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

