Event Details

Teens – are you wondering what to do with your winter break once exams are over?  Parents – do you need the perfect Hanukkah present for your teen? 

How about three days at Eastern’s Regional Convention in Durham, NC Friday, Dec 21 – Sunday, December 23rd?  Come “get your head in the game” as over 180 teens from seventeen different communities, four different states and two countries come together for a weekend of exciting teen led programs, exclusive speakers, musical guests, athletic competition and much more! Here are this year’s highlights for Regional Convention 2018!

Speakers and Guests

Eastern Region is excited to feature not one, but TWO keynote speakers this year.  Friday night will feature David Yarus as the first of these exciting speakers.  Expect nothing short of an exciting weekend as Eastern welcomes forward-thinking Jewish entrepreneur David Yarus, founder of JSwipe. Out of the office, David spends his time speaking at Jewish conferences and events around the world, covering best-practices for social media and Jewish community marketing, the state of the millennial Jewish experience, the story of JSwipe, and focusing more recently on the need for cross-generation collaboration in the interest of building a strong and connected Jewish future.   

To learn more about David and his story:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/style/for-nice-jewish-guys-swipe-right.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-yarus-on-entrepreneurship-millennials-marketing_us_581c7faee4b044f827a78b71

Our second keynote speaker is David Blu.  David Blu is a retired, world‑class athlete who played professional basketball at the highest level in Europe. Born in Los Angeles to an African‑American father and Jewish mother, David attended Westchester High School. As a senior in 1998, he won the John Wooden Award for the Best Player in California, after leading his Varsity Basketball Team to its first state championship. David attended the University of Southern California (USC) where he led the Trojan Basketball Team to the 2001 NCAA Elite Eight, losing only to the champion

nship team. In 2002, David made Aliyah and moved to Tel Aviv to play for the powerhouse basketball club, Maccabi Tel Aviv. The team won the European League Championship in 2004, where David scored 20 points off the bench.

We are excited to again host guests from Active Jewish Teens (AJT), our sister movement in Zaprorzhye, Ukraine.  We will have two teens that will be visiting the convention to participate and also running electives on Saturday. 

In addition to our keynote speakers, we are excited to welcome back Happie Hoffman and Eric Hunker as our Judaic music team for the weekend.  Happie and Eric are renowned in the Jewish world for their song leading and musical talent.  They are a fixture in BBYO and we are thrilled for them to join us for the third consecutive year.  David Hoffman will be joining us at convention as a Judiac educator overseeing all of our services and Jewish moments.  David is a former BBYO staff member who is now an Assistant Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League.  As always, we are excited for our dance on Saturday night DJ’d by the one and only DJ Eric Kelly.

Programming

Programming is ready to jump to a whole new level this year. We have a packed Friday afternoon starting with the Council Business Meetings and Shuk before AZA, BBG and BBYO separates. A variety of Shabbat options will proceed a song session and opening keynotes before concluding with Onegs. Saturday presents us with a multitude of Shabbat options before diving into the 24 different Limmud tracks that will be available for teens to select from. Council Life, an Awards dinner, Havdalah and a Regional Talent Show and Dance will end the evening. Sunday gives teens the option of participating in either Regional AZAA/BBGG Basketball Tournament, a Tikkun Olam Track or Judaic Track before heading home. Interested in making it all happen?  Click here for the Steering application for Limmud and Shabbat.  Steering applications close on Sunday, November 18th at midnight.

The Details
Cost for Regional Convention is $345 and registration is open today until Sunday, December 9th. Need-based scholarship is available.  Scholarship applications are due by Sunday, December 2nd at midnight with awards being announced on Monday, December 3rd. Transportation is arranged on a city by city basis and is not included in the convention fee.