A Jewish Educator

By Kelly Kossar
Binghamton University Alumna

I love my job. It's hard to describe exactly what I do. You could say that I'm a Jewish educator. You could also say that I'm a Mom. Sometimes I am also a teacher, nurse, mentor and friend. I work at the American Hebrew Academy (AHA), America's only Jewish pluralistic college prep boarding school in Greensboro, North Carolina. I am part of a fellowship, one of eleven recent college graduates chosen to live and work at this amazing school. I live in the freshman girls' house, where I am available for the sixteen amazing girls who live there. I help them with their homework, offer advice on how to manage their time, and am there if they need a hug or someone to talk to.

During the day I have a variety of jobs, depending on what is needed. Every other morning I am a student teacher for the comparative religion class on campus, where I learn how to write and implement lesson plans. It is a chance for me to gain real classroom teaching experience. I am also a Jewish life fellow, which means that I work with other staff, fellows and students to create meaningful Jewish experiences for the campus community. Some days you can also find me helping out in the administration building sending out mailings or in meetings planning social, educational, and Jewish programming for my House and the greater AHA community.

It is difficult to define the student population here. The house I work with has girls who identify as Reform, Shomer Shabbat, Orthodox, Liberal, Observant, Conservative, Jewish and more. Not only are we diverse in our Judaism, but we are diverse in our geography. Our students come from as close as Texas, New York, California, New Mexico, and as far away as Thailand, Israel, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Mexico and Germany. Our goal at the Academy is to give young Jews the tools they need to become Jewish leaders after they leave AHA. Working in a community like AHA has solidified my decision to go into a career that works towards building Jewish community, going beyond the everyday Jewish labels we all use to define ourselves.

Originally from Suffern, NY, Kelly Kossar is a recent graduate of Binghamton University's Judaic Studies Program. She currently is a fellow at the American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro, NC and hopes to pursue a career as a Rabbi with a focus on Jewish Education.

[Posted 12/16/09]