Binghamton University
Camp Ramah in the Rockies
Harrisburg, PA

Nina First is a Junior studying Judaic Studies at Binghamton University. Growing up within a Modern Orthodox home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Nina fostered a profound adoration for Judaism. Upon graduating Beth Tfiloh high school in Baltimore, Maryland, Nina spent her gap year in Israel on the Nativ College Leadership Program where she interacted with egalitarian Judaism for the first time and fell in love with it. Inspired by Nativ, Nina found camp Ramah in the Rockies where she spends her summers with a special Jewish community in the Colorado wilderness. Nina enjoys intersecting her passion for nature with her love for Judaism.

Hunter College
Teaneck, NJ

Rachel Fischman is a student at Hunter College studying Film and Media Production. She attended SAR High School and graduated in 2017. On campus she has been an active member and leader within Hunter Hillel, creating programming and events for the community as a whole and specifically the Jewish LGBTQ+ Cohort on campus. Rachel has also been a leader in the Hunter Interfaith club making connections with the other faith groups on campus and creating dialog between the different communities. She hopes to use her creative drive and strong jewish identity to create media that has an impact.

University of Michigan
URJ Camp Harlam
New York, NY

Rachel grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is currently a junior at the University of Michigan where she is pursuing a major in Organizational Studies and minors in Political Science and Music. In high school, Rachel helped found her youth group region, BBYO Manhattan Region, and served as its first Regional S'ganit (VP of Programming) and second Regional N'siah (President). Rachel has spent the past 10 summers at URJ Camp Harlam, serving on the Leadership Team as an Assistant Unit head this past summer. At Michigan, Rachel has been actively involved in Michigan Hillel, being a weekly attendee of Friday night Shabbat dinners, serving on the Major Events Committee, participating in the jNET Fellowship (a cohort of students whose goal is to network with Jewish students across campus), and as the Chair of the Freshman Retreat Committee. Rachel has also been involved with the Religious Action Center (the branch of the Reform Movement focusing on social justice work) since high school. She attended the L'Taken high school seminar, where she learned about and lobbied her representatives on issues important to the Reform movement, and she served as a College Ambassador for the Consultation on Conscience, where she learned about how to bring meaningful social justice work into congregations and Jewish communities in general. In the future, Rachel hopes to pursue a career path that combines her passion for the Jewish Community with her passion for social justice.

Hunter College
Brooklyn, NY

Rhodondo Jeraman (Rj) is a junior at CUNY Hunter College and is double majoring in both Judaic studies and History. He was born in Trinidad and Tobago and immigrated to New York with his mother and older brother at the age of two. Growing up, Rj took part in leadership roles in Jewish organizations including NCSY, JSU, and StandWithUs. Rj enjoys playing basketball and tennis in his free time that has culminated in being captain of his high school and college tennis team. He has taken these skills and applied them in both secular and Jewish based sports camps around New York and Maine. As both a Jew and a first generation college student, Rj has seen the need for diversity and inclusivity within the Jewish world and on college campuses. This motivated him in pursuing leadership roles on his college Hillel board as a Community Engagement Intern and as a JLF Fellow. He hopes to help and facilitate more conversations between Jews of color and different traditional Jewish backgrounds through cross cultural event planning like United in Color. Rj has also taken a lead into better understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict both by joining the Israel On Campus Coalition (ICC) Fellowship and going on an interfaith Perspective Trip visiting both the West Bank settlements and Aida Refuge camp. Rj hopes to become a Jewish educator that can inspire future North American Jewry and show how the understanding of collective Jewish history can both unify and guide our own unique Jewish identity. 

Muhlenberg College
Ramah Day Camp in Nyack
Closter, NJ

Samantha Brenner grew up in Closter, New Jersey.  Samantha currently attends Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania where she is studying English and Jewish Studies. Prior to attending Muhlenberg, Samantha taught Hebrew in the Religious School at her synagogue, Temple Emanu-El. For the past fifteen summers, Samantha has been part of the Ramah Day Camp community in Nyack, New York, transitioning from camper, to shadow, to counselor and most recently to the assistant division head of the 2nd grade campers as Sgan of Nitzanim. On campus, Samantha is actively involved in both Hillel and Chabad, volunteering to read Torah and Haftarah at Hillel and helping to organize Shabbat dinners at Chabad. Additionally, Samantha is an assistant Pre-K teacher at The Jewish Day School of The Lehigh Valley, where she is able to express both her love for kids and Judaism. In the future, Samantha hopes to attend The William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at JTS and hopes to pass on her passion for Judaism to the future generations.

Duke University
URJ Camp Coleman
Jacksonville, FL

Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Sarah Jacobs found her love for Judaism through the Reform Movement. Sarah was an active member of her synagogue and temple youth group, spent summers at URJ Camp Coleman, and served as the Head Songleader of the Southern Area Region of NFTY (NFTY-SAR). Currently, Sarah is a student at Duke University majoring in International Comparative Studies with a Middle East focus and minoring in Jewish Studies and Political Science. At Duke, Sarah leads Hillel services and serves on the executive board of the Jewish Student Union where she works to build interfaith connections on campus. Sarah aspires to work in the Jewish nonprofit world as an advocate for the Jewish people and Israel.

Barnard College/Jewish Theological Seminary
Camp Ramah in New England
Needham, MA

Shira is from Needham, MA, and grew up spending summers at Camp Ramah in New England. She is a junior in the Double Degree Program between Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) studying Sociology and Talmud and minoring in Psychology. On campus, Shira is heavily involved with Hillel in many capacities including serving as co-chair for the Conservative minyan and working with first years new to campus as a Jewish Life Orientation Leader. Shira also served on the student council for List College (the undergraduate program at JTS) as the representative for Double Degree students. She enjoys spending her time off campus working in Hebrew School and exploring New York City. Shira continues to think critically about the intersection of the communal and educational aspects of Judaism and how to engage individuals within these two realms. As a Nachshon Project Fellow, she is excited to explore several professional opportunities and learn necessary tools to utilize within such professions.

Ithaca College
URJ Eisner Camp
Westfield, MA

Shoshana Maniscalco is from Westfield, Massachusetts. She is a junior at Ithaca College where she studies sociology and counseling. On campus, she is an active member of Hillel where she has helped to create a Keshet group for LGBTQ Jews as well as a Rosh Chodesh group. She is also a b'nei mitzvah tutor within the greater Ithaca community and a madricha for the b'nei mitzvah class at Congregation Tikkun V'or. Shoshana teaches Hebrew on campus, works at the rock climbing wall, and copy edits for the newspaper. She grew up at URJ Eisner camp where she has spent the past 13 summers as a camper and staff member.

University of Delaware
Camp Ramah in the Poconos
Princeton, NJ

Talia Feldman, from Princeton NJ, is a junior at the University of Delaware studying Human Services and Jewish Studies. She is involved with Jewish life at UD through both Hillel and Chabad on campus. She founded Blue Hens for Israel, the student led pro-Israel group at UD which has connected with over 300 students on campus. She is also involved in Gesher, the student group which oversees religious life at Hillel. Talia grew up going to Camp Ramah in the Poconos and was a counselor for two years. Her years at camp and her involvement with Jewish life on campus has inspired her to hopefully work in the Jewish Experiential Education world in the future.

Tulane University
Perlman Camp
Gaithersburg, MD

Tori Isaacson is from Gaithersburg, Maryland and is currently a junior at Tulane University. She is double majoring in Communications and Digital Media Production. She has been working at Perlman Camp for the past three years, after attending the camp as a camper, and is excited to go back for her fourth summer on staff. She has had many leadership opportunities at camp including being a Cornerstone fellow where she helped run Jewish camp programming, and served on the Perlman Leadership Counsel. At school she is involved in the student alumni outreach club, is on the club gymnastics team, and is a peer mentor for first year students at Tulane. Her sophomore year she interned at a local New Orleans synagogue, Temple Sinai.