Candidates for TAC Secretary
- Lea Michelle Bekhar
- Tehilla Brander
- Atara Clark
L e a M i c h e l l e B e k h a r
Coming to Stern from Panama without knowing anyone was terrifying, and I was scared I wouldn’t make new friends. Instead of letting my fears hinder me I became involved and pursued my passions.
At Stern I am involved in the Latin American Club, Mechina, and So You Think Stern Can Dance. I joined the Latin American club to raise awareness of the diversity in Stern and share some “spice” of our cultures. This year I became the vice president, and strengthened my leadership experience.
After my first Mechina shabbaton, I knew I wanted to be more than just a member. Teaching is one of my passions; Mechina let me experience it before I got my degree! Being on board provides me the opportunity to share what I learn with people from different backgrounds, and that’s what makes Mechina beautiful.
I learned to dance before I could walk; it is my life. When I heard there was a chance for me to step on a stage again, I ran to try out for SYTSCD. Last year I performed, and this year I challenged myself by becoming a choreographer.
Next year I plan to be part of these three clubs and NCSY.
SCW: Describe one goal you want to accomplish for the student body and tell us how you would accomplish that goal.
I really feel that Stern is one of the only places where one has more than four events in one night. I personally think that most of these events are interesting, but sometimes I just don’t hear anything about them! How is that even possible? Well that is exactly what I want to accomplish next year: improving the advertising of events. I am not the only one who finds it irritating to have her email inbox full in less than an hour, or to read a title that grabs your attention which ends up not being true (ok sometimes they are funny). But really… Since we have so many things going on I think there should be another alternative for advertising our events on campus in order for students to not miss out because they did not check their email. I am sure you have heard the famous saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”, which I don’t personally think is true because a picture can be misunderstood. A video however, can have both; words and pictures! As a way of advertising an event I would find it effective if the heads of the club created a short video with a glimpse of what the event will be, just to give us an idea. The video should include the same information a flyer would have: the date, location, time, transportation (if needed) etc. If this is an event that has been done before such as the chagigas, concerts, or yom hatzmaut, the videos could include pictures or shorts of the previous years’ event to show the success and bring excitement to the table. Have you ever wondered why the school doesn’t take much advantage of those televisions at the entrance of Syms or between the elevators of the first floor in Stern? The short videos would be played repeatedly at those televisions and in both cafeterias. The video-events that would be shown would only be the ones of that week. There will still be flyers around and it won’t be an obligatory thing to do for the club , just an idea and another outcome to promote events and enhance our student’s experience.
Something like this:
SCW: You have planned a huge event, but you wake up the morning of the event with a migraine. How do you ensure a quality event even though you cannot personally attend?
The first thing I would do would be to contact my board to let them know the unfortunate “news” and delegate the responsibilities I had for the event. Then I would ask them if there would be any way I could help them from my room: maybe making sure the food got there, a place I could call to solve an issue (hypothetically speaking), while they are occupied decorating the room of the event.
SCW: One of your clubs has two club heads. You know that one is doing all of the work and "doesn't mind," but the club really needs both heads to be on their "A-game" in order to succeed. How do you proceed?
I will first ask the club head who is doing all the work why she thinks the other club head is not contributing, and ask if they said something to her, because there might be a bigger reason behind it and the problem could be solved by simply communicating. Quoting Nitin Nohoria “Communication is the real work of leadership." It could get tricky to tell this to someone who has the same position as you, so instead of asking the club head to tell her I would step in. I would talk to the club head that is not doing the work and remind her what the club’s goals are and the importance of her role in it, in the most honest way possible.
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T e h i l l a B r a n d e r
Hey! My name is Tehilla Brander. I was born and raised in Boca Raton Florida. In the summer of 2006, I was relocated to Teaneck, New Jersey just in time to start ninth grade at Bruriah High School. After High School I spent a year in Migdal Oz, growing in Torah learning, improving my Hebrew, and crocheting dinosaur kippas. Currently I am a sophomore attempting to be a Bio major and pretending to be undecided about premed. Since coming to Stern I have been on the boards of T-Cubed (sorry about the bombardment of SSTUDS!), Zmanim club, and the Bio Club. I have also been involved with Beren Unite, Model UN, START, and this semester I am in the Women's Leadership Fellowship. I feel that all my experiences, as well as being an out of towner at heart, spending a year in Israel, and participating in various clubs and activities, have allowed me to meet and get to know many different individuals and appreciate the diversity and richness that can be found here in Stern.SCW: Describe one goal you want to accomplish for the student body and tell us how you would accomplish that goal.
TAC should be about representing the student body and catering to the Stern community's needs specifically as a Jewish University. One of the things I want to accomplish through TAC is to make sure TAC caters to the whole community at Stern. I think there are two main ways of addressing this. First, I believe that if we create opportunities for more students, as well as for a varied group of students, to be involved with TAC we can make sure there will be programming that appeals to the different groups and needs within the student body.
These opportunities can be created through making sure clubs have large boards that are open for any interested student to join. Additionally, I think feedback from the student body is extremely important so that it is the students who are driving TAC decisions. I believe that TAC members should make themselves more available to suggestions, comments and maybe even more importantly criticism from the student body. This can be accomplished by having open forums for students to express what they want and offer suggestions. Additionally, TAC could create an email account where students will be able to write in with ideas suggestions and concern and where they will be responded to.
SCW: You have planned a huge event, but you wake up the morning of the event with a migraine. How do you ensure a quality event even though you cannot personally attend?
Prior to the day of the event I hope to have been able to check off most of my to-do list, so that only last minute errands remain. For example, I would make sure to have all the food ordered and decorations made so that all that needs to be done is to meet the caterer and hang the decorations. Most of these tasks can be easily delegated, and (after taking a couple advil) I would make sure to do so as early as possible. Having larger committees and clubs, as I have suggested above, would allow me to easily hand off these responsibilities to individuals who are already involved and informed of the event's details. I would reshuffle the tasks, taking on other club/committee members' jobs that I may be able to accomplish from bed, while spreading out my tasks so that no one is burdened with what I could not accomplish. If there is a task that I think cannot be reassighned I will concentrate all my energy to do that task. I would rather use up my energy before the event and hear about how great the event went afterwards.
SCW: One of your clubs has two club heads. You know that one is doing all of the work and "doesn't mind," but the club really needs both heads to be on their "A-game" in order to succeed. How do you proceed?
I believe that there are 2 aspects that need to be addressed: making sure the club as a whole is successful, but also being sensitive to the club heads and treat them with respect. Firstly, I would encourage the club heads to utilize their board members. They then can focus their energies on more important issues while reducing the quantity of work required. This will provide a better opportunity for the second club head to be focused on the most important aspects of the club. I would also, at a club meeting, ask the two heads to break down an event into its parts and have them divvy up the work. This will ensure that each club head has specific jobs, so that both are equally working to make an amazing event. Additionally, I would look at the situation to assess whether this is a onetime occurrence or a trend. I understand that people have multiple responsibilities in college and at times may fall behind and are just in the need of a little support. Eventually if this becomes a pattern, I may talk to the club head, gently reminding her of her responsibility and working with her on what she can to do to improve.
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A t a r a C l a r k
Hi all! I’m Atara Clark, and when I was 5 and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up my answer was “a ballerina mommy;” unfortunately I never took dance lessons so I have had to change that answer to be “an archeologist mommy.” This new dream of being an archeologist was a career path that was introduced to me here in Stern only two months into my first semester. During that time there were other things I wanted to be introduced to including the thriving campus and extracurricular life here. At first I was a bit overwhelmed and unsure about how to get involved here, but I figured it out and got involved in numerous clubs under both TAC and SCWSC including the Beit Midrash Committee, Zmanim, Shiur Coordinators, and the Medical Ethics Society. Outside of Stern I am involved in Bnei Akiva and a coach for a middle school girls’ hockey team (however, I will not be continuing those activities next year in order to focus on my involvement in the Stern community). I also enjoy running in the park so if anyone wants a running buddy- call me!
SCW: Describe one goal you want to accomplish for the student body and tell us how you would accomplish that goal.
The opportunities offered here at Stern College because it is a Jewish college create a unique experience that each one of us is privileged to have. The Jewish community on campus is unique in that respect; everyone brings a little bit from their home community to add to the greater Jewish culture of the university.
However, it is sometimes hard to join in the community and its activities when we are all so focused on work during the week. Therefore, I would like to help nurture the weekend school community, something that has potential to add to the greater culture and life here at Stern College. I stay in over the weekend often and I feel like me and my peers’ college experience would be enhanced if the student life during the weekend was enriched.
The predominant way to achieving such a goal would be to have more events between Thursday night and Sunday night. Friday morning, Saturday night, and especially Sunday are prime times for successful events. Students will not be focusing on work that is due the next day because it is the weekend and such events encourage the development of the extracurricular life. Weekend events will hopefully encourage students to stay in school more which will also promote student life over the weekend as more students will be present on campus during that time.
An example of such an event will be a shiur about the halakhot of war and the factors that the IDF has to consider when waging an offensive war. This would be followed by laser tag in Koch Auditorium.
Another way to promote weekend student life would be to develop the Shabbat life. The current method is that every week a club or connected clubs sponsor a Shabbaton. Students involved in the club join and usually guys from uptown come. While I find Shabbat at Stern to be enjoyable, I think that there is what to improve upon. I would propose that either “non-themed/all girls” Shabbatot with just Judaic teachers giving shiurim, or to have more than one club join to sponsor a Shabbaton so that the number of people attending increases to add to the Shabbat atmosphere. Also, round tables at the meals would enhance the social atmosphere of the Shabbat. Shabbat is a critical aspect of Jewish life and I think that it should be reflected in the Jewish community here at Stern College.
As TAC Secretary I would like to work to increase and enrich the Jewish community and culture here at Stern. Any comments or ideas to aid in achieving this goal are more than welcome!
SCW: You have planned a huge event, but you wake up the morning of the event with a migraine. How do you ensure a quality event even though you cannot personally attend?
Truthfully, I would most likely still go to the event. I’d take aspirin and rest in bed ensuring that things were still running smoothly (through people who had been aiding me plan the event) via phone and email. Then I would go to help set up the event and get it started and while it was going on sit on the side to rest while being nearby in case anything went wrong. After helping clean up the event I’d go back to my room and rest. As I mentioned, there would be people aiding me plan the event. I think that I should have people helping me plan any event so that I am not overwhelmed and that in case such a situation came up, the event could still proceed.
SCW: One of your clubs has two club heads. You know that one is doing all of the work and "doesn't mind," but the club really needs both heads to be on their "A-game" in order to succeed. How do you proceed?
I would speak to the two heads together but in a general manner that would not point figures at the head who was not putting in her greatest efforts. I would explain to them the importance that running a club requires them to split up the responsibilities involved. I’d give an example like the one in scenario A to prove the point if one of them was unable to take care of things but the other one was uninvolved in the responsibilities, everything could fall apart if she could not fill in properly for her partner. I’d go through with them the tasks that they needed to be on top of and ask them to email me a chart with the respective tasks that they each would take care of.
