Maya Braiterman is a sophomore at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York City. Maya is an active member of her school's Debate and Model UN teams, Shakespeare Club, and Theater Program. Outside school, Maya has studied voice for eight years at the Bloomingdale School of Music and regularly performs with the school's Broadway Ensemble. Maya is also actively involved with the youth movement Habonim Dror, feeling deeply connected to its ideals of left-wing Zionism and social activism and spending summers at Camp Moshava. In her free time, Maya enjoys reading, drawing, and listening to her favorite bands. 

Gaby Brown is a junior at The Emery/Weiner School in Houston, Texas, where she is vice president of the Jewish Life Committee and co-president of the Moot Beit Din team. Outside of school, Gaby advocates for social justice through the Houston Holocaust Museum’s Engines of Change program and is involved in youth education as an assistant head of her synagogue’s Bnei Akiva youth group. With a passion for STEM, Gaby serves on the executive board of her school’s STEM club and conducts research with physicians on oncology clinical trial design. In her free time, Gaby enjoys reading, stage managing for theatre productions, binge watching Grey's Anatomy, and playing Mah Jongg. 

Lea Davis is a senior at Cary Academy in Cary, North Carolina. She is president of her school’s Students for Gender Equity and a proud member of the Jewish Affinity Group. Last year, she completed an independent study on the legacy of Mary Queen of Scots. This year, she plans to study Jewish women’s use of both legal and secular law throughout history. She spends her time outside of school reading, writing, volunteering at her local Hebrew school, and participating in her school’s theatre production. She enjoys spending time with her friends, studying forgotten women in history, and listening to Broadway musicals. 

Dany Dorsey is currently a junior at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. She participates in the speech and debate team, the book club, and the school newspaper. In the past, she has contributed to the Signature in the Schools program at Signature Theatre. Additionally, she is a madricha at her synagogue. She loves to read all genres of books and is interested in the fashion industry. 

Charli Duchalski is a junior at Meadowvale Secondary School just outside of Toronto, Canada. An avid writer for as long as anyone can remember, Charli published their first novel, My Brother Yak, at age 12. In 2023, they started a movie review blog, Chronicle Blitz, where they write under the pseudonym Ridley Donowitz. They are also a third-degree brown belt in karate, a b’nai mitzvah tutor at Solel Congregation’s beit sefer, and an active participant in their school’s QSA group (the LGBTQ+ club). In their free time, they write screenplays and watch movies while furiously taking notes about filmmaking styles. 

Liza Feinstein is a senior at Benjamin Franklin High School. She has been involved in her New Orleans community through working at Grow Dat, a nonprofit youth farm; Groundworks NOLA, which works with water control; and LOOP, a summer camp that introduces kids to the outdoors. At school, she is deeply involved with the GSA and has visited the state capital in support of queer and trans rights. She can also be found reading in coffee shops, having picnics with friends, and costuming. 

Bee Foster is a junior at Gann Academy. Their interests include economics, fashion, and writing. They participate in DECA and compete in marketing apparel to better understand economics and its impacts on clothing. Bee is a costume designer for their theater department, where they are also the representative for the techies. Alongside being a voice for the stage crew, they represent their classmates on student council. This past summer, Bee spent three weeks in Paris studying fashion and two weeks learning microeconomics. On weekends they work at Temple Emanuel’s religious school. Bee has a fondness for cats, especially Frank and Jelly. 

Meital Fried is a senior at the NYC Lab School living in Brooklyn. She loves theater, writing, the New York Mets (that’s love-hate, really), her Jewish community, and new experiences. A serial club leader, Meital needs to learn to chill out — last time she counted, she was co-president of the student newspaper, drama club, Jewish Student Union, and one more she always forgets. Her work has been published in Stone Soup Magazine and the collection Everything Momentarily and won an honorable mention in the Ned Vizzini Teen Writing Contest. 

Liana Galper is a junior at Gann Academy in Waltham, MA, where they are the Theater Club treasurer, Improv captain, GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance) co-leader, and Student Council clubs' officer. This past summer, Liana attended the Rhode Island School of Design Pre-College program, majoring in painting. Liana is passionate about exploring the intersectionality of Judaism and queerness and how to represent that experience through art. 

Amia Kaplun is a senior at Heschel High School in New York City. She is the president of the Women Empowerment Club at her school and an editor for the literary magazine. She plays the cello and is the musical director of her school acapella group, the Harmonizers. Amia is very active in her Jewish community, leading the egalitarian minyan at her school and her BBYO chapter. During her free time, Amia listens to lots of music and spends time with her friends and family. 

Sophia Kurtzig is a senior at National Cathedral School in Washington, DC. She was born and raised in China, where she was active in the Reform Jewish communities of Beijing and Shanghai and founded BBYO China. She is now co-president for her school’s Jewish Student Union and is on the board of her local BBYO chapter in Washington DC. Outside of Jewish activities, Sophia can be found on the volleyball and basketball courts, hanging out with her friends, listening to music, and going to as many concerts as possible. 

Margaret Lockman is a senior at WWP High School South in Princeton, New Jersey. She serves as captain of the swim team, editor-in-chief of her school's yearbook, and vice president of Spectrum, the GSA at her school. She is passionate about social justice and how story telling can be used to enact change. Her poetry has won regional awards in the Scholastic Art and Writing competition. In her free time, you can find her painting while listening to Taylor Swift or curled up with her cat and a good book. 

Zoe Moore is a senior at the New York City Lab School. Zoe is her school’s student body president and captain of the varsity girls’ soccer team. She plays guitar and has published her creative writing in the Lab school publication Everything Momentarily, a collection of student essays related to legacy. She is active in the Habonim Dror youth movement, spends every summer at Camp Moshava, and is interested in fashion, including clothing design. She enjoys creating and listening to music, especially jazz, and loves outdoor adventure sports like downhill mountain biking, wakeboarding and snowboarding. 

Yona Pianko is a junior at Lakeside High School in Seattle, WA. At her school, she founded and now leads the Jewish Student Union, runs the Outdoor Club, and serves on the Student Library Board. Yona enjoys performing with her youth circus troupe, baking chocolate chip cookies, and participating in outdoor activities, especially backpacking, mountain biking, and scuba diving. She also loves attending her camp (Ramah in the Rockies), leading Shabbat services at shul, and learning in the Hartman Teen Fellowship.  

Ruth Pollin-Galay is a sophomore at Northampton High School in Northampton, MA. Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, she moved to the U.S. in the fall of 2023. She is active on her school's media channel, The Transcript, and is a member of the tennis and swimming teams. Ruth serves as Head of Outreach for the Jewish Student Alliance of Northampton High and has served as a counselor for the Israeli youth movement Noam, which promotes traditional-egalitarian Judaism. In her free time, she enjoys listening to indie music, hanging out with her friends, and analyzing movies with her dad. 

Jess Shapiro is a junior at the Groton School in Massachusetts. In addition to being passionate about social justice, Jess writes and illustrates for her school’s newspaper and law review club, participates in the debate team, and is head and founder of the comedy club. As a three-sport athlete, you can find Jess kicking around a soccer ball, having a lacrosse catch, or rallying on the squash court. When she’s not having a laugh, Jess also enjoys translating Latin, chilling out with her sisters, Lily and Emma, or reading a good book with her dog, Zoe. 

Sylvie Simmons is a senior at Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She is a co-leader of her school’s Jewish alliance group and was previously a fellow and teen leader in Kol Koleinu, a Jewish feminist fellowship run by Moving Traditions. Moving Traditions awarded her a micro-grant for a Jewish zine she plans to create during the school year. In her free time, she enjoys playing the piano and guitar, reading, creating art, and writing for her school’s newspaper. 

Murphy Slater is a senior at the Bronx High School of Science in New York. Xe is the captain of xyr school’s speech and debate team and an active member of the National Honors Society. Outside of school, he is a YouthBridge-NY fellow, studying the importance of food justice within New York City. Over the summer, xe volunteers at Manhattan Children's Center, a school for kids and young adults with autism. In his free time, xe enjoys hanging out with his friends and learning dinosaur facts.