12 April 25 • 2019 jn jews d in the but also to help inform and educate her community. Emily organized the stu- dent walkout protesting gun violence at FJA, where she has a 4.0 GPA. She founded the Social Justice Club at her school and leads the Girls to Women Club, where she advocates for equality and education. Emily was chosen by her administrators to head a task force regarding changing her school’ s curriculum and schedule. Twice Emily has been nominated for the David Hermelin Scholarship Award. She excels at Hebrew. For her bat mitzvah at Adat Shalom, Emily conducted the entire service, begin- ning with Shacharit. She chanted all the readings from the Torah and gave a d’ var Torah that was thoughtful and truly related to her own life’ s les- sons. Since then, Emily has chanted Torah on many occasions at Adat Shalom, including Yom Kippur ser- vices each year. She truly loves her Yiddishkeit. JENNA FRIEDMAN Jenna Friedman of West Bloomfield is a junior at Walled Lake Central and a member of UMatter. Jenna has been an active volunteer at Friendship Circle for four years. Every Tuesday, she volunteers at Social Circle with her buddy, Leila. Over the years, they have developed a deep connection and friendship. Jenna has also vol- unteered at many Friendship Circle camps and respite programs, logging more than 200 hours of volunteer service. She has overcome her own mental health and social obstacles and is now using her journey to empower other teens to do the same. She is proud- ly 600+ days clean from self-harm and has found solutions for her own OCD, depression and anxiety, which has made her a great role model for her peers. Jenna is a teen leader on the UMatter board, where she is an advo- cate for mental health awareness. She helped lead her high school’ s UMatter Week, ensuring the whole school was represented and included. Jenna noticed hallways with classrooms in the special education department were not decorated like the others, so she assembled a committee to make sure they were. Jenna also prepared special activities for those students to take part in during UMatter Week. JESSICA GOLDBERG Jessica Goldberg of Farmington Hills is a junior at North Farmington High School and belongs to Adat Shalom Synagogue. She is on the executive leadership board of UMatter and Teen Volunteer Corps, which runs volun- teer projects. She is also part of the Youth United program, a cross-denominational group focused on improvement proj- ects in her home community. Jess is also founder of Sib4Sib, a nonprofit support network for individuals who have a sibling who struggles with mental health, whether it’ s a learning disability or serious depression. She saw resources for parents, but not for siblings — so she created her own network. Now there are three groups: teens, kids ages 8-12 and a boys-only group. She secured a licensed social worker to lead dis- cussions and fundraised and sought grants to enable kids to participate and enjoy the group dinner without cost. She organized a fundraiser recently, bringing in significant funds to grow the program and offer services at a very subsidized rate or free. It was not easy for Jessica to create this group because it meant “outing” her brother’ s mental health challeng- es, and she worried about him being stigmatized. However, she, he and her parents recognized by doing so she could help so many others. STACEY HIRSCH Stacey Hirsch of West Bloomfield is a junior at Bloomfield Hills High School; she belongs to Temple Israel. Stacey was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November 2016. Pediatric MS is very rare, and she has handled her diagno- sis and accompanying physical lim- itations with grace and maturity. Stacey has embraced this life chal- lenge by becoming a strong advocate for pediatric MS, raising money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) and creating a Walk MS team — FAMS (Families Fighting Against MS) — to help secure funds to find a cure. She is a founding and active board member of FAMS, a Michigan nonprofit. Stacey is determined to pursue a career in medicine, particularly neu- rology, focusing on pediatrics and multiple sclerosis. She is completing her second year as a board member of YFTI, Temple Israel’ s youth group. She attends Monday night school and YFTI meet- ings weekly as well as all YFTI trips and events. She is also a founding board mem- ber for the ORT Teen Board, area teens who raise money and support ORT America. She is an honor student, pursuing studies focused on advanced science and math, and is a member of the National Honor Society, yearbook and poms. LILY KOLLIN Lily Kollin of Farmington Hills is a senior at North Farmington High School; she belongs to Temple Israel. She is a founder/ president of NFHS’ Students Demand Action (SDA) group, an advocacy group for gun violence prevention. Lily organized two successful walk- outs and a town hall meeting with community leaders and students. She also helped organize a multi-school trip to Chicago to participate with March of the Living efforts. She also has done public speaking, served as a panelist and performed her spoken word poetry at multiple venues. For her efforts, she won the Optimist Leader Award and, with her fellow SDA members, won the NAACP Great Expectations Award. Lily spoke at Temple Israel’ s multi- faith unity service following the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh. Within BBYO, she was chapter shli- chah, president and is current region- al shlichah. Lily is an all-A student. She is a member of the school’ s marching band and the Farmington United Percussion Ensemble. She also volun- teers at Fleischman Residence, where she leads Friday night services. Lily is working with the NFHS administration to bring Every Brilliant Thing, a play about suicide prevention, to the high school, and to bring in experts for a panel dis- cussion and support for students and parents. EVAN KRASNICK Evan Krasnick of Huntington Woods is a senior at Berkley High School and a Congregation Beth Shalom member. He was one of five BHS juniors selected to partic- ipate in a yearlong diversity immer- sion program, Generation of Promise, through which he engaged with teens from 12 diverse Detroit-area high schools monthly, learning about other religions and cultures, while sharing his own. Evan has also been involved with Teen Screens since his bar mitzvah year and now is president. This BHS organization donates computers and laptops to students in need. He works with local professionals to acquire used laptops/tablets, refurbish them and then donate them. Evan studied in Israel with Jewish National Fund’ s Alexander Muss High School in Israel program. He participated in his school’ s commu- nity service trip to the Dominican Republic, volunteering and teaching English to underprivileged students. As a junior, he founded ECKO, a technology consulting company helping people with computer, smart- phone and internet issues. Evan offers training/consulting to older adults and works with technology profes- sionals to install WiFi and security systems. continued from page 10 continued on page 14