Dear Boston Workers Circle,

I’m happy to have been a part of BWC since I was nine years old. I vividly remember attending Shule classes where we discussed important issues such as misogyny, racism, and antisemitism, and the role we can play in counteracting these forms of hatred. My 3rd grade (Giml) teacher, Pauli Katz, was the first person to plant the seed in my mind that my voice and my thoughts could make real change. When parents were skeptical about Pauli discussing these heavy topics with their kids, she pointed out that we were actually the ones who had brought them up–these issues mattered to us and she wanted to give us a space to discuss them, especially in the landscape of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Will you support progressive Jewish education by making a donation today? 

Today, I apply the principles I’ve learned from Shule to my life all the time, at BWC’s Teens Acting for Social Change (TASC) and also in my outside work as Co-Chair of the Youth Leadership Committee at BAGLY, a nonprofit that offers support systems to LGBTQ+ youth. Self-advocacy, public speaking, and conviction are all skills that I first learned in Shule, through the yearly protests, our exciting class discussions, and the holiday parties and plays.

You can help make these programs and events possible in the coming year with an end-of-year donation today. 

When we create spaces where youth feel included, accepted, and empowered, they can go on to pursue amazing things. Shule and TASC at BWC fully provide these spaces and are crucial to Boston’s Jewish community. 

Thank you,
Elle Setiya (she/her)
BWC Teens Acting for Social Change