Lessons I took from the Hill
Growing up, I always had a strong tie to the Jewish community around me. From my bar mitzvah to my Jewish confirmation, I knew that being Jewish was a piece of me that I would never change or give up no matter the circumstances.
Entering college in 2018, I knew that my connection to my Jewish faith needed to be established quickly on campus so that I did not lose that part of myself, knowing that football and classes were going to take up a good portion of my time on the Hill.
A few weeks into the semester, I stumbled upon a flyer for a Rosh Hashanah celebration, hosted by the Jewish Student Union (JSU) and my predecessor as president, Gayle Edelstein ’21. Soon, Gayle and I began the journey to revitalize the organization.
Once we knew there was a Jewish population on campus, we wanted to grow the group and its visibility through community events. A driving factor was wanting to involve everyone — Jewish or not — to support and learn about the Jewish culture that we proudly identify with.
This project was so important to us because we began to realize that it was not just about our own needs but also being the spokespeople for Jewish people at McDaniel. We were the ones to spread the idea of Judaism and what it means to be Jewish to our non-Jewish classmates, teammates, faculty, and staff. In doing this, we brought a community together and began to build the foundation of the current JSU.
Our collective efforts turned a group with just a few active members who primarily gathered during high holidays into an organization that was known campus-wide with more than 20 consistently active members hosting regular programming. We even created the JSU affinity house — where I and four other members of JSU lived throughout the school year — which gave us an opportunity to host larger events.
With this foundation in place, we embarked on new partnerships with college resources and local organizations, celebrating Jewish holidays by hosting educational meals and sharing traditions for all students to participate, regardless of their faith. The JSU became a place to engage in a Jewish curriculum that was designed to give McDaniel students an experience they most likely never had before — from a meaningful Holocaust survivor meeting to a delightful Passover dinner provided by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore.
What makes me happiest is knowing that JSU’s current president, senior Ricki Lebowitz, and the rest of JSU’s faithful members, are working to maintain the progress we made for Jewish people at McDaniel. We did not just reinvent an organization; we created a place where people could stop by on a Friday night for s’mores by a bonfire, find belonging, and learn and talk about what it means to be Jewish.
Andrew Witten ’22 graduated with a B.A. in Business Administration and a minor in Sports Management. At McDaniel, he was a member of the Green Terror football team, a Student Ambassador, and president of the Jewish Student Union. Since graduation, he has begun a career in the sports and entertainment world as an event manager for Contemporary Services Corporation in the Maryland and Washington, D.C., area.