What’s up, AZA & BBG! We're so excited to welcome you to our first position updates! For those who may not know us yet, we are Justin Ferstein from Chicago, IL, and Riley Gold from Orlando, FL. Join us as we dive into the beginning of our year as your Grand and International Mazkirim.

We kicked off our incredible year and summer with a highly productive board retreat, where we laid a strong foundation for the year ahead. One of our new initiatives, now available, is the Legislation Library! Our goal is to ensure every BBYO member understands our governmental values. This resource is a great way to assist you in writing legislation, creating constitutions, and learning about BBYO’s Parliamentary Procedure system. You can find this resource at bbyo.org/legislation to help shape the future of our order.

Continuing with our summer, Justin spent part of it at ILTC, which was incredible! He participated in many meaningful activities, led a mock business meeting to teach Alephs and BBGs about Parliamentary Procedure, and connected with emerging leaders. We then both attended Kallah, where we grew much closer. Highlights included leading impactful programs like separates, cheer circles, and celebrating Justin’s Bar Mitzvah, which was so much fun!

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Now, onto our favorite leadership network… the International Leadership Network! We’ve introduced the Global Democracy Coordinator position, aimed at guiding teens in running business meetings and passing legislation within their communities. The "Voice Your Vote" initiative is also back, engaging Jewish teens in 64 global elections through 2024-25. These are two amazing ILN roles that leverage BBYO’s governmental values and get teens involved in world politics. Lastly, Sibling Communities are back! We’re already discussing how they will be revitalized for the upcoming program year. We can’t wait to show you what’s in store.

Over the summer, both of us connected with many counterparts. Shoutout to NTO, NFR, KMR, and Argentina for getting both counterparts on a BBYO summer experience this year! Looking ahead to ILTC 2025, we already have over 50 teens registered, and we’re setting ambitious attendance goals, building on last summer’s successful turnout of 274 teens. We are excited to see how CLTC at Perlman will unfold and look forward to working closely with both the CLTC and Kallah coordinators for another amazing summer!

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