SAN DIEGO — Two young Israelis are serving as shlichim (“ambassadors”) at UCSD and SDSU with Hillel of San Diego.
Niran Avni and Hen Caspi are part of a national cadre of nearly 60 Jewish Agency Israel Fellows. The program, which is a collaboration of Hillel and the Jewish Agency for Israel, places outstanding young Israelis on key North American campuses to serve as peer ambassadors to the campus community.
Local funding for this project comes from the Koret Foundation and the Galinson Family Foundation.
Hillel of San Diego hired Niran and Hen, two young IDF veterans, to focus on Israel education and advocacy programming on campus, work with Taglit-Birthright Israel trip participants and returnees, and help students explore options for long-term experiential and study programs in Israel.
Niran Avni is the Jewish Agency Israel Fellow to Hillel at UCSD. Niran was born and raised in Hod Hasharon, Israel. In his military service, Niran served as an officer in the IDF as the Deputy Advisor for Palestinian Affairs in Hebron, where he interfaced between Palestinians and the IDF. He studied at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya for his BA in Government, Diplomacy and Strategy.
During his first year of undergraduate studies, Niran was selected by “MASA” to dorm with international college graduates who came to study and volunteer in Israel. He helped them to mediate cultural differences and introduced them to various aspects of Israel. Niran owns a small business, “Pub Crawl TLV,” where he organizes tours of the Tel Aviv nightlife.
Hen Caspi is theJewish Agency Israel Fellow to Hillel at SDSU. Hen (meaning Grace in Hebrew) was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in Israel. Before joining the IDF, Hen took her first trip to the U.S and fell in love with the most beautiful city in the U.S., San Diego! In the IDF, Hen served as an officer in the Air Force.
As a student at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Hen was a head coordinator of the Perach project (the Israeli “Big Brother-Big Sister” program) and also volunteered at a mental health hospital and in unprivileged neighborhoods. Hen completed a B.A in behavioral science in 2011. She then served at Tulane Hillel as Jewish Agency Israel Fellow from 2011 to 2012.
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Preceding provided by Hillel of San Diego