<p>dg5052-
My s wants to stay in the SE also. There are strong jewish poulations at Emory, College of Charleston, UGA, UF, Vanderbilt, Duke, etc. We just looked at College of Charleston yesterday. They have a Jewish Studies program with its own building.</p>
<p>^^ ???????</p>
<p>This is the link to the specific articles in the reform judaism magazine that dstark was referencing <a href="http://reformjudaismmag.org/06fall/%5B/url%5D">http://reformjudaismmag.org/06fall/</a></p>
<p>We are going to the College of Charleston open house this weekend. My daughter has been invited to many activities that the Hillel is sponsering, but I think we will just stop in. My daughter, as a junior, is not ready to do the sleepover. She will do a sleepover, with Hillel next year. But, the other colleges on her list have much smaller Jewish populations. She wants to go to school in North or South Carolina, maybe Virginia. I have been in contact with Elon, Furman and Queen's University of Charlotte. They have small, but seemingly tight groups. We will visit more schools this summer.</p>
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Any ideas on encouraging kids to at least check out the Hillel on their campus?
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<p>i honestly think that at this point, there's not too much we as parents can directly do anymore. you just have to hope that whatever you've put in during the prior 17 or so years makes them feel that it is piece of their lives that they need to address to feel "at home" and that may not even be something they realize until they are in a strange new place looking for a connection. an active push by a parent is often the surest way to keep something from happening. </p>
<p>the biggest influence at this point is going to be other students -- if the kids active in hillel are the types of kids your s or d is likely to become friends with, they are more likely to become involved. if you know a current student at the school who is involved in hillel and who you think your s or d will respect - they have a much better chance of influencing your child at this point than you do.</p>
<p>we generally made the hillel office one of our stops on every college visit -- more important that the amount of programing or number of students -- the personalities of the the students we met made the biggest impression. i have seen a number of situations in which peers were able to make an impression on and have an influence with a prospective/new student that the parents would not have been able to.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions Unbelievablem...I agree that one hopes that by raising them in a Jewish home, they will eventually be miss this part of their life. As it is, I couldn't get my kids to even go near the Hillel buildings when we visited campuses. Once my D settles on a college, I'll see if we have a connection at the Hillel for her to meet. </p>
<p>Getting on the mailing list sounds good, too!</p>
<p>You never know what will become important to them once they get to college -- I've heard from several parents about how they never expected their kid to get involved in Hillel and were shocked when their kids reported attending Shabbat diner or services. Even something as simple as, the food at Shabbat dinner is better than the dining hall can be the factor that makes a difference!</p>
<p>I really think kids underestimate just how overwhelming it can be to start college -- being in a new place, with new people, new routine, etc. Most students will try to find their "comfort zone" -- and Hillel can offer that -- which is why I think it can be important to consider the "fit" of the Hillel just as much as the "fit" of the college itself - there is no "one size fits all" in terms of what someone may want in their Jewish community. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>its interesting...at my college, the student body was probably around 10-12% jewish, which would put it at around 200 jews. my sisters school is known for its jewish enrollment, probably around 40%, making it about 2000 jews. yet my parents have been shocked at the difference between jewish campus life- the hillel at my small school was much more active!</p>
<p>I think it isn't just the students but the Hillel staff that affects student involvement. My older s is at a school that is about 10% Jewish. His roommates and suitemates are Jewish (they planned this at this point- but one of his roomies was also his freshman roommate-- both Jewish). At any rate, they unfortunately found the Hillel staff very pushy and it turned them off. They all gave it a shot, but it was just too much. It is a shame, as I do believe they would have been more active if they had had a more positive experience. I believe she meant well-- she just came on too strong, and it was very off-putting. It got to the point that they started to avoid her phonecalls. She was replaced their soph. year but by then it was too late. </p>
<p>Candace-
I will be interested to hear what you think of CofC after you visit this weekend. We were there Monday-- I'll tell you about it when you return-</p>
<p>By the way, there was some weird random post between my above posts #21 and 22, that has apparently been deleted. The way it reads now, it looks like I was questioning my own post!</p>
<p>I will report back after our trip to College of Charleston. I do agree with the upbringing thing. My son had a Bar Mitzvah, but never really got that involved in youth group or other Jewish activities. But now, he is a member of a Jewish frat and is going to Israel this summer. I never would have guessed this. So you never know. My daughter seems more interested in campus Hillel organizations.</p>
<p>My experience has been that by sending my son to a school whose enrollment is 30% Jewish, he has chosen Jewish friends, housemates, and frat brothers as his social circle on campus even though he hasn't made Hillel a big part of his world. Together, they attend an occasional Shabbat dinner as well as High Holy Day services. But in their off-campus house, they lit the menorah each night, fried latkes and celebrate their heritage.</p>
<p>it's always hard to predict and depends a lot on the individual kid. while a large jewish enrollment certainly makes involvement easier for many kids and means that more opportunities for involvement may be available, i know of kids who went to schools with large jewish enrollments who had little if anything to do with jewish campus life because they felt no need to connect with formal programming (but who may have made the types of conncetions worrywart describes) whereas i've also known kids who went to schools with relatively small jewish enrollments who then became very involved in the hillel -- the small enrollment made them feel more of a "need" to reach out to connect. i don't think one can say that either is a "better" jewish experience than the other -- they're different and if just depends how the individual student reacts to the options available to them - and what they are comfortable with.</p>
<p>"I think it can be important to consider the "fit" of the Hillel"</p>
<p>This is very true. At my first college, I went to one Hillel event at the beginning of freshman year and then never went back; I found the culture to be quite judgmental about people's level of observance, and of who did and didn't qualify as a good Jew. At my second college, the Hillel was completely different, and inclusive not just of different streams of Judaism but of interested Gentiles as well. The Hillel dining service allowed anyone with a college meal plan to eat there, so students who were, say, observing Passover could still share meals with all their non-Jewish friends. I found this kind of Hillel to be a much better fit for me, although other students might have felt that it was watered down.</p>
<p>My son just committed to attending the University of Denver. </p>
<p>It's not a school often mentined on CC, but he found what he was looking for there, both generally and Jewishly. The school has a very nice campus just a few minutes from downtown Denver--it doesn't at all feel "urban" on campus. It actually reminded me of schools like Emory--in the city but not "of" it, if you know what I mean, sort of the best of both worlds. I'll do a general trip report on thee school as soon as I can get around to it. </p>
<p>DU has an undergrad population of about 4500 students, and we were told that about 1000 were Jewish. Not all of them are overly active Jewishly but there are certainly enough Jewish kids across the spectrum. For what it's worth, my son is somewhat observant (he wears a kipa and keeps kosher--he will eat vegetarian or dairy out). He felt very comfortable both times he visited the campus, both a year ago and again this month for Pioneer Days.</p>
<p>University of Denver ("DU") has a brand new Hillel building that just opened this fall (2006), about 8000 sq.ft. We were just there last week, and it's very nice, So were the students we met there. This Hillel also serves as the headquarters for all of the Hillels in Colorado, which means that a DU student also has a chance to meet andinteract with Jewish students from other campuses.</p>
<p>There is also a Chabad about two blocks from campus. He did not have achance to get over there but has heard good things about it.</p>
<p>Denver has good academic resources for those interested in Jewish studies--it offers a minor and also has a couple of Judaically-centered institutes. He met a couple of professors in the Jewish studies department and really liked them, found them very engaging.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that University of Denver also gives a good amount of merit aid--certain awards based on scores and grades are spelled out on their website.</p>
<p>When we visited Tufts, several years ago, the Hillel staff person said that the size and nature of the Jewish student body tends to vary from year to year, so that the level of interest in Hillel activities also varies..</p>
<p>One public university not yet mentioned is the University of Colorado (Boulder). Children of several friends go/have gone there and our friends are quite happy with the extent of Jewish life on campus.</p>
<p>A previous poster asked about how to "encourage" not "push" it.</p>
<p>We all attended a Hillel brunch for families during Orientation weekend, full of good, dutiful kids doing what their parents deemed very important, at a small LAC.</p>
<p>Amazingly, those kids bonded and stayed friends for the next 4 years, and became occasional participants tho not leaders of Hillel.</p>
<p>It is a thin line between students welcoming in new students and oppressing them with expectations. On that, as one mom here found, it's just the luck of that year if the leader has a good balance.</p>
<p>In freshman year, we had this regular way of asking, "So, did anything surprising or funny happen over at Hillel?" instead of badgering, "Did you go to Hillel?" That gave them a chance to talk about it without pinning them down on their attendance, which really is their call once campus begins, I feel. </p>
<p>Our temple SIsterhood organized a college care package to all college-aged kids from the temple at Chanukah and Pesach for exam-cram. It was a nice message that the care package came from the temple, not just the home.
It just took one woman to organize it all, take in the phone calls, ship the packages. Sisterhood wanted to cover that cost.</p>
<p>Heavenwood, great post above. Represent!</p>
<p>What does Hillel mean?</p>
<p>Hillel - The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life -- <a href="http://www.hillel.org%5B/url%5D">www.hillel.org</a>
Many (but not all) campus Jewish student groups are affiliated with Hillel -- so "Hillel" can refer to either the national organization or the group at a specific school.</p>
<p>Hillel is a college student organization where you go to find other Jewish students, events or activities. It's run by and for Jewish students. Funding comes from B'nai B'rith, the adult organization that wants to make sure college kids can explore, deepen and take charge of being Jewish in their own way, as they move from childhood to young adult. So the B'nai B'rith also funds office space, sometimes a staff person (usually young adult), and even hires a rabbi for the campus (with advice of the students themselves on what kind of rabbi they want). If the college has a smal number of Jewish students, they can't get as big a budget so more of the work is done by volunteers, so they might network with Jewish Hillels on nearby universities that are larger.</p>
<p>Although it's there to address the needs of Jewish students, today Hillel events welcome nonJews to attend, especially if they're curious about Jewish culture.</p>
<p>It isn't any one movement; so there's not a Reform Hillel and a Conservative Hillel. Each campus Hillel is supposed to make sure that all kinds of Jews can find a home there. Some Hillels have a bit of a slant towards one movement or another, but with enough people to give voice to different approaches they can diversify. </p>
<p>They don't take political stands (for a presidential candidate, for example) but might host a discussion about how different candidates position themselves on Jewish topics of concern, such as Israel, anti-Semitism, Darfur. </p>
<p>They often make wonderful holiday celebrations on the campus, from High Holy Day services (if you can't get home) to building a succah to having an on-campus seder. </p>
<p>If you want to find things out, such as "how do I get one of those free trips to Israel..." they're the first place to ask.</p>
<p>Read their national website, and when you get to campus (or before) contact them! At the very least, you'll make some friends there.</p>