I know I promised you all a part 2 to my series on Jewish Book Week, but I seem to have hit a wall (ha ha) and have been unable to write anything! As such, I will instead fill you in on what I’ve been up to lately...
This has been a very busy semester and I can’t believe that it’s already the end of March. Since January, I have been spending a lot of time in London because I am staying on at UJS as the Director of Development for 2010/2011, meaning I will be managing a team of three NDOs placed strategically across the country in order to work with small and developing J-Socs, as well as provide support for large J-Soc committees. I am so excited to take on this new position, but it has been an interesting challenge to try and balance my future role with my current role! We are still looking to hire for one more position, the Central Region NDO. If you would like more information about this job, please see here or send me an email to elana@ujs.org.uk.
In February, I was lucky enough to be able to go to Poland with Jeneration. I wrote a piece for the JC about it, which you can read about here. All in all, it was an amazing trip. I learned a lot, met some cool people and was able to explore a part of my heritage that I had yet to discover. I definitely recommend a visit to Poland to anyone, so please be in touch if you want more information!
March was also dedicated to publicising and coordinating the UJS Big Weekend – Friday Night with the Israeli Ambassador, Student Awards and Career Networking, all taking place throughout the weekend of March 19-22. This was one of my best weekends working for UJS and I was so proud of the work that we put into the weekend, along with our partner organisations. In my humble opinion, the best night was the Student Awards. This event was our opportunity to recognise and thank the students who volunteer countless hours of their time to enriching Jewish student life on campus through education, campaigns, events, social action and more. I was also a very proud Northern NDO when Durham J-Soc won the UJC Developing J-Soc Award. Winning that award was wholly due to their hard work and dedication over the past two years. Durham is steadily working their way to medium J-Soc size and they have strong committees at the helm to support their students! Well done to Emily and Susie and the whole committee, as well as last year’s committee who have worked so hard to make Durham what it is today.
In the next few weeks, I will be very busy (as per usual). I am heading home next week for some R&R/TLC/hugs from my mom and cannot wait to see my family and friends! Most of the snow has melted by now and spring is in full force in Canada’s capital. After my visit home, I will be heading north again for NUS Conference. I am so excited to see student politics in action and have heard great things about the conference. After NUS, I will be heading even further north to Scotland with UJS Chair Adam Pike. We’re doing a little tour to say hi to Scottish university students, provide some informal educational programming and kosher snacks. We also want to find out what students in the Northern Region want out of their relationship with UJS! By the end of all the busy-ness, it will be May and time to start handover for my new role...where has the year gone??
One final thing to add is that I have really enjoyed reading new opinions in our guest blogs that we have featured recently. At Student Awards, I got to meet THE Ollie Worth of UJS Guest Blogging fame. If anyone has something they would like to share with the British Jewish student population (and my family and friends in Canada), please drop me a line at elana@ujs.org.uk and I would love to feature you in a guest blog!
Wishing you all a Chag Sameach – wherever you spend Passover, I hope you enjoy it.
UJS Love,
Elana xx
The Development Team and Emma at Student Awards!
