10 April 25 • 2019
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Meet 18 young people who are inspiring others and making a difference in their communities.
W
hen the Jewish News part-
nered with the JCC’
s JFamily
and its Youth Professional
Network to recognize young members
of the community in grades 6-12, we
knew we were going to find some ter-
rific people to highlight, but we couldn’
t
have predicted the sheer number who
deserve to be honored and the huge
impact they’
re having on Detroit’
s
Jewish community. The six local judges
were challenged to choose just 18.
Here, we introduce you to the rising
stars in our community. Get used to
hearing these names — we’
re sure we’
ll
be hearing more about these people as
the years go by. These are merely snap-
shots of each winner — we didn’
t have
space for all their accomplishments!
SAM ARNOLD
Sam Arnold of
Farmington Hills, a
senior at North
Farmington High
School, belongs to
Congregation
Shaarey Zedek,
BBYO and USY. His
goal is to one day be
ordained a Conserv-
ative rabbi.
Sam’
s goal is to “live a life full of pas-
sion and meaning.
” He has volunteered
at Forgotten Harvest and, as a member
of the Jewish Fund Teen Board, helped
allocate grants totaling $50,000. He’
s
volunteered at the JCC, working with
very young students and at the Hillel
Early Childhood Center Day Camp as a
counselor. He also serves as chair of the
J-Serve Teen Board Committee.
He runs cross-country and plays the
viola in the school orchestra. He attend-
ed the JustCity Leadership Institute
at the Jewish Theological Seminary,
the AIPAC Policy Conference and the
Schusterman Conference as a USY
representative. He was the Torah Bytes
Fellow for USY Central Region and
Shaarey Zedek’
s representative for Motor
City USY.
Sam has worked at CSZ, Aish Detroit
and Adat Shalom teaching Hebrew
to third-through sixth-graders, and
recently helped a congregant learn to
read Torah and Haftorah for her 50th
bat mitzvah anniversary. He is a regu-
lar Torah reader, Haftorah reader and
Megillah reader at CSZ. He started his
own blog on Times of Israel so he could
share his love of Torah and his thoughts
with the world.
WILL BLOOMBERG
Will Bloomberg of
Farmington Hills is a
junior at Frankel
Jewish Academy and
a member of Adat
Shalom Synagogue;
he excels at sports
and uses his athletic
ability to help others.
Will is captain of
the FJA varsity soc-
cer team. He was named “
All-Catholic”
for the FJA soccer team by the Catholic
High School League for the 2018-19
season and played for the FJA varsi-
ty basketball team in his sophomore
and junior years. He was named “
All-
Academic” for the FJA basketball team
by the Catholic High School League for
the 2018-19 season. He did all this while
maintaining a 4.1 weighted grade point
average in a dual-curriculum school.
Will is a certified soccer referee and
worked during the spring 2018 soccer
season and plans to do the same this
year. He also volunteers for Peace of
Pizza and Bookstock. Will and two
friends created a 3-on-3 basketball
tournament, open to all high school
students, that took place in March at
Friendship Circle to raise money for FC
and Friends of the IDF. He’
s also a mem-
ber of the National Honor Society.
MATTHEW CHAYET
Matthew Chayet of
West Bloomfield is a
champion for inclu-
sion and overcoming
obstacles, inspiring
everyone around
him with his positiv-
ity. The Bloomfield
Hills High School
senior has been deal-
ing with multiple
medical conditions throughout his
entire life, including epilepsy, tracheom-
alacia and heart defects — conditions
that have required more than 30 hospi-
talizations. Despite the physical and
emotional challenges he faces due to
these conditions, he is an energized,
charismatic and outgoing teen who
strives to spread happiness.
He is an involved member of Temple
Israel’
s youth group, YFTI, and recent-
ly received its Youth Group Citation
Award and the Rabbi Leon Fram
Award. He also is an active volunteer
for organizations including Make-a-
Wish and Friendship Circle.
Matthew treats others with pure
kindness and is always looking to lend
a helping hand. He is welcoming to all
and has created positive change for his
peers and the community. Matthew
has overcome diversity and will be
attending college next year, which
is a wonderful achievement for him
because of all his medical challenges.
EMILY FELDMAN
Emily Feldman of
Farmington Hills, a
Hillel Day School
graduate and junior
at Frankel Jewish
Academy, belongs to
Adat Shalom
Synagogue. She vol-
unteers at her shul
and at Yad Ezra.
Emily is an advocate and social jus-
tice warrior. She sees social injustice in
this world and speaks up — through
her words and actions — not only to
advocate for those with a smaller voice,
continued on page12