The Bronfman Fellowships has selected its 30th cohort of high school students, among them a prize-winning poet, a ballet-dancing Eagle Scout, a two-time National Spanish Exam gold medalist and a swim team captain who developed a 3D-printed prosthetic arm.
Mercer Island resident Elie Hess joins 25 fellows who were chosen from hundreds of applicants across North America, will participate in a transformative five-week program of study and travel in Israel, followed by a rigorous year of programming centered around pluralism, social responsibility and Jewish texts. The new class of fellows will join a vibrant alumni network that includes some of today’s most exciting Jewish writers, thinkers and leaders.
Hess, son of Andrew Hess and Julie Katz, is a junior at Mercer Island High School. He is a member of the Computer Club, National Honors Society, French Honors Society, jazz band and wind symphony, and an officer and founding member of the Magic: the Gathering Club.
Outside of school, Hess enjoys computers and technology, playing and arranging music and reading. He has earned his black belt in Shudokan karate after eight years of training, and enjoys studying Jewish texts at Livnot Chai School.
Passionate about justice for the working poor, Hess is an active volunteer at Virginia Mason Medical Center and Teen Feed. He and his family are partners of Seattle’s Kavana Cooperative and members of Mercer Island’s Congregation Shevet Achim.
The Bronfman program was founded by Edgar M. Bronfman, formerly CEO of the Seagram Company Ltd. and a visionary Jewish philanthropist. He passed away in December 2013.
“Edgar Bronfman would have relished the opportunity to get to know this year’s fellows,” said Becky Voorwinde, executive director of the Bronfman Fellowships. “They are a passionate, inquisitive, talented and incredibly bright bunch. I look forward to seeing them challenge and inspire one another not only this summer, but throughout their lives as members of our alumni community.”
Following a competitive application process, the 2016 Fellows are from 16 states and Washington, D.C. and represent a wide range of Jewish backgrounds, including Orthodox, Conservative, Traditional Egalitarian, Reform, Secular and Non-denominational.
The fellows, who have already distinguished themselves as leaders in their communities, will spearhead Jewish community or social action projects upon returning home after the summer.
Over the summer, fellows meet with political and cultural figures in Israel such as authors Etgar Keret and A.B. Yehoshua, politician Ruth Calderon, activist Anat Hoffman and journalist Matti Friedman, BYFI ’94, author the newly released “Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story and The Aleppo Codex: In Pursuit of One of the World’s Most Coveted, Sacred, and Mysterious Books.”
They also spend a week with a group of Israeli peers who were chosen through a parallel selection process as part of the Israeli Youth Fellowship, Amitei Bronfman. This aspect of the program reflects Bronfman’s early recognition that the future of Jewish peoplehood should be considered a global enterprise, forged through deep collaboration, discourse and friendship between Israelis and Americans.
There are now over 1,000 Bronfman Fellowships alumni across North America and Israel. Among them are seven Rhodes Scholars, four former Supreme Court clerks, 18 Fulbright Scholars, 27 Wexner Fellows and 22 Dorot Fellows.
For more information about the Bronfman Fellowships, including how to apply, visit www.bronfman.org.
