Students from the Hebrew High School of New England (HHNE) in West Hartford were among the more than 100 high school students who headed to Capitol Hill on Oct. 15 to lobby on behalf of Israel. The mission, organized by Yeshiva University (YU), was led by Matthew Schwartz, YU’s assistant director of recruitment and high school programming.
“We saw this as a great and creative opportunity to enrich high school students’ curricula and experiences,” said Schwartz, who reached out to several high schools to participate.
In all, 12 high schools took part in the mission – 11 from the New York area. HHNE was the only Connecticut high school to join the group. Among their activities on the Hill, students met with Brooke Goldstein, director of the Lawfare Project, and visited 15 congressional offices, before meeting in the White House with Jarrod Bernstein, Jewish liaison to the White House.