For CSUN sophomore Jacquelyn Grock, stumbling upon Hillel on campus helped her find her Jewish community. She told us, “I found out about Hillel when I was going through Meet the Clubs in my first semester at CSUN. I decided to look into it because I really wanted to find a Jewish community to connect with because I never really had a strong Jewish community growing up.”
She feels Hillel has been a very important part of her college experience, telling us, “I feel like I’ve been able to connect with so many Jewish peers who I wouldn’t have been able to before and since I’m working at Hillel I really enjoy planning things for Hillel and going to events.”
As Hillel 818’s Major Holidays Intern and film kehilah lead, Jacquelyn’s had many opportunities to help plan and execute events and programs with Hillel. When asked what her favorite has been so far this year, she said, “My favorite event was probably Sukkot because it was my first event and even though I wasn’t totally confident in what I was going to plan, it ended up being a lot of fun and was just really nice to have my first event go so smoothly and see so many of my friends come support.”
Jacquelyn may not have grown up in the San Fernando Valley but she has many ties in her family to this area that help her feel connected to the Valley’s Jewish community. She said, “I think there’s such a long history of Jewish culture in the Valley and even though I didn’t grow up in the Valley I have known about it for a long time. My parents grew up in the Valley and my grandparents owned stores and shops and things like that so I feel really connected to the Jewish culture and the Jewish history that’s been present in the Valley for a really long time.”