Cohort 1 Workshops 11+12: Alumni Impact Projects

 During our past two meetings, Diller met in the beautiful preschool, Moadon Kol Hadash, to plan for our Alumni Impact projects and our upcoming overnight.

The first time we arrived in the beautiful space, we were greeted by our mentors, the group of adults that will lead and guide us as we go through the process of changing our communities in small or large ways.  We learned all about what made each of these adults so special, so willing to make all of our projects a success. To push ourselves to start thinking in a design process-mindset, we all took turns creating the perfect wallet for a partner, a product that would fit their individual needs and improve their lifestyle. Although it might have seemed like a pointless activity, nothing in Diller is ever this way and we used this model to think about our projects. We transitioned to teaching our mentors what parts of our Impact projects we had previously worked on with our smaller groups. Each group is trying to combat a unique problem we identified, anything from special needs, to voting inequality, to the lack of confidence in young girls, and much more. The mentors and groups worked together to build a plan of action for change. Some groups brainstormed ideas for their final project, while others decided whom to contact in various communities to communicate about putting the plans in action, whether they were teachers, other students, or others knowledgeable about the issues.

After the mentors left, we finished our plans for our self-management overnight. Different groups brainstormed ideas for programs about hunger. Different groups planned educational programs, programs about awareness, and a special social service program. We finished up the final details and then finished up our meeting for the day.

During the next meeting we had the wonderful opportunity to meet the new Diller Cohort at one of their first meetings. After a short introduction we taught them the “whoosh” we all love and had the chance to talk and get to know some of them. For some of us who knew members of Cohort 2, it was a chance for a warm welcome. Again, we worked on our Alumni Impact projects with our mentors as they stopped by. All the groups kept on working on our projects, thinking of who we could contact and what these ideas for change would develop into.

A delicious pizza dinner followed the project planning session. Between moments of pizza, we had time to relax, talk about our time outside of Diller, and have unstructured time as a cohort.

Finally, as we gathered back up, we all told stories about our past year. As a group, we made the final decisions about our plans during the overnight. We talked about what we wanted our trip to Israel to look like and our expectations for the rest of Diller.

During the past two meetings, a lot of progress was made with our Impact projects. Not only did we progress in our work as a group, but we also made just as many memories in the small moments as a group. Although we don’t have an infinite number of meetings left, with the connections we have, the memories we make will be sure to last much longer than the time tries to constrain us to.

By: Emily Bakal

Cohort 2 Workshop 2

Anonymous conversations

After making our way downtown, driving fast, beating traffic, and missing the actual place twice, all were gathered at Moadon Kol Chadash in Chicago to begin our second workshop. We learned more about each other through a literal icebreaker and hopefully by the next workshop we’ll know everyone’s names (and possibly their social security numbers). The literal icebreaker had us stopped cold in our tracks, holding ice and talking about ourselves with the hope of melting it faster for the chocolate prize in the middle. Congrats to Henry for winning that one!

Next up was a blind discussion with one other member of the cohort. We were blind-folded and placed back to back with on of our fellows and we had deep discussions about our hopes, dreams, and our role models. The point of it was to have a discussion we might not normally have had if we were facing each other. Personally, I found it easier to open up knowing the person behind me wouldn’t be able to see my face and my own reactions to what I was saying. I’m sure that we learned a lot from each other and that we’re likely to know more by the end of the 15 months.The third activity put us into groups of about 5 or 6, discussing friendship as it relates to the Torah, Talmud, and other Jewish texts. We discussed how we felt about the passages, which was most like our friendships, and which passage we would consider our cohorts in Diller to be. I’ll be honest and say I don’t know that much about either the Torah or Talmud, but that in the future I hope to learn more from those in the cohort who do.

The challenge: Make a perfect square out of a rope... while blindfolded.

Activity four used a concept known as six word memoirs, used by famous author Ernest Hemingway. The stories were supposed to sum up our experiences with Judaism in our lifetimes. My story is “We did, we moved, we stopped”. Many were funny, some were more serious, but we all gained a better sense of each other’s Jewish experiences.

By this time it seemed a snack break was in order and everyone started stuffing themselves with apples, carrots, and a medley of carbohydrates. We had a pleasant surprise when Cohort 1 appeared. Soon, we were all mixed together, chatting away, and it was hard to pinpoint who was in which cohort. Cohort 1 also introduced us to “Whooshing”, where we send people to middle and send our positive energy to them, a sort of thanks. For our test run, the guinea pigs were our JCs, Amanda and Robby, who put together all the amazing programs we did that day. Lets just say that I’m optimistic the next one will be better.

Skilled members of the Cohort 2 Acting Ensemble reenacting the sacrifice of Isaac

Wow this day was packed, but theres still more! The next two activities put us back in blindfolds, both activities in communication. The first of the two involved us trying to make a perfect square with a length of rope. One corner was formed, but then it turned into an oval-shaped monstrosity. In the second one, Jessica told us what to do with a sheet of paper, but we weren’t allowed to ask questions about anything. When we were done, we found that everyone’s paper was different, teaching us that while we might all receive the same instructions, we will interpret them differently.

And last, but not least, we organized our times for 1-on-1 interviews with Jessica, split off into our different carpools, and left feeling, no doubt, excited for the next time we get to see each other.

By: Jared Vergotine