Jewish teens across the country have stories to tell. This is one of the reasons why we started the JTA Teen Journalism Fellowship — to gain access to communities whose diverse perspectives are crucial in covering the full breadth of stories impacting Jews.
Rimonne Zakheim (she/her), a freshman at Berman Hebrew Academy, won third place in the Buckley Institute Essay Contest. She enjoys volunteering at Bikur Cholim of Greater Washington and spends her time playing basketball, participating in Model UN, and serving as the 9th-grade delegate on the student council. In her free time she enjoys baking and hanging out with friends.
Emily Florsheim (she/her) is a senior who lives in Cedar Hill, Texas. She loves giving back to her community by volunteering at various shelters. In her free time, Emily enjoys baking, reading and spending time with friends.
Leor Hersh (he/him) is a junior at The Bay School of San Francisco. He started his own blog focusing on current and pressing climate energy topics, a key aspect of the world’s future. He also is an intern and writes for the Jewish Center for Justice. In his free time, he volunteers at Jewish Family and Children’s Services, runs, takes photos around the Bay Area, and spends time with friends.
Maytal Exler-Kaunfer (she/her) is a junior at SAR High School in Riverdale. She also attended Camp Yavneh in New Hampshire for 7 years. She loves reading and learning (especially American History). In her free time she plays frisbee and softball and loves spending time with her friends.
Lily Stahlman (she/her) is a junior at Winter Park High School in Florida, where she is the junior class president, as well a Florida Blue Key semi-finalist for Congressional Debate. In her free time, shes loves writing, volunteering at her local Chabad and going to Universal Studios with friends.
Shir Levenson (she/her) is a junior at the Schechter School of Long Island. Shir serves as a staff writer for her school’s daily news publication, Paw Print Now, and writer for the semesterly magazine, Paw Print. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with friends, baking, and running with the cross country team.
Randy Turner (they/them), a sophomore at Eastlake High School in Sammamish, Washington, were a part of the Stand with Us Teen Leadership Council in late 2024 and completed the Religious Action Center for Reformed Judaism’s Teen Justice Fellowship around the same time. They have a history in debate and went to state competition with their varsity mock trial team in freshman year. Randy likes to garden, watch the news, and play video games when they have the time.
Charlotte McAninch (she/her) is a high school junior in Chicago, Illinois. She’s an avid reader and writer, and she loves the humanities – her favorite classes this year are English, journalism, and government. In her free time, she plays tennis, listens to a lot of music, spends time with friends, explores the city, sings, dances, and watches Gilmore Girls.
Emmett Bailen (he/him) is a freshman at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC. He is a staff writer for his school’s newspaper, The Horizon, and is an elected representative on Student Government. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, spending time outdoors and following politics.
Madeleine Kashkooli (she/her), a senior at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, California, is the editor-in-chief of her school newspaper, The Paw Print, and Editor-in-Chief of her school literary magazine, The Polygraph. In her free time, she reads, runs and plays the piano.
Mira Klein Maggio (she/her) is a junior at an all-girls school in New Jersey, where she captains the track and cross-country teams and leads the nonprofit ‘Brave Spines.’ Outside of her leadership roles, she enjoys traveling and reading.
Shiraz Rothschild (she/her) is a senior at The Thacher School in Ojai, California. Orginally from Phoenix, Arizona, Shiraz has attended boarding school for the past four years. She is the founder and presidet of the first national BBYO chapter for Jewish boarding school students reaching Jewish teenagers from 14 different boarding schools located in 9 states. Shiraz is fluent in English, Hebrew, Chinese, and Spanish.
Nir Friedman is a sophomore at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Baltimore, Maryland. He serves as a Grade Representative in student government, participates in Model UN, and writes for Kol BT, the school newspaper. He also contributes occasionally to The Times of Israel. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, engaging in political discussions, and exploring his passion for cooking.
Harry Dweck (he/him) is a sophomore at Princeton High School. In addition to being a news editor for his school newspaper, Harry enjoys playing cello both in his school orchestra and as a member of a string quartet. His favorite thing to do in his free time is starting books only to stop reading halfway through.
Josie Stempel-Jung is a sophomore at Westridge School in Los Angeles. Josie is currently a staff writer for her school newspaper, Spyglass, and enjoys volunteering at Reading Partners. In her free time, you can find her playing tennis, obsessing over Formula 1, or baking for her friends.
