Before Penn State, I was homeschooled from K-12 and grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family. Because of my schooling and the religious community’s relative reclusion in society, I was not exposed to the world outside my home and community. Coming to Penn State, I was thrust into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable space where I learned to push my boundaries over my time in college and begin a journey of personal and professional growth. In the beginning, I focused on getting comfortable and joined Chabad, a Jewish student organization where I connected with students from different religious backgrounds. Since I came from another world than these students, I was eager to learn more about my people’s history and culture and participated in Birthright, …show more content…
In exploring, my Jewish experiences have inspired me to expand my cultural horizons outside the Jewish world. I became a facilitator for World in Conversation (WinC) and started advocacy work on the WEMS (Women and Gender Diversity in the College of EMS) board. At WinC, I connect Penn State and global students in guided conversations about their perspectives on common issues. By asking participants questions and seeking to achieve neutrality, I traced students’ ideas back to their past and learned how socioeconomic factors impact thinking. Now, I am aware of my own biases and influences in daily interactions and emotional reasoning, which also served me well on the WEMS board. There, working with a team to increase membership and funding and expand the org’s focus grew my resilience, leadership skills, and commitment to diversity. What started as a journey to understand my place as a young Orthodox Jewish woman in society eventually turned into the skills and strength to fight for myself and other minority groups. While I was exploring my identity and the world, I was also finding my passion and