Debbie Tuttle is a born leader.
“I always jump ahead. I take charge. I like to have control,” the Santa Cruz teen said. “But I like to be able to do it in a way that makes everyone happy and gets things accomplished. Balance. I don’t want to be a big jerk standing in front of people yelling.”
A sophomore at Harbor High School in Santa Cruz, Tuttle has the makings of a Jewish community leader. She is president of her youth group at Temple Beth El in Aptos and membership chair for the Central Western region of North American Federation of Temple Youth.
Recently, she began a three-year process of refining her leadership skills as one of 13 South Bay teen fellows.
The Teen Fellowship Program is a partner project of the Hebrew Free Loan Association, San Jose Hadassah, Young Judaea, the Jewish Education Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater San Jose and the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center.
Between 10 and 15 first-year high school students will be chosen each year for the program, which is aimed at fostering a Jewish youth community in the South Bay and grooming a future generation of Jewish leaders.
Numerous studies indicate that trips to Israel, summer camps and youth-group experiences keep Jewish kids involved in the community. The fellowship program incorporates all three elements.
Each summer, teen fellows engage in a different long-term project aimed at strengthening friendships, studying religious texts and the Torah, learning skills and utilizing what they have learned.
During their first year, fellows spend three and a half weeks attending a leadership training session at Camp Young Judaea West in Oakdale. The following year, they work as paid counselors at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center Day Camp in Los Gatos. The third summer is highlighted by a 24-day Koret teen Israel trip.
The teens spend two weekends during the school year attending “institutes” — workshops that range from volunteering for community service with the national service corps, City Year, to meeting with national experts on community organization and coalition-building. Informal gatherings are also scheduled.
The sponsoring organizations fund the bulk of the program. A festive springtime dinner raises additional funds. Teens’ families are expected to pay $750 for leadership camp and $1,000 for the Israel trip.
The cornerstone of the program is “not theory but skills,” said Rachel Jacobs, HFLA development and outreach associate. In addition the teen fellowship “cuts across agency and ethnic community lines.”
Program participants include Russian, Israeli, South African and American-born teens. They are members of organizations such as Young Judaea, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, National Federation of Temple Youth and a number of South Bay congregations.
The teens’ parents “are struggling with the issue of their kids’ identity,” Jacobs said. “Are they American? Russian? Jewish? Kids are getting Americanized. Their only commonalty with their parents and grandparents is their Jewishness.”
Each fellow is nominated by a synagogue or youth group leader. Each fills out an application, writes an essay, lists hobbies and activities and undergoes a personal interview.
“Mostly, they have to be willing to become a leader of the Jewish community. They have to display a sense of commitment,” Jacobs said.
Participants seem happy for the opportunity to learn, and to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
“It’s a good opportunity to meet people, to get your name out there, to learn leadership skills. When you go into a group of people, you learn to take the initiative to get what you and others want out of the experience,” Tuttle said. “We’re learning how to write and execute to engage people. How to make any experience a true group effort.”
Another benefit, Tuttle added, is that in the program, “different people [and] similar experiences [are] thrown together. It makes me realize that you can get along with any kind of people, as long as you have some kind of common bond.
“We’re all Jewish.”