Jewish Community Relations Council Student to Student Program

Student to Student is a peer-to-peer bigotry-reduction program for teens. Participants, Jewish high school juniors and seniors, give presentations to groups all around the DMV area in which they talk about their lives as Jewish teens --a powerful antidote to stereotyping and antisemitism. The target audience for this program is high schoolers, but presentations can also be tailored for older middle schoolers.

Topics at presentations include the Jewish life cycle, dietary laws, the Sabbath and holidays, Israel, antisemitism, and the Holocaust. Many participants know what happened to their families during the Holocaust and share their experiences. STS can present in other formats as well, depending on a group’s specific needs.

Students receive training by the JCRC in order to effectively present the program. Each presenting group includes a member of the Conservative, Orthodox, and Reform denominations. Students enthusiastically receive these peer-presented programs. The question and answer component of each presentation is especially lively and an integral part of the Student to Student program.

Presentations include slides and engaging props, e.g., a shofar (the ram's horn blown on Rosh Hashana), a prayer shawl, yarmulkes, kosher food, challah (the Sabbath bread) and contemporary books translated into Hebrew, e.g. Harry Potter. Students who have attended Student to Student presentations gain so much from the experience.

Student to Student is such a powerful program, which would beautifully complement any number of curricular priorities, including world history, American history, study of migration patterns, religious studies, cultural literacy, certain English readings, and much more.