-
one we befriended, met or even passed on the street. This realization
was humbling and fueled intense debates and discussions as the week
continued.
Bad news about Detroit is never more than a Google search away,
but, throughout the trip, we experienced great things — each one

Meaningful Experience on page 118

University of Michigan and Amelia Earhart
Middle School students pose for a picture
outside of Focus: Hope after an afternoon of
packing food boxes for local residents.

Freshman Shelby Bruseloff and sophomore Alissa Cohen, both of West
Bloomfield; senior Lucy Keller, Birmingham; senior Alanna Cohen, West
Bloomfield; Holocaust survivor Martin Lowenberg, Southfield; junior
Sammi Fine, West Bloomfield; and junior Noah Zucker, West Bloomfield.
Fine and Zucker conceived and organized the Feb. 27

Lasting Impression

Concerned GVSU Hillel students organize
event about the Holocaust and genocide.

By Noah Zucker

G

rowing up Jewish in the Metro
Detroit area, I was fortunate
enough to be well-educated on the
Holocaust and have had numer-
ous opportunities to hear survivors speak about
their stories of survival. I realize now that these
opportunities should not have been taken for
granted.
It was over a year ago when Sammi Fine of
West Bloomfield, a member of Hillel at Grand
Valley State University, came to me with the
observation that many students at GVSU have
had little, if any, exposure to the Holocaust. I
could not help but agree with her. Not only had
students not been exposed to the Holocaust, but
also many, including myself, had not been edu-
cated on other genocides in the world.
As university students, we felt that if we are
not educated about this, then who is? And who
will be the ones to stand up to stop this should it
ever happen again? With this in mind, we came
up with the idea for Genocide Awareness Night
that highlighted the courageous survival story of
a Holocaust survivor.
Working with the Holocaust Memorial
Center in Farmington Hills, Hillel at GVSU
hosted Holocaust survivor Martin Lowenberg of
Southfield, who shared his story with more than
400 GVSU students and community members on

jewish@edu writer

Feb. 27.
We rented the largest room on campus and
hoped to have it packed. We advertised far and
wide, even getting some professors to cancel
classes and offer extra credit. When we got to
the room an hour early to set up, students were
already there waiting. Even with the extra seats
we brought out, there were still people standing
in the back.
Lowenberg, who was just a child when Hitler
was elected to power, captivated the audience
with his story. No matter how many times one
has heard a survivor speak, listening to someone
share how, as a child, he was punished in school
in Germany by being forced to sit on a board of
sharp nails is heart-wrenching. To everyone in
the audience, this was eye-opening.
To learn about the Holocaust in school is one
thing, but to be able to put a face to a story
of this nature is another matter altogether.
Lowenberg talked of his family's experiences, of
his life in concentration camps and of how only
he and three siblings survived, while his parents,
three other siblings and extended family mem-
bers died at the hands of the Nazis.
Students were able to understand that this
actually happened, and that people let it hap-

Lasting Impression on page 118

May 23 • 2013 117