At the edge of the UW’s Greek community sits the Foundation for Jewish Life, more commonly known as Hillel. While Hillel has always been a catalyst for a meaningful and engaged Jewish life, the staff has brainstormed new and innovative programs for upcoming quarters.

Lauren Brown, the Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow, is in charge of outreach and engagement at Hillel.

“The goal of what I do is to try and help foster some kind of Jewish identity in students. The trick is that not everyone feels comfortable creating one on their own. My goal is to facilitate that for them,” Brown said.

The new and old programs at Hillel have been developed in response to student suggestions and brainstorming with staff members like Brown.

“Programs [reflect] Hillel’s desire to respond to an inherent need,” she said. “Within the Jewish community, there are so many artists and people who are interested in doing social justice work and community service work that it would be negligent for us not to give students that opportunity.”

Junior Gilad Berenstein, president of the UW chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, an international Jewish fraternity, attends different events at Hillel at least once a week.

“It’s a unique experience you can’t get anywhere else on the UW campus,” he said.

Being responsible for the undergraduate outreach, Brown was in charge of developing the new programs for the winter and spring quarters at the UW.

Upcoming events include open mic nights, led by a spoken word performer, yoga and self-defense classes, a ski trip and several events associated with Jewish Arts Month in February. Concerts, workshops and exhibits will be held.

“In March there will be a student led alternative spring break to San Diego. They are going to be doing immigrant rights work with an organization called Casa Familiar,” Brown said.

The Greek Jewish Council is a new foray for Hillel that was started at the beginning of the school year.

“[The council] is a programming body for Jewish students within the Greek community,” Brown said. “We’ve only been meeting for a month and we already have about 10 houses on the council. Students are very enthusiastic about the creation of a way to network with other members of the Greek community.”

If students want to find out more information about new programs, Brown encourages them to talk to her or other staff members.

“All of us on the programming staff are well-versed in what it is we are doing here at Hillel and we are always excited to share that with other people,” Brown said.

Brown was optimistic about the future of Hillel.

“A lot of the work that we do and the positive impact that we have isn’t seen immediately,” Brown said. “We have to keep providing some type of positive impact in students’ lives. We are working very hard to fulfill the needs of the students.”

The relationships formed between students have been the most gratifying aspect of Hillel, Berenstein said.

“To be able to go through college with students sharing the same experiences has been rewarding,” he said.

[Reach reporter Kyle Frischkorn at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]