Notes on Engagement
Written By Paige Simunek, Assistant Director of the Brody Jewish Center

At the Brody Jewish Center, relationship-based engagement is a top priority. Relationship engagement is the act of reaching people, getting to know them, and connecting them to something greater than themselves based on their interests, needs, ambitions and passions. In the process of getting to know our students and listening to their needs, we knew that we could do more to empower our student leaders. The first step: reimagining our student leadership structure. This was a big shift for us. Instead of being president of an organization like Jewish Education Initiative, our student leaders shifted into internship roles. Rather than exclusively planning programs, our student leaders were all given an engagement budget and told to engage their peers. We encouraged  them to ask their peers what programs they would love to see, be part of, or help create. Engagement is at the heart of our work and now it is part of our students' work as well. 
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Breadth measures what percent of our  Jewish undergraduate population (1,000 estimated Jewish students) the Brody Jewish Center was able to engage at least once in Jewish life.

Depth measures the percentage of students the Brody Jewish Center was able to engage either six or more times throughout the year, or through high-impact experiences like trips, ongoing learning, or conferences.

At our leadership retreat, we had our students participate in what author Daniel Pink calls a “FedEx Day.” Our student leaders were given a prompt: plan a large program for at least 200-300 people, it has to be a new program, and we want it to address students’ needs. We gave our student leaders 12 hours to plan with each other, fill out our program form, and present their ideas to the Jewish Leadership Advisory Board, staff, and all of the other student interns. Our student leaders came up with several ideas ranging from Passover on the Lawn, Eight Crazy Lights Chanukah program during UVa’s Lighting of the Lawn, a Grounds-wide engagement game, a Hoo Mitzvah, and more.  A common thread in all of these programs: feeling connected to the larger Jewish community at UVa and being “seen” by the wider-UVa community. Our Jewish community comprises approximately 6% of the undergraduate student population at UVa. Being “seen” by the wider-UVa community this year meant bringing together over 150 students, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to share Shabbat services and dinner on the South Lawn. Being “seen” by the wider-UVa community this year meant bringing together over 200 students for a Chanukah party during UVa’s traditional Lighting of the Lawn. Our students were able to bring their programs to life and with that, bring their community together and feel seen. During 8 Crazy Lights, I heard many students say to their non-Jewish friends, “I am so excited that you are trying your first Latke!” There was a sense of pride as students wore their Chaunkah sweaters, wore dreidel headbands, and put on a dreidel costume in a space that was created specifically for them. 

Transitioning to online programming for the second semester was not simple, but like everything else we do, engagement came first. Staff reached out to students to ask how they were doing, continued learning cohorts such as Jewish Learning Fellowship, Israel Learning Fellowship and a Leadership Development Fellowship virtually, and reimagined our annual Afikoman scavenger hunt and created a HooGadah for Passover. Addressing the needs of our students is the backbone of our work. This is done by reimagining our leadership structure, by empowering our students to engage their peers, and by creating programming that is meaningful, relevant and provides our students with a chance to explore their Jewish identity. ​

This chart provides a monthly breakdown of the number of students we were able to engage during the 2019-2020 school year. It's worth noting that the only month showing a downward trend in engagement was September 2019, as this was a busy month in 2018 due to High Holiday programming.