Please note that we have adjusted the time to allow for hebrew school madrichim to begin the day with us at 11am, as well as ending at 5:30 to give students time to prepare for mid-terms.

For more informaiton and to register, please follow this link to dowload permission forms from our webpage.

The Next Step: Sarah Takes an Unexpected Turn at ArtsFest by Sarah Levitin

Since I was on the college prowl over the summer (pre-senior year), and since I have an extensive passion for traveling, I thought that the JCC ArtsFest program would be fun and, though corny sounding, educational. I had never been to New Orleans before, so naturally, I was excited to see new faces, new creative pursuits and new places.

When people think of me, Sarah Levitin, they think of a short, bubbly person who lives and breathes dance. In order to give everyone a shock, I decided not to choose dance as my arts specialty, and instead, choose something that, within my gigantic Jewish-Russian family, is an incredibly popular subject: Culinary Arts.

As someone who had been traveling the whole summer prior to this program, I can openly admit that I was a little tired of living out of a suitcase; however, I wanted to come back home from this trip and impress my mother—by far the best chef ever—with my culinary skills. (Anyone that would like to argue this case is more than welcome to join us for Shabbat dinner one night.) Boarding the airplane around 10 a.m., I was full of ambitious thoughts: seeing the campus of Tulane University, exploring the diff erent parts of a city that I had never been to and meeting people that I hoped to continue getting to know long aft er this trip was over.

I hate to admit it, but the four days that I was in the Big Easy ended up feeling like the longest four days of my life. But in the end, every single one of the 96 hours spent there was worth far more than I could ever express. Though some days felt like I had pulled three junior year all-nighters in a row, at the end of the day, I knew I did something good for myself and for the people around me.

With each day came new friendships, new inside jokes, new recipes, smiles, laughs and most importantly, the greatest feeling of reaching out to a wide variety of Jews in New Orleans. I didn’t realize the impact of the trip until the last four hours during the culminating showcase. The Culinary Arts group cooked for the VIPs of the New Orleans JCC, there was a performance tying together all the performing arts, and a band performance to wrap up the night. As one of the local teens, and now a close friend of mine, was singing my favorite John Mayer song, I looked around the darkened function room and realized something: Every single kid, no matter what age, was rockin’ out with his or her best friends—almost as if we were a huge national teen family.

I hadn’t gotten to see how everyone else spent their four days in their respective art specialty, but now I saw everything come together. As kids were acquiring new skills in their field, I don’t think they, or I for that matter, realized that they were also expanding their Jewish identities. Though I wasn’t back home in Swampscott, Mass., New Orleans felt like home to me. Being in the atmosphere that I know the best, I felt comfortable identifying myself as an American Jew, helping, collaborating and growing with others like me.

On the way back home, Adam Smith, Executive Director of North Shore Teen Initiative, was asking us how we enjoyed ourselves over the past week and what we felt like now after the whole experience. Needless to say, I was very happy that I went—it’s part of what made this one of the best summers of my life.

Now, as college approaches, I think about my summer to come, and I wonder how I can create a new JCC ArtsFest program for college-bound teens serving as teacher assistants and “CITs” for the artists. I’m ready for the next step: to continue expanding my Jewish identity while helping younger teens to do the exact same thing.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Social Action

Service Learning Opportunities will begin again in mid-October. Make new friends and make a difference. Last year over 70 teens worked on a variety of service learning projects in Peabody, Marblehead, Gloucester, Lynn, Beverly and Salem. Opportunities will be available all over the North Shore. The dates for the fall are below. For more information please visit our website.

Nov. 1, “Food Project” Beverly 9:30 – 12:30
Nov. 1, “NSARC” Bingo 6:00 – 7:30
Nov. 8, “Brook House” 12:00 – 2:30
Nov. 8, “NSARC” yard clean-up time TBD

Dec. 6, “Food Pantry” Cape Anne 3:30 – 6:00
Dec. 6, “Brook House” 12:00 – 2:30
Dec. 10, JRC Havdallah, Hannukah & Latkas, 3:30 – 5:00

Check our website & Facebook for new opportunities around the North Shore.

Campership Incentive Grants for First-Time Campers Summer 2010 applications will be available as of November 1, 2009

North Shore youth who have never before attended overnight Jewish summer camp are invited to apply for incentive grants to help defray the cost. Thanks to a partnership between the North Shore Teen Initiative (NSTI) and the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC), grants of $1,800 per youth for the summer of 2010 will be awarded to the first 50 qualified local campers who apply November 1.

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L'taken Seminar / Religious Action Center

This February 19 - 22, North Shore Teen Initiative will take a group of teens to the "L'Taken Social Justice Seminar" in Washington, DC. The trip focuses on how Jewish values inform our stances on social justice. Every year more than 100 congregations from across the country bring their high school students to participate in this exciting event.

This unique Washington opportunity enables students to focus on current issues before the House and Senate, prepare to lobby on Capitol Hill, tour the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, participate in Havdalah services at one of the memorials and sample the vibrancy of Georgetown and other exciting areas. Registration materials will be available soon.

Ways to Connect With NSTI

www.nsteeninitiative.org

Visit our website to find:
- A on-line teen community calendar
- Information about past and ongoing programs
- To receive more information directly www.nsteeninitiative.org/signup.html

Find our page on Facebook (search North Shore Teen Initiative)

Email: info@nsteeninitiative.org

Send snail mail inquiries to: 4 Community Road, Marblehead, MA 01945