Full Circle: A Hillel Alumna Turned Hillel Professional Reflects on Her Journey

By Mara Zeichner, Assistant Campus Director for Hillel UGA, UGA Class of 2011

It’s hard to believe that as I write this, Hillel has been in my life for 17 years! It all started my freshman year at UGA in 2007. I didn’t know much, but I knew that I was going to be involved in Hillel (thanks, sis!). It wasn’t long until I was leading services for Shabbat- having been a songleader in high school, it was a natural transition for me. Towards the end of my first semester, I was approached by one of the staff members about applying for the student board as the VP of Jewish Life. I said yes and began the first of three student board positions at Hillel during my time in college.

Hillel was integral to my time at UGA- it’s where I met some of my closest friends and hold some of my fondest memories. As I approached graduation, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my Child and Family Development degree. So, I decided to apply to many Hillels across the country. I ended up at the Indiana University Hillel. It was an incredible experience, but after a few years I knew I wanted to go back closer to home. As it turned out, I was already staffing Birthright with the former Director of Hillel at UGA. During one of our pre-Birthright meetings, he informed me that there was an open position at UGA. I applied and moved back to Athens that summer!

I was a little nervous about living in a college town. How would my social and dating life look? How does a young Jewish professional make friends in a college town? I went to a few young Jewish professional events in Atlanta but wanted to find my place in Athens. Fortunately things worked out really well! I initially found a community through acroyoga, and met my now-husband in the Jewish community.

Beyond having a great personal life, I have loved my time working at Hillel! It has been 10 years (that’s so hard to believe!), and I’m still learning and growing as a Jewish professional. I’ve been able to share my passions at work- teaching yoga, supporting students in their incredible time of change, traveling to Israel as a Birthright staff… the list could go on. I’m so grateful to be able to work for an organization that gave me so much as a student at UGA. I hope I’m able to help our Jewish Dawgs create their own incredible Jewish memories. And who knows? Maybe one of them will also work at Hillel at UGA one day!