This High Holiday season was one for the history books, both abroad and at home, especially at Christopher Newport University Hillel.

After attending training at the New Professionals Institute last summer, Campus Director Julia Downer got to work with the students putting a new strategic plan in place, focusing on consistency and sustainable growth.

“Sammy [the current Hillel Student President] has done an amazing job engaging the very large freshman incoming class and working to put Hillel into a place where there will be stability and legacy to pass-on. Much of this is just getting organized.” said Campus Director Julia Downer.

All this hard work has paid off; the students have hit the ground running with a very successful High Holiday season. Students kicked off the new year with a Rosh Hashana themed Shabbat on campus and attended High Holiday Services at Rodef Shalom. The real highlight was bringing an outdoor sukkah on campus; no easy feat after campus rules have changed to prevent tenting and encampments. The sukkah, generously donated by Barbara Gordon and Ellen Waranch, was put up on the Gosnald Lawn for an evening of community and reflection. When building the sukkah, students could see Rosh Hashana cards and decor still pinned to the walls, marking it as a place where memories were made for years. The well-loved sukkah has been given a second life as a gathering spot for students for years to come.

Sukkot arrived on campus at the same time as a screening of The Encampments, a documentary about the protests that took place at Columbia University in the spring of 2024. Despite a myriad of feelings, the Hillel students decided to respond positively, with education and reflection.

“Personally, I am so proud of these students for really putting time and thought into this sukkot season by responding to The Encampments documentary with Jewish joy, opening up the outdoor sukkah and indoor sukkah lounge to the campus as a reflection space with a collective art project.” said Julia Downer.

Students at both the outdoor sukkah event on the lawn, and a week-long indoor event turning a student lounge into an indoor sukkah, set up educational posters explaining the holiday, as well as colorful decorative leaves where they reflected on things they were thankful for. For seniors, they said this meant so much to them to see before graduating.

Hillel has bolstered its communications efforts utilizing CNU’s internal RAFT platform as well as focusing on Instagram. Using the platform not as just a way of advertising upcoming events but also highlighting members - most recently with an ‘Instagram takeover’ with Secretary Maeve Korengold who was nominated for the CNU Spirit Award. As well as jumping on trends with Jewish educational opportunities, such as explainers on High Holidays, showcasing Jewish contributions like Jewish Authors for Banned Books Week, or Queer Jews that Made History for LGBTQ+ History Month. These efforts also reaffirm that Jews have historically always contributed in a variety of ways, and work to educate their peers to prevent and fight antisemitism.

For these students there is a lot to brag about in just the first few months of school. We look forward to the second half of the Fall semester to see what amazing things these students will do!