Profile of OTZMA 2009-2010 Participants

Currently, OTZMA XXIV (2009-2010) has 38 participants from 21 different communities across North America. The group is extremely diverse coming from many different backgrounds.

Please see below to learn more about this years group!

Aaron Zivic (Chicago, IL) Aaron graduated in May from Washington University in St. Louis where he majored in Political Science. Described as sensitive yet macho by those close to him, Aaron enjoys long walks on the beach, but also long, intense workouts on the beach. Aaron is an avid college sports fan and relishes the month of March for obvious reasons. Finally, Aaron looks forward to sharing his passion for trivia with his fellow Otzmaniks and Kiryat Gatniks, enjoying many relaxing afternoons of watching Jeopardy. This will be his second organized trip to Israel, the first coming back in the summer in 2004 with Ramah Seminar. 
 

Adam Schulgasser (Phoenix, Arizona)
Adam recently graduated from the University of Arizona with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Business Administration. While in Tucson, Adam spent his time working for the Arizona Democratic Coordinated Campaign as well as the Barack Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign. A Birthright Israel alum in the summer of 2007, Adam has been to Israel three times and is looking forward to returning with OTZMA. He loves sports, music, traveling and spending time with family and friends.

 

Alex Robinson (Metro West, NJ) Alex is a recent graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a double major in Political Science and Psychology. As an undergraduate, Alex was an active member of Thurtene Honorary, which plans and organizes the oldest student-run Carnival in the nation, as well as Pi Beta Phi sorority, among other organizations. She has spent the past several summers working at Camp Timber Tops, a sleepaway camp in the Poconos. This will be Alex's first trip to Israel.

 

Alexi Greenberg (Westport, CT)
Alexi is a recent graduate of Colby College with a degree in Economics and Government. While at Colby, she served as manager of the swim team, president of her residence hall and as an admission’s volunteer. During the past three summers, Alexi has interned at several Israeli organizations including Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Policy Forum. She last visited Israel in 2005 with her family and cannot wait to return to experience the country in a much different light. After OTZMA, Alexi hopes to pursue a career in international development.

 

Allison Wolkin (Philadelphia, PA)
Currently residing in the Philadelphia area, Allie is a recent graduate of Penn State University with a major in Advertising and Psychology. For the past year, she has been working for a toy company as an assistant product developer. Her interest include theater, traveling, reading, movies and cooking. Allie's first trip to Israel was this past winter with Birthright and is excited to go back and immerse herself in the language and culture.

 

Andi Feldman (St. Louis, MO)
Andi Feldman recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She majored in Psychology and also received a Jewish Studies certificate. She is looking forward to Otzma to have the opportunity to volunteer full time as well as experience life in Israel.

 

Annie Lascoe (Los Angeles, CA)
Annie Lascoe is a recent graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where she majored in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies and Italian. An active participant in the Jewish community at her school, Annie has also traveled, volunteered, and worked in Israel. Her favorite hike is Har Tzfachot in Eilat, which overlooks the Red Sea and provides views of Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Annie can't wait to spend the next year in Israel! She looks forward to working with feminist organizations and becoming scuba certified.

 

Ari Dropkin (Milwaukee, WI)
Ari is 23 years old, and looking forward to spending a fantastic year in Israel on OTZMA, helping others and developing new skills. Ari is happiest when spending time with close friends and family, reading print and online media, or playing outdoors. Some of the things that are most important to him in his life are learning, adventure, and meeting new people. Ari graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison two years ago, and has worked in both state government and at a ballroom dancing studio since then. He is excited to explore his passions this year through OTZMA and bring back what he learns to my local community.

 

Ariel Bigio (Washington, DC)
Ariel just graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in American Studies and Criminology and Criminal Justice. After having recently interned with a prosecutor from the State's Attorney's Office, she is looking forward to learning about the criminal justice system in Israel. Ariel loves to travel and have been to Israel before with her high school on the Alexander Muss program. She would love to learn how to cook while in Israel as unfortunately, most of her college meals involved instant noodles.

Benjamin Pasinkoff (New York, NY)
Ben is 23 years old and graduated from Indiana University in May of 2008 majoring in Political Science with minors in French and History. Ben enjoys hanging around with friends, music, college sports, and especially baseball. Ben has been to Israel once before but when he was only a year old, so he is especially excited to go again with Otzma at an age where he can remember.

 

 

Brett Lusky (Austin, TX)
Brett recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in American Studies and a minor in Business Administration. Over the course of the four years, Brett was actively involved with Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, as well as the spirit group, Silver Spurs. He am originally from Midland, Texas where his family was a member of Temple Beth El, and in high school he was actively involved with NFTY. He has also gone to Greene Family Camp, a URJ camp in Bruceville, TX for the past 16 years where he was first a camper and then a staff member for 5 years. He has previously been to Israel once on a Birthright trip in January of 2008.

 

Derek Cling (Montreal, Canada)
Derek Cling is a recent B.A. graduate with a major in Psychology from Mcgill University in Montreal, Canada. He grew up in Montreal and lived there his whole life. Taking a year off until he continues his postgraduate studies, Derek wanted an experience where he would be able to use his skills he has learned over the years doing field work and studying in the field of Psychology. Moreover, he wanted this experience to be in Israel, with which he and his family have a very strong bond of Zionism. Recently becoming more observant and regaining his Jewish pride, Derek is very excited and feels blessed to partake in the multi-dimensional program of Otzma, and is anxious to meet everyone participating on this adventure with him. 

 

Emily Schwartz (Detroit, MI)
Emily is a recent graduate of The George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs, where she majored in Middle Eastern Studies and Judaic Studies. Emily was active in GW Hillel, taught Hebrew school, and interned for the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism (RAC). Emily spent her summers as a song leader and counselor at OSRUI in Wisconsin and Greene Family Camp in Texas. She has been to Israel twice before and can’t wait to go back!

 

Gabrielle Steiger (Philadelphia, PA)
Gabrielle recently graduated from Penn State University with a major in International Politics, concentrating in the Middle East. She has always been interested in the Middle East since she began her education in day school. Immediately after graduating from college, Gabrielle got on a plane for her first organized trip to Israel on Livnot. She is very excited to go back and become a part of the culture and everyday life.

 

Hallie Friedis (Washington, DC)
Hallie is a December 2008 graduate from Indiana University in Bloomington with a Bachelors degree in Social and Behavioral Science. She loves traveling and spent six months living and studying in Barcelona, Spain in 2007. Hallie enjoys cooking, music, and learning new languages. Hallie came to Israel this summer with Birthright and has since been traveling the country and exploring all that Israel has to offer. She began studying Hebrew her last semester at IU and is very excited about furthering her studies this year with OTZMA.

 

Jacob Valentine (Baton Rouge, LA)
Jacob is a December 2008 graduate from Louisiana State University with a degree in the Biological Sciences and a minor in Business Administration. He participated in Hillel at LSU and was in the marching band called the Golden Band from Tigerland. Since graduating from college, Jacob traveled to Cambodia and volunteered teaching English for 3 months. He went to Israel on Birthright during summer of 2003 and had an awesome time. Jacob is excited to go back to Israel to participate on Otzma and experience Israel for 10 months.

 

Jennifer Chemel (Los Angeles, CA)
Jennifer is a recent graduate from CSU Los Angeles with a BA in economics and minors in math and political science. Jennifer entered at CSULA through their Early Entrance Program and was active on campus, serving as Associated Students, Inc. (student government) President and Pre-Law Society President. In December 2008, Jennifer went on a Birthright trip to Israel and fell in love with the country and Judaism, and upon returning from her 10-day stint in Israel, she started taking a Hebrew class at American Jewish University and studying through a fellowship with the Israeli Consulate and Birthright NEXT.

 

Jeremy Ragent (San Francisco, CA)
Jeremy grew up in San Mateo, California and recently received his bachelor’s degree in History from UCLA. At UCLA, he helped found a new fraternity on campus called Theta Xi, co-lead Hillel’s alternative spring break service trip to Yosemite, and was heavily involved in many musical performing ensembles. Jeremy spends his summers working at his local JCC in various capacities, most recently designing recreation programs for young campers. He has been to Israel on a Birthright trip during the summer of 2007, and has been searching fruitlessly for decent hummus ever since.

 

Jonathan Michael (San Francisco, CA)
Yoni is a recent graduate from the University of California Santa Barbara majoring in Computer Science. He is originally from Foster City, California and has been very active in Jewish organizations such as BBYO and AEPi throughout his high school and college careers. He has been working for a defense contractor as a programmer since he graduated. He enjoys sports, computers, and socializing. He has been to Israel to visit many times but is looking forward to living there for an extended period.

 

Joseph Kluger (San Antonio, TX)
Joseph graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with his Bachelors of Arts in communication with an emphasis in public relations, where he was the president of Hillel for two semesters. After graduating, he spend seven months working aboard a cruise ship entertaining passengers from all over the world. After moving back to San Antonio, he found a career certifying teachers in Texas for a year and a half. He has visited Israel on Birthright and cannot wait to be back with OTZMA.

 

Lindsey Rothschild (Metro West, NJ)
Lindsey is a recent graduate of Northwestern University, originally from New Jersey, who majored in Social Policy. Her past work experience has mainly been in non profit organizations dealing with urban education. In college she participated in asb trips to Latin America through Hillel. She loves traveling, cooking, working with children and yoga!

 

Matt Cohen (Boston, MA)
Matt graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication with a degree in Film & Television. Matt worked for 3 years as a sports producer at WHDH-TV, Boston’s NBC affiliate station, covering events such as the World Series and NBA Finals. Matt has been to Israel three times before and is excited to experience living like an Israeli and not a tourist. He attended Solomon Schechter Day School and spent his summers at Camp Young Judaea in Amherst, NH.

 

Max Samis (St. Louis, MO)
Max is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri, where he received his degree in Secondary Education. While in Columbia, Max was highly involved in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, was named one of the 16 most outstanding seniors in the Greek community, and served as a student ambassador in the College of Education. During high school, Max was very active in the B’nai Brith Youth Organization (BBYO), and he has spent many summers at Camp Sabra, a Jewish camp based out of St. Louis. This is Max’s second trip to Israel, having gone on Birthright in 2005. Following his participation in OTZMA 24, Max plans to continue his education at the University of Michigan.

 

Meira Gottlieb (Metro West, NJ)
Meira Gottlieb was born and raised in New Jersey. She received a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree, concentrating in photography and digital art, from Alfred University. She had the exciting opportunity to study abroad in Australia where she discovered her love of traveling to new countries. For the past few years she has been living and working in New York City as a web developer. She has also conducted photography workshops for high school students in New York City. This summer she volunteered at a Jewish Family Camp in Ukraine. She is very excited for the opportunity that the program OTZMA provides and to become fully immersed in Israel.

 

Michael Karp (Washington, DC)
Michael recently graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina with a degree in Sports Management and Political Science. He loves music, movies, and sports, and having a good time in general. This will be his first time going to Israel and he is very excited to immerse himself into Israeli culture and take part in OTZMA.

 

 

Oliver Pomerantz (Metro West, NJ)
Oliver graduated from Glen Ridge High School and recently finished his freshman year at Syracuse University. He is a tennis player and clarinetist; having been the captain of his high school team and a major contributor to the band. This is Oliver’s 3rd trip to Israel. The first, in December of 2006, was a group visit with his family, synagogue friends and rabbi. The second was during the summer of 2008, when he and his brother participated in a two-month Marva program, training and living with the IDF. Oliver is excited to join this year’s Otzma group – and looks forward to the challenge of keeping up with this group of college grads and getting involved with the communities in which he lives and volunteers this year.

 

Rachel Kesner (Chicago, IL)
Rachel just graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English. During those four years she volunteered at the Bloomington Animal Shelter and various places around town. She has been to Israel four times. In the summers of 2007 and 2008 she participated in Kefiada, an English speaking camp in Kiryat Gat.

 

 

Rachel Silton (Charlotte, NC)
Hailing from Charlotte, NC, Rachel Silton graduated from Vassar College with a degree in Jewish Studies and Anthropology. Rachel built a strong connection to the Jewish Community during her college years through her leadership in the Vassar Jewish Union and her job as a Madricha at the local Hebrew School. With a passion for the Hebrew language and Jewish history, Rachel is thrilled to return to Israel once again.

 

Robyn Steiner (Columbus, OH)
Robyn is a recent graduate from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with degree in Anthropology, and a minor in Jewish Studies. Robyn spent last summer volunteering with American Jewish World Service Volunteer Summer in Tamil Nadu, India working to help children. While in college she was an active member of Hillel serving as President and Culture and Education Coordinator. Robyn has worked at JCC camps for the past eight years, this year as the supervisor of the kindergarten unit. After participating in Otzma, Robyn plans to pursue a graduate degree in Public Health and serve in the Peace Corps.

 

Sam Gavzy (Chicago, IL)
Sam recently graduated from the University of Chicago with a dual degree in History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine (HiPSS) and Biology. Originally from Hillsdale, New Jersey, but a Midwesterner at heart, Sam moved out to Chicago for college. Sam was an avid member of the campus a capella community as a vocalist in Chicago Rhythm and Jews and has also worked at the university medical center as a clinical researcher in gastroenterology. Sam has spent time traveling to France, Germany, Italy, and Jordan. He has been to Israel twice with his family and ever since his last visit in 2007, has been dreaming of coming back as a non-tourist.

 

Scott Charles (New York, NY)
Scott Charles was born in Long Island, NY. I attended Indiana University and am currently taking a year off from school. I am a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. I went to Israel for the first time in December 08 and loved it. I have been an active member in my local Jewish community as well as Hillel at Indiana. I am an avid sports fan and looking forward to spending the next 10 months in Israel.

 

 

Shaina Ward (Los Angeles, CA)
Shaina graduated from UCLA in 2006 with a degree in anthropology with a focus on Africa whenever possible. It was during college that she first got involved in the Jewish community, including her first and only trip to Israel with Birthright. After some post graduation backpacking, she returned to her native Los Angeles, and began working in the Jewish community with the Israel Film Festival and then at a synagogue. Shaina is excited to move to Philadelphia after Otzma to pursue a Master of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Shalva Geffen (Chicago, IL)
Shalva attended DePaul University in Chicago for both her Undergraduate and Graduate coursework in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. She was active in her University's Hillel, Activities Board, Panhellenic Council, Woman's Choir, and the Delta Zeta Sorority. While in Chicago she has volunteered with numerous agencies, her favorites being the Glass Slipper Project and leading a Brownie Girl Scout Troop. Shalva is originally from St. Louis Park, MN.

 

Sherill Goldberg (Detroit, MI)
Sherill Goldberg just graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelors degree in Communicative Sciences and disorders. She has spent 13 years of my life involved in Young Judaea. For the past two summers she has been a staff member on Young Judaea Israel summer programs. She is very excited for the coming year!

 

Stephanie Lauten (Pittsburgh, PA)
Stephanie is a 2007 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in History and Jewish Studies, and a concentration in Holocaust Studies. She has a passion for learning new languages, minoring in Italian and taking several semesters of Hebrew. Stephanie’s love of travel and learning about new cultures has led her to Australia, Thailand, Fiji, Italy, and Israel (Birthright 2007). She is extremely excited to experience Israel again and give back to its community. Upon returning to the United States, Stephanie plans to actively pursue graduate school as part of her journey towards becoming a collegiate professor of Holocaust Studies.

 

Tali Sachs, (Atlanta, GA)
Tali graduated from Clark University in Worcester, MA with a degree in English and a specialization in Mythopoetics in May 2009. During her time at Clark she was very involved in Hillel and served as a member and co-chair of Clark Hillel’s Israel Committee. She was also very involved in the Difficult Dialogues program and worked to promote peaceful dialogue and relationships between people of different races and ethnicities in North America. Most recently, she helped to create a specific dialogue group focused around the Israeli and Arab Conflict. She also loves to write, sing, DJ, and ballroom dance. Tali has been to Israel once before with Ramah Israel Seminar and is very excited to be going back as an OTZMA participant for a year of Tikkun Olam.

 

Yael Cushman (San Francisco, CA)
Yael is a recent graduate from University of Oregon with a degree in Art History and a minor in Religious Studies. During college, Yael participated in the ArtsBridge program where she taught art to 3rd graders in the Eugene public schools as well as being active in the UO Dance Program. Yael also worked as a camp counselor at the JCC in San Francisco for the last three years. She has been to Israel twice, once to visit her brother at Hebrew University and the second with the first graduating class of the Jewish Community High School in San Francisco.