Midreshet Shalhevet High School goes to advocacy summit in Washington

Midreshet Shalhevet High School juniors Simmy Shafiro and Staci Steinfeld attended the American Israel Public Affairs Committee High School Summit in Washington, D.C. during the first week of November.

AIPAC partners with select Jewish day schools and other organizations to bring hundreds of high school student leaders from across the country to the nation’s capital every year.

The Schusterman Advocacy Institute High School Summit educates students on the U.S.-Israel relationship to develop Israel advocacy skills and offers to help them become effective pro-Israel political activists. On the final day of the conference, participants are given the opportunity to turn the training into action by lobbying their members of Congress on Capitol Hill.

At the conference, learned about the important role Israel serves to many countries, especially the United States. Many college activists and AIPAC volunteers and staff spoke about Israel’s relations to other foreign countries, and how these relations impact the Jewish state.

On the summit’s final day, we headed to the Capitol and met with people on Congresswoman Kathleen Rice’s staff. She represents the 4th Congressional District that includes the Five Towns and North Woodmere, the community that is home to MSH.

Kate Chiucchini, Rice’s legislative counsel, said she was very impressed in the manner that MSH has educated its students in political matters, and how involved the students are in advocating for causes that will greatly impact our nation’s future.

Both Shafiro and Steinfeld believe that they have greatly benefited from the high school summit and excited to bring what they learned back to their peers at MSH.