Creating Change:

Arly MackRosen is about to continue a legacy—through food.

A Junior from Marblehead, MackRosen’s earliest memories include helping in the kitchen. She has a passion for the traditions and community surrounding the preparation of food, and, as one of three 2018 Derek Sheckman Teen Leadership Award recipients, she is going to help others build the same kind of strong community in which she was raised.

“For as long as I can remember I have been an active member of my temple community,” MackRosen explains. “I have literally grown up in the temple kitchen, preparing holiday foods and meals alongside my dad, Danny Rosen.”

MackRosen explains that her Derek Sheckman project is about giving back, fighting food scarcity and building community by creating a series of parent/child cooking events.

“I hope to foster the sense of belonging and tradition that I have gained by serving my community through the temple kitchen,” she says. “I’ll lead a cooperative group in creating traditional Jewish foods to be used for the temple, delivered to temple members in need, and to be shared with Jewish people in our community, such as elderly Jewish adults in assisted living facilities.”

“I would love to use my knowledge and enthusiasm for building Jewish community through food with younger kids,” MackRosen continues. “When I leave for college, I will know there is another generation of kids who will be ready to jump in.”

MackRosen’s project is part of her Derek Sheckman Teen Leadership Award, overseen by Jewish Teen Initiative (JTI), formerly North Shore Teen Initiative (NSTI), based in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

The Sheckman award recognizes outstanding teens in the Jewish community and challenges them to make the world a better place through a service project. It’s named in memory of Derek Sheckman, who won the North Shore Jewish community’s first teen leadership award in 1996, shortly before passing away of cancer.

The 2018 Sheckman Awards were announced at JTI’s yearly service learning event, J-Serve/North Shore Mitzvah Day on April 22. Over 200 North Shore community members, including State Representatives Lori Ehrlich and Paul Tucker, were present to applaud and work alongside this year’s recipients: Haley Lakind, a Junior from Swampscott, Kevin MacDonald, a Senior from Beverly, and Arly MackRosen, a Junior from Marblehead.

“Derek always believed that kids can make a difference, it’s who he was,” said his mother Sandy Sheckman of Swampscott. “These teens are awe-inspiring.”

Beverly High School Senior, Kevin MacDonald, wants to talk trash. And not just talk but help his community do something about it.

As another recipient of the 2018 Derek Sheckman Teen Leadership Award, Kevin will have the resources to launch his Beverly Bring Your Own Bag Project. His goal is to help ease his community’s transition away from the environmentally-harmful single-use plastic bags that will soon be unavailable in local grocery stores and restaurants.

“With my project seed money, I’ll create posters, stickers, and reusable bags that businesses would be able to display to show that they are plastic-bag free,” MacDonald explains. “I’ll also make reusable bags out of donated fabric and t-shirts and give them free to citizens to prepare them for the upcoming change.”

Haley Lakind, received her Derek Sheckman Award for her project called ITS: Inclusion Through Service.

Lakind, a Junior from Swampscott, plans to include special needs students in local service activities that meet a community need and provide real-life applications. Other students will assist special needs students as they work on projects that have personal significance to them.

“The goal” says Lakind, “is for participants to experience the excitement of helping others while gaining self-confidence, increasing motivation, and helping them realize they each have something to give and can make a difference.”

Lakind has years of community service under her belt including helping to rebuild in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and building water stations and schools in Nicaragua. She participates in “I Am That Girl” weekly discussions about women’s rights, and is a member of The Innovators Club, an inclusion program at Swampscott High School for students with special needs and other disabilities.

“Given my work with the Innovators Club and the value of community service, I have decided to combine the two,” Lakind explains about her ITS project. “My job will be to compile a list of community-wide volunteer and service opportunities for these students to choose from, based on what they are passionate about.”

The 2017-18 Derek Sheckman projects were just as diverse, working on projects that addressed Muslim-Jewish relations, LGBTQ inclusion, and teaching tolerance in schools.

Emma Mair, one of three 2017 Sheckman Award recipients, has been working on creating a program to foster Jewish-Muslim relations in the community.

“Although discrimination has occurred for centuries, in the wake of the 2016 election both Jews and Muslims find themselves facing even more bigotry,” said Mair, who is Jewish and lives in Middleton. “Our two marginalized communities must come together to support one another and this is what I hope to achieve.”

Mair, 17, is launching a multi-week course this fall for adolescents and adults to

facilitate healthy dialogue between Jews and Muslims on the North Shore, each lesson led by one Jewish and one Muslim community leader. The course follows a curriculum written by the Union for Reform Judaism and the Islamic Society of North America called "Children of Abraham: Jews and Muslims in Conversation.”

The other two 2017 award-winners are Sophia Smith and Averi Kaplowitch, both of Marblehead. Smith is partnering with nAGLY (North Shore Alliance of GLBTQ Youth) to build positive connections between the LGBTQ community and religious organizations to end discrimination.

“My goal is to teach young people on the North Shore that the two communities [Jewish and LGBTQ) do not have to counter each other, and that you can be religiously observant and an ally to the LGBTQ people,” said Smith.

Averi Kaplowitch worked to promote acceptance. Using her award idea as her senior project, she worked with a club at her school called Team Harmony to create a training program for middle schoolers to understand prejudice and discrimination.

“My vision is that Team Harmony students will train the middle school students to become more effective in dealing with issues of tolerance and diversity,” said Kaplowitch. “If middle school students are better equipped with the tools they need to speak up and stand up for others who may not be able to, perhaps more students will be willing to take action and the number of incidents of hate will decrease.”

The Sheckman Award -- and the student projects - are overseen by Jewish Teen Initiative, a nonprofit that connects and engages Jewish teens on the North Shore and in MetroWest. Award-winners are nominated by community members and receive up to $1,000 in seed money for their projects.

"I am always impressed and inspired by the Derek Sheckman award-winners,” said JTI Director Adam Smith. “Each year the incredible teen leaders bring their own creativity, vision and commitment to making a difference in our community. In these last two years, in particular, the selected teens have chosen topics of inclusion, cooperation and communication at a time when it seems our society needs reminders of how those values can make an important difference in our world.”

Past Sheckman award-winners have led projects such as organizing a local Habitat for Humanity service project, creating and launching an anti-bullying program called The Friendship Club, expanding an Anti-Defamation League program in local schools, designing a series of visits and interactive activities at assisted living facilities and tutoring at local schools.

“We’re so thankful to Peter and Sandy Sheckman for continuing to support this award and honoring their son’s memory.” said JTI Program Director Gabe Miner. “It’s bringing amazing projects to life and empowering a lot of teens.”

To learn more, visit https://jewishteeninitiative.org/

Photos:

1) Arly MackRosen, a Junior from Marblehead and Derek Sheckman Teen Leadership Award-winner, working in the kitchen at Temple Emanuel, Marblehead, MA

2) Kevin MacDonald, a Senior from Beverly, with plastic bag mobile for his Derek Sheckman Teen Leadership Award-winning Beverly Bring Your Own Bag Project.

3) All three 2018 Derek Sheckman Teen Leadership Award-winners at their project planning meeting with Jewish Teen Initiative.