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Since high school, Sam Staley has contributed to the Jewish community in every capacity—from working at a Jewish overnight camp to studying abroad in Israel—and now she is working to ensure that future students have the same opportunities.
Staley, a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and Hillel co-president, first got involved by joining BBYO and also through attending and working at Camp CHI in Wisconsin. Upon arriving on the UIUC campus her freshman year, she became a part of Hillel, serving as an intern in the Hillel office and as a member of the Hillel board. While spending the spring semester of her junior year studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Staley was presented with a unique opportunity through MASA, a joint project of the Jewish Agency, which is an overseas arm of the Jewish United Fund, and the government of Israel.
MASA, which means “journey” in Hebrew, offers participants $2,000-$5,000 scholarships that enable thousands of Jewish youth to spend a semester or year in Israel in any of over 150 programs. When MASA started a new internship program, Staley was among the over 20 other students chosen to be the first group of MASA interns. The interns, all past participants in MASA-supported study abroad programs who attend campuses around the country, participated in conference calls throughout the summer to prepare them to be representatives on their respective campuses for students interested in studying in Israel.
“I don’t think people know that these programs exist,” Staley said. “I think it’s just a good resource for students who want to go to Israel but aren’t exactly sure what to do after birthright.”
And she will not be alone in her efforts. The UIUC chancellor, Dr. Richard Herman, visited Israel this summer on a trip with other university administrators, and has since voiced his support for easing travel restrictions to enable more universities to send students on study-abroad experiences to Israel.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is really promote study abroad in Israel, and get the numbers up to where they used to be,” he said. “One of the ways will be to create institutional agreements between Israeli universities and our own, which will take the burden off of individual students. I think the MASA [internship] is a marvelous idea.”
Last spring, Staley and eight other students became the first group of U of I students to study in Israel for university credit since the second intifada, over five years ago. Though she says the process will likely change this year, she and the others in her group who studied in Israel had to go through a long, involved petition process to be able to participate in any Israel abroad program.
“Now they have someone to help them go through the process and help them make sure they’re applying for the scholarship,” she said.
According to Herman, about five years ago, many universities took travel advisories literally and canceled their study abroad programs, but many have recently reevaluated that decision.
“In talking to my fellow presidents and chancellors, we’ve agreed to return to a more serious look at what it meant to study abroad then and how to ensure a safe environment for students [studying abroad now].
Herman said there is also an ongoing national effort to increase the overall number of students studying abroad.
“The time is right,” he said. “I think there will be a lot of support.”
Staley has already arranged meetings to create partnerships on campus by connecting with Hillel, the Chabad rabbi, the study abroad office and the career center. She also hosted an informational meeting for students interested in learning more about these programs.
“Over the four years that I have known her, Sam has always proven to be a true trailblazer,” said Joel Schwitzer, executive director of the UIUC Hillel. “By working as a MASA intern for our campus, she will be helping students connect with Israel in a very meaningful way. Her own MASA experience has helped fuel her passion for providing her peers with the means to participate in a variety of amazing programs in Israel.”
For more information, visit www.MASAIsrael.org.
