10 April 25 • 2019 jn jews d in the on the cover 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