14 April 25 • 2019
jn
continued from page 12
Evan was on the Jewish Fund’
s
Detroit Teen Board, a member of stu-
dent leadership, a Peer-to-Peer com-
mittee leader with the National Honor
Society and co-president of the school’
s
Volunteer Club.
JILLIAN LESSON
Jillian Lesson of West
Bloomfield is a soph-
omore at Frankel
Jewish Academy and
belongs to Aish
HaTorah. She was
recently accepted to
a writing/journalism
program at the
School of the New
York Times.
Jillian used writing as a tool for getting
through hard times. As extreme emo-
tional and social issues began in middle
school, Jillian relied on her writing —
prose and poems about losing friends,
struggles with body image, feelings of
depression and anxiety and loneliness,
her love/hate relationship with social
media, and other issues that affect ado-
lescents.
In eighth grade, Jillian began pub-
lishing a blog called Journey to Jillian
(journeytojillianblog.wordpress.
com). There, she began writing about
her challenges, about lessons that
came from her challenges, about her
thoughts and dreams and struggles,
about her hardships and triumphs.
Teens began writing to Jillian, wanting
advice or support. People she didn’
t
know would come up to her to tell
her how much she was helping their
child. The openness and candor Jillian
expresses in her blog posts helped
teens become more open with their
own struggles. The message she hopes
teens will get from her is that everyone
has their challenges, no one is alone
and finding a way out is most always
attainable.
SARAH MEADOWS
Sarah Meadows of
Mount Pleasant is a
senior at Mount
Pleasant High
School; she belongs
to Temple Benjamin
and Shaarey Zedek
of East Lansing.
Sarah is a member
of National Honor
Society, doing volunteer work such as
peer-to-peer tutoring and working on
school blood drives. Last spring, she
went to Washington, D.C., for L
’
Taken to
learn about social justice and advocate to
legislators.
Sarah is on her high school honor
roll as well as a scholar-athlete for each
sport season. She’
s done competitive
cheerleading and swim and dive for
four years (earning varsity letters all
four years in cheerleading and the last
three years in diving) as well as tennis
for two. She is also a violist in her high
school orchestra.
She’
s the Class of 2019 secretary, a
co-captain for the swim and dive team,
and was honored as the Rotary Citizen
of the Month, in recognition of service
to her school and community. She is also
the committee chair for NFTY-MI, help-
ing to lead events for Jewish teens and
working to rebuild NFTY-MI.
She attends religious school and is a
teacher’
s assistant for preschoolers and
kindergartners every Sunday.
PAUL SIEGEL NADIV
Paul Siegel Nadiv of
Huntington Woods
is a senior at Frankel
Jewish Academy and
a member of
Kehillat Etz Chayim.
He is active in
BBYO and has held
several leadership
positions, including
two on the regional board, with an
emphasis on community service and
teaching and performing Jewish rituals
for Michigan BBYO Region (Shaliach).
He also served as a vice chair for BBYO
Global Network and was involved
in raising awareness and money for
Jewish people in other countries. He
was a coordinator of a two-week trip
to Bulgaria and led programs engaging
teens from the U.S. and Europe.
While in BBYO, he has mentored
younger teens who have taken on
leadership roles in their chapters or
regionally. He has helped younger teens
write speeches, create platforms and put
together meaningful programming.
Paul sits on the Jewish Historical
Society Board and has been to several
AIPAC teen conferences in Washington,
D.C. He has lobbied Congress multiple
times and acted as head delegate. He is
also senior class president at FJA and
has been part of student government
for several years.
LINDSAY RANDEL
Lindsay Randel of
West Bloomfield is a
freshman at Frankel
Jewish Academy and
a member of Adat
Shalom Synagogue.
She is a fierce
advocate on behalf
of all people liv-
ing with Type 1
Diabetes. After her
diagnosis in 2014, she engaged with
JDRF and supporter of all its efforts
to turn Type 1 into Type None. She
chairs an annual One Walk Team and
has raised thousands of dollars to help
research for a cure. She speaks regularly
and publicly about her experiences of
living with Type 1. Lindsay was selected
to represent JDRF at its Congressional
Congress this summer and is hoping to
speak before Congress. She also makes
herself available to speak to newly diag-
nosed kids to help them to adapt to
their new normal.
She is an avid soccer player, who
must sit out this season because she is a
mid-year transfer to FJA. Still, Lindsay
participates in every practice and plans
to attend every game to cheer on her
classmates.
Lindsay is an active member of
BBYO. She was recently selected to
chair the chapter’
s upcoming Bittker
Weekend. She will attend BBYO’
s CLTC
Leadership Camp this summer and was
selected as a scholarship winner based
on her video application.
BENNY SHAEVSKY
Benny Shaevsky of
West Bloomfield is a
junior at Frankel
Jewish Academy and
belongs to Adat
Shalom Synagogue
and Temple Beth El.
Since he was
an infant, Benny
has suffered from
life-threatening nut allergies. He has
risen above the bullying to be an advo-
cate for those with food allergies. He has
organized fundraising walks sponsored
by the national Food Allergy Research
& Education (FARE) and has spoken
at several FARE teen summits and at
several local fundraising luncheons
sponsored by the University of Michigan
Food Allergy Clinic. He has served as a
general FARE teen ambassador.
He leads the Anti-Defamation Club
at his school, is a minyan leader, plays
varsity tennis and is a member of the
National Honor Society. He is spear-
heading the first-ever tutoring by FJA
NHS members of Hillel Day School
students.
He’
s serving his second year on the
Teen Board of the Jewish Fund, helping
to allocate grants totaling $50,000. Last
summer, he interned with the Jewish
Fund.
Benny participates in Tech Connect at
Adat Shalom to provide free computer
tutoring to senior citizens. He recently
established a new tax-exempt organiza-
tion called Tech 4 Seniors to visit home-
bound or mobility-challenged seniors
and assist them with computer/Internet
training.
TOMMY SHERMAN
Tommy Sherman of
Bloomfield Hills is a
junior at Bloomfield
Hills High School
and a member of
Temple Beth El and
its youth group,
BETY. He’
s been a
madrich since eighth
grade for Sunday
school.
Tommy participated in JServe and
volunteers at Beth El’
s Chanukah party
and Purim carnival. He participated in
a Birmingham Bloomfield Community
Youth Action Board event focusing on
the impact of substance abuse on teens.
He also volunteered as a counselor
at Roeper Day Camp and as a tutor
through National Honor Society.
In December, the New York Times
held its annual “connect what you’
re
learning in school with the world today”
essay contest. Out of 2,000 students
nationwide, Tommy’
s essay “Who Cares?
Immigration Reform: Who Cares?
Crumbling Infrastructure: Who Cares?
Climate Change: Who Cares?” qualified
him as a semi-finalist.
Tommy plays junior varsity tennis and
is the section leader of his school’
s drum-
line. He plays in two jazz bands and in
a rock band and plays percussion in the
school band and orchestra. He also runs
a small business making videos for bar
jews d
in
the