Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Meet GPM’s new JDC Entwine GJSC 2014 fellows, now volunteering in the slums of Mumbai!

What happens when you mix 6 Americans, 3 Brits and a Canadian, put them in the slums of Mumbai and let their creativity, idealism and love of children go wild? Well, you get a fantastic group of GPM-JDC Entwine Global Jewish Service Corps fellows for GPM’s current summer session! GPM would like to give a hearty welcome to 10 talented fellows who are spending the next two months providing literacy and nutrition support to many hundreds of children in the slums of India.  The international participants join local Indian Jewish youth who are also volunteering in the slums of Mumbai.

Namaste Jesse, Gabe, Isaiah, Elianna, Evie, Harry, Harmony, Leigh, Perry, and Louisa!
 
Gabe Davidson
Originally from Washington, DC, Gabriel Davidson is a junior at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, where he is currently studying Philosophy, Jewish Studies, and Hispanic Studies. Gabriel has always had an interest in other languages, cultures, music, and playing the violin. Gabriel has been playing the violin since he was ten, and is currently a member of his College’s chamber orchestra. At present, Gabriel is an intern at the Rosenthall Judaica Collection in Charleston, South Carolina, where he uses his knowledge of Hebrew and Judaism to document postcards dating back to the early twentieth century. Gabe has previously worked as both a religious school teacher and a caddie at a golf club. Gabe is excited to utilize his experience with children to make an impact with GPM this summer.

 
Leigh Evans
Leigh is a second year student at the University of California, Santa Barbara where she is persuing a double major in Sociology and Psychology with a minor in Education. She works part-time as a paid intern at the UCSB Alumni Association and is involved in a variety of activities including the College of Letters and Science Honors Program, the Isla Vista Tutoring Program, Active Minds, Hillel, and Gauchos for Education. The last organization is one that Leigh co-founded this past academic quarter along with four other members. Leigh hopes to apply her passion for education and background in Sociology and Psychology to her future career in education reform. She is deeply passionate about civil rights, social reform, education, animal welfare, environmental sustainability, arts and culture, and the promotion of tolerance.

Louisa Green
Louisa is currently studying theatre and performance arts at the American University in London, with the hope of pursuing a career in teaching. She has always been passionate about working with children and the idea of helping other people. Louisa is from a large and very close family and has grown up with both older and much younger siblings. Louisa was elected Deputy Head Girl of her high school, held different leadership positions at her secondary school and has worked at restaurants and cafes. She has participated in several summer camps and was involved in the FZY Israel Tour, where she spent a month in Israel. Louisa is excited to volunteer in Mumbai and experience its unique culture.

Elianna Hoffmitz
Elianna Hoffmitz is currently completing her third year of a four year honors psychology program at York University in Toronto, Canada. She is working as a minute taker for a company called Minutes by Minute and has previously worked at a jewelry store. Elianna volunteers at her synagogue, both with the children's groups and with the collection of charity. She volunteers for an anti-bullying organization called Peace by PEACE which runs in classrooms all over Toronto. Elianna is also currently volunteering for the Jewish Toronto International Film Festival and enjoys drawing, painting, reading, and writing in her free time.

Harry Ingram
Harry attended the University College School where he ran the Jewish society and will soon go on to study international relations and politics at the University of Bristol. From a young age, Harry was involved in fundraising for Magen David Adom and by the age of 12 he had raised £5000 for the organization. The Chief Rabbi of Israel read about his story and subsequently attended Harry’s bar mitzvah in the UK. Harry just spent three months teaching English in the Galapagos Islands and traveling around South and Central America. He previously volunteered at an orphanage in Goa and has had the privilege to visit India a number of times. Harry spent the past months working long hours at Heathrow airport to raise money for his travels and enjoys giving his all to anything he puts his mind to.

Jesse Kornbluth
The oldest of four, Jesse was born and raised in New York City and Northern New Jersey. He attended an egalitarian, Jewish boarding highschool in North Carolina and spent a summer travelling to rural Jewish communities in West Virginia and Tennessee. Before attending college, Jesse spent a year in Israel studying history and conflict and volunteering with The Magen David Adom Ambulance Corps and Greenpeace Tel Aviv. Jesse studied Cultural Anthropology and Global Health at Boston University and spent a semester abroad in Tanzania and Vietnam, studying Global Health and International Development. Since graduating college, Jesse worked with Sudanese refugees in Tel Aviv, he worked at the Libertas Center for Health and Human Rights, the Elmhurst hospital in New York City, as a healthcare coordinator and community health researcher in Nicaragua and spent a year as a patient advocate at a hospital ER. Jesse will begin a dual degree Master's program this fall.

Perry Pickei
Perry is currently in his junior year at the University of Texas at Austin studying public health. He is a member of the fraternity, Sigma Alpha Mu, and has held many leadership positions including The College of Natural Science’s Representative in Student Government, is an active board member of the University Co-op and became a member of The Natural Science Council and Texas Public Health. Perry previously interned in Washington DC for URAC, an accreditation company and has worked for the second largest health system in United States, North Shore LIJ. There he worked underneath the Senior VP of Strategy and Business Informatics to develop awareness and promote the utilization of health care databases between providers and patients. In his free time, Perry enjoys exploring the food and nature scene of Austin, as well as kayaking and playing tennis.

Harmony Richman
Harmony is currently a pre-law student double majoring in Sociology and Race and Ethnic Studies at Barnard and hopes to pursue a career in either juvenile justice or Civil Rights. Harmony has volunteered with DOROT, a Jewish organization that takes care of the elderly living in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, with Peace by PEACE at a Harlem elementary school, taught a special education fourth grade class about peaceful conflict resolution and spent the past semester interning at the Children’s Law Center. Harmony is currently a member of Barnard's Social Justice House, formed this year to raise the awareness of the Columbia/Barnard community about current and past social injustices. Harmony is passionate about juvenile justice for at-risk youth, which comes in part from the two summers she spent teaching English in an orphanage in Taiwan. During her senior year of high school, she founded a club called Kids Without Borders that was dedicated to fundraising for the orphanage and raised over $1000 for food, medicine, clothing, and school supplies.

Isaiah Rothstein
Though Isaiah is originally from Monsey, NY, his family history is unique for his community and circle of influence. Being a direct product of the Civil Rights movement, Isaiah's ancestors have empowered him to be a stronger leader and Jew. His mother, a black convert, his father a Lubavitch-Chabad Chassid; sharing in diversified extended familial relationships, not to mention their religious identities as Muslims, Buddhists and Methodist, has charged Isaiah to educate and empower the next generation of leadership. Isaiah is currently the youth director for the Young Israel of Stamford and considers himself to be a passionate Jewish educator. Isaiah is also a singer-songwriter and has his Masters in Social Work. Isaiah just finished his final year in rabbinical school at Yeshiva University and is excited to join the team of educators at Carmel Academy and to infusing spirituality into every interaction.

Evie Taylor
Evie Taylor grew up in London, UK and is currently working towards a degree in English literature at the University of Bristol. Evie previously worked as the President of the Bristol Jewish Society, one of the fastest growing Jewish student groups in the country. She also enjoys playing netball and working as a student ambassador for her university. Since the age of 10, Evie has been an active member of Noam, a Masorti youth group. Having spent three years volunteering as a summer counselor, she worked as a line manager last summer, which involved creating a residential summer program for British Jewish children. She is also involved with the Forum for Jewish Leadership, through whom she had the amazing opportunity to intern for a large broadcasting company last summer in New York. Evie enjoys spending time with her family and friends and loves traveling. Having enjoyed volunteering in South-East Asia, she wanted to spend this summer embarking on a new challenge in India. She is very excited to immerse herself in a new culture and hopefully to make an impact on a community so different to her own.

No comments:

Post a Comment