Administration hosts support sessions with Jewish advocate

By Sammy Glassman

Jewish Community Organizer and advocate Brian Hertz begun his monthly after-school presentations about Jewish identity and antisemitism Feb. 23 and March 9. Hertz currently serves as the Assistant Director for American Jewish Committee (AJC) ACCESS Global, empowering young Jewish professionals around the globe to unite with other communities against hate, according to an email from Head of Upper School Beth Slattery. Hertz said some central themes in the meetings are coming together as a strong group of Jewish allies and sharing encounters of antisemitism.

“I believe the rst two meetings have been critical opportunities to explore how we form our identities and how we exist in community,” Hertz said. “I’ve brought in Jewish texts to guide the conversations, focusing on creating opportunities for students to re ect on their own ex- periences and better understand the power of pride in our identities and narratives.”

Hertz said he has found students’ opinions on culture and religion insightful.

“I’ve been very impressed with students’ drive to grapple with very complex ethical and theological issues,” Hertz said. “Our society is going through a transformation as we increase our collective empathy and consciousness of others’ experiences.”

Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Associate Director of Admission Janine Jones said students have been open to talk to Hertz, and that she hopes participation will grow in the coming sessions.

“ e meetings have gone very well substantively,” Jones said. “I was able to attend the last session and students responded to him very well and were very talkative.

I hope that attendance will grow since we’ve changed the time to during the school day.”

Jones said there are bene ts

By S ara Segil

e school adjusted the annual spring break college tour itinerary, replacing the Southern college tour with a New England tour. e Midwestern tour, which is still available for students, has also been changed to now include Villanova Univeristy, Haverford University and the University of Pennsylvania.

e New England tour will visit a number of Boston area schools — including Emerson College, Boston University, Boston College and Brandeis University — as well as Amherst College, Dartmouth College, the University of Vermont, the University of Connecticut and Brown University.

The New England tour has not been offered for seven years, according to Upper School Dean Nia Kilgore. Kilgore said the tour will help broaden students’ horizons when considering colleges.

“We want to be able to see schools we’ve never seen before, and go back to ones we haven’t in a while,” Kilgore said. “All while trying to reach the goal of showing kids di erent types. New England has so many schools, from urban to rural, small to large that can show students the bigger picture.”

Kilgore said the change was instituted in part as a response to travel concerns so that Boston could be used as a hub for multiple nights, therefore reducing transportation time.

“ e long drives on the Midwest tour were brutal for everyone, myself included,” Kilgore said. “Students will be able to spend more time on campuses, and less in transport.”

Savannah Mashian ’24 said she is excited to go on the modi ed Midwest tour during spring break.

“I’m really excited to go on the trip and get a better idea of schools I’m considering applying to,” Mashian said. “I’m particularly excited for the University of Michigan because I’ve heard so much about the campus but never been.”

Preston Yeh ’23, who went on the Midwest tour last year, said he wished the New England tour was made available when he was signing up for the college tour.

“My favorite stops were New York and D.C. since the city vibes were nice,” Yeh said. “I prefer the new itinerary, though, since a lot of the schools I applied to were in Boston, and there seems to be less driving on the new trip.”

Emily Malkan ’23, who went on the Midwest tour last year, said she appreciated the convenience of the school planning the complexities of traveling to various cities and states.

“Being able to go to that many states and cities in such a short amount of time is something I’ll probably never do again just because it’s so hard to plan,” Malkan said.

“My favorite part was going to a di erent city everyday, or sometimes even three states in one day. A lot of people didn’t like the long bus rides, but I personally loved them because I got to just look out the window and look at the scenery.”

Malkan said though the tour didn’t solidify her college list, it allowed her to learn more about schools and get excited about the college process.

“I didn’t know what I wanted at all, so seeing a lot of di erent variety helped me realize what I wanted a little more,” Malkan said. “ ough my list still changed for months after the college tour, so it just helped me get excited for college.” to the discussion format during the meetings, but that she still believes students need to be supported in other ways.

“I wouldn’t say the school settled on this format as opposed to others,” Jones said. “ e school decided to utilize this format as one tool in its toolbox to support students. Everyone responds di erently to di erent modalities in terms of support so it is important that we o er multiple opportunities.”

Zoe Kramar ’24, who attended both meetings, said Hertz helped her understand that antisemitism is not just a campus issue.

“I think the meetings were a productive way to address the issues of antisemitism in general and on campus,” Kramar said. “We’ve been talking a lot about the idea of identity and personal experiences with antisemitism and how that applies to a broader sense of community.” ree more meetings are scheduled for March 21, April 11 and May 3.