12 April 25 • 2019
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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.

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