Shannon Bucci, Reporter
@SBCourant
While most students at NCHS concern themselves with their amount of weekly homework or an occasional sport or club meeting, senior Emily Walshin has a different agenda. Emily has been interested in educating herself and the public about the history and current problems in Israel since her sophomore year of high school, and has taken proactive measures to promote peace in Israel by taking part in the StandwithusMZ Teens Internship this past summer.
Emily became involved with the organization StandWithUs after her semester abroad in Israel during the winter and spring of 2014. StandWithUs is dedicated to informing the public about the current historical issues in Israel, and works to combat the antisemitism associated with Israel. “The year following my return from Israel was hard to adjust because, for me, there’s no place better than Israel. I was looking for a way to stay active in advocating for Israel now that I was back on American soil. In the spring my friend Jordan told me about the opportunity to be with the organization StandWithUs,” Emily said.
To allow teens to become advocates for Israel, the StandWithUs organization created the MZ Teens Internship program for high schoolers to inspire and educate their peers about Israel. “The internship strives to develop the next generation of knowledgeable Israel advocates and to make StandWithUs’ resources available to as many people as possible,” Northeast High School Coordinator for StandWithUs Joshua Warhit said.
Emily became involved with the MZ Teens Internship after learning about Standwithus from a friend, who nominated her to take part in the organization. Emily was accepted into the program out of 400 other candidates in the country who applied, and is now one in 80 interns in the program. To apply, Emily completed an interview over Skype with one of the advisors from the program. “In the interview I thought that I had messed my chances up and that I was going off on random tangents, but the question that she asked me at the end was, what makes you unique from others? What separated me, I said, was that I was really unstable my freshman year… which is why I went to Israel in the first place, as an escape,” Emily said. “And in the past four years to see how I’ve grown, that I was able to find Israel and want more for myself is what separated me from other people,” Emily said.
The internship itself is about allowing teens to effectively advocate for Israel in their communities. “The basis of the internship is educating people about Israel, and throughout this year I’ll be running programs either through the school or through other outlets outside of school,” Emily said.
The MZ Teens internship is not just limited to the summer. Emily and 80 interns from across the country involved with the program also attend conferences during the school year to further educate themselves about Israel. “The conferences include sessions on Israel’s history, how to differentiate between fair criticism of Israel and unfair criticism, and how to answer tough questions effectively,” Mr. Warhit said.
“I went to my first conference at the end of August which was amazing. It was a five day conference where we did multiple programs, including learning about the Iran deal and about what it means to be an effective group leader,” Emily said. The next conference that Emily will attend is in May, where she will further expand her knowledge of the history of Israel and how it’s community can be benefitted from increased awareness of it’s problems.
Emily also looks to bring her newfound knowledge regarding leadership and the ways to effectively educate her peers about issues in Israel to the NCHS with the creation of the Israel Club. “The club will include fun interactive things that allow people to learn about Israel in a relatable way,” Emily said. After the publicity of the club fair, the Israel Club has already gained awareness and received an influx of new members.
Emily looks forward to her plans after high school and college, where she is hoping to join the Israel Defense Forces and take an active role in benefitting the Israeli community. “Right now in my life hopefully I’ll be able to join the IDF after college which would be ideal, but I don’t really know where I’m going to end up in four years, that’s just a vision for now,” Emily said.
