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