TCI Newsletter

A Labor of Love:

Transforming a Jewish Student Community

Josh Schultz did not despair when his school’s Jewish Student Union (JSU) lost its vibrancy. In fact, it was the club’s waning existence in 2002 that drove him to give it a much-needed facelift.

“I knew that if I wanted to create a meaningful Jewish experience for myself and other Jewish students, I would have to take on some leadership responsibilities,” reflected Schultz, a senior at Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, MA.

Bringing new life to the JSU was important to Schultz, who grew up in a rich Jewish environment and wanted to maintain his connections to Judaism once in school. But, he found that at Andover, where only 10% of enrolled students are Jewish, the Jewish community he sought was “rather lackluster,” according to Schultz.

So, Schultz drew on his Jewish background and called upon The Curriculum Initiative (TCI) to reshape Andover’s JSU, steps resulting in a now active club, which runs regular weekly meetings, engaging Friday night Shabbat services and special events that always draw a crowd.

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	Trinity School's Chaplain, Reverend Timothy Morehouse, speaks to TCI I've been Chaplain at Trinity School for a little over a year, and every contact I've had with TCI has been exemplary in the best sense of the word. TCI has provided Trinity with thoughtful speakers for chapel services, engaging opportunities
for faculty study in the summer, and has been a resource to which the school regularly turns to for expert resources on Judaism. I particularly value my flexible and reliable working relationship with their representatives--I treat them as colleagues with whom I share twin goals:

Helping students and faculty understand the wisdom and value of religious traditions in their particularity;

Encouraging a conversation among religious and philosophical traditions that brings peace to our common life.

I am grateful for TCI's assistance in supporting our school's diversity efforts.