As part of a new effort to promote student initiative on campus, the Florence and Chafetz Hillel House founded the Boston University Jewish Leadership Team, or BLT, in August, according to Hillel’s executive director Jevin Eagle.
The purpose of the BLT, Eagle said, is “to bring students’ passions to life, to enable them to pursue their passions and to get them the staffing and the structure and the support to enable that to happen.”
Students who are accepted to join the BLT will have their projects supported by Hillel funding, staff support and guidance, according to Hillel’s Springboard Fellow Ben Hersch.
Fifteen students have already been accepted and applications will continue to be reviewed throughout the year, Hersch said. The goal is to have 45 to 50 team members by the end of the year.
“The team,” Hersch wrote in an email, “will be composed of student leaders from all around campus who will ultimately collaborate on 30-40 different initiatives composed of weekly meetings and one-off events.”
Any BU student can apply to join the BLT, said assistant director of BU Hillel Ethan Sobel. There is no requirement to be Jewish or to have prior involvement in Hillel to participate in the BLT, he added. The only requirement is having a vision and a passion.
“We want people who want to be movers and game changers,” Sobel said, “and who want to see exciting projects being brought to campus and the Boston community, who want to make impactful changes in their lives and the lives of those around them and those who want to find a place on campus to support their dreams and their ideas.”
The BLT is based on a unique platform that gives the students more power to achieve their goals, Sobel said.
“Instead of us trying to get people to come to programs,” Sobel said, “we’re shifting the model and we’re telling them that we want to be involved with them, rather than them being involved with us.”
The driving force behind the development of the BLT, Eagle said, was the students and their strong sense of initiative, as well as their determination to see their goals realized.
“[The BLT] will have a very meaningful impact on the community because we think that students are crying out for this,” Eagle said. “There are so many passions that people have and we get caught up in the things that we have to do every day and we sometimes don’t have the space and the capacity to also pursue things that bring us meaning and joy.”
Several students said they think the BLT program offers great opportunities for students to get involved on campus and to do what they love.
Michael Meagher, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he already applied to join the BLT with the hope of establishing a Jewish-Muslim interfaith group. He said it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have the kind of funding and support that is needed to take on such an enterprise.
“Where else in the world can you find people from so many different backgrounds who are all interested in learning about each other?” Meagher said. “That’s very rare in the real world, so now is the best opportunity for me.”
Emily Roe, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said she thinks the BLT will encourage more people to participate in Hillel life.
“I think it makes Judaism more fun and it makes people want to get involved,” Roe said.
Aaron Furst, a senior in CAS, said the BLT gives students an advantage as they try to enrich their social and professional lives.
“[BLT] is tremendous,” Furst said. “That’s why we come to school — to grow as people, as professionals, and that’s just an added bonus. For those who are aware of it and recognize its value, it’s definitely a leg up.”
