Springboard Innovation Fellow at Hillel at Drexel University

Springboard Innovation Fellow

Drexel Hillel

Role Overview

Make your mark on Jewish student life by joining Drexel Hillel as the Springboard Fellow. You will build one on one relationships with students, plan and execute engaging events and programs around campus, and help inspire students to make a commitment to Jewish life. Drexel is a large, urban, private university with 15,000 undergraduates, and 900 Jewish undergraduates, best known for its world renowned cooperative education program (co-op) and its unique 4 term quarter program, a calendar that features prominently in the student experience.

At Drexel Hillel our engagement philosophy is "Programs don't bring people; relationships bring people." It’s rare for our Drexel Hillel staff to not know a student by name, face, and story and we are looking for someone whose passion for Jewish life and zeal for building relationships matches our team's philosophy! You are someone who has an innovative spirit and unbounded creativity, and is excited to take Jewish community at Drexel to the next level. You are eager to reach out to Jewish students that are currently not connected or have limited connection to Hillel in order to inspire them to invest in their personal Jewish journey. You’ll have the flexibility to learn from all members of the Drexel Hillel team, execute and improve on existing Drexel Hillel initiatives, and create your own projects based on your personal interests and what you learn from students. You'll wake up each day (or at least most) and be genuinely excited and enthusiastic about creating an inviting place that inspires students to explore, experience, and create vibrant Jewish lives. This is so much more than your average 9-to-5.

About The Springboard Fellowship

The Springboard Fellowship is a paid, two-year fellowship that brings recent college grads with raw talent, passion, and skills needed to reimagine and redesign Jewish student life to college campuses across North America. 

Trained in Relationship-Based Engagement, Human-Centered Design and other entrepreneurial frameworks, you will be exposed to the most successful initiatives from across the Hillel movement. Fellows will work with students to imagine, create, and refine experiences for Jewish life that dramatically impact student engagement, efficiently and strategically apply and scale successful initiatives from across the movement, and give birth to cutting-edge ideas that have the potential to transform how Hillel and creates inclusive spaces for #AllKindsOfJewish.

We’re looking for people who embrace challenges, take risks, fail, and learn from the past, while maintaining their passion and sense of humor. Extensive Jewish education is not necessary — just an interest in creating a vibrant Jewish community, a commitment to learning, and the desire to make a difference in the lives of students. 

What You’ll Do

GOALS:

• Actively contribute to shaping Drexel Hillel by engaging 180 unique students per year who are not currently engaged in Jewish life.
• Collaborate with students and Drexel Hillel staff to manage our prospective student and first-year student engagement, including our early move-in program (Jewniversity), Welcome Week programs, First-Year Students of Hillel (FYSH) programs, accepted student days, and ongoing one-on-ones.
• Work cooperatively and collaboratively with segments of the student leadership and staff team to bring a modern, innovative approach to Jewish holiday programming.
• Map out a plan to strategically engage students from different cohorts and demographics on campus to help build new experiences for them, based on your own background/interests and the students’ needs.

WHAT YOU’LL DO: 

• Table on Lancaster Walk, the center of campus, for “Tuesday Shmoozeday” to give out free coffee/hot chocolate to students of all backgrounds and offer a taste of what Jewish life is and has to offer.
• Getting coffee with a first-year student to talk about how they enjoyed Welcome Week, ask what FYSH(First Year Students of Hillel) events they’d like to implement, then work together to create the programs.
• Meeting with the Hillel admissions ambassador about upcoming prospective student tours of the building and admitted student days at Drexel.
• Brainstorming unique recruitment strategies for our early move-in program (Jewniversity), planning out the experience with the student staff team and follow-up
• Attending student board meetings to design together a robust schedule for Sukkot that includes methods for including all types of Jewish students.
• Staffing Shabbat dinner by greeting students at the door, eating with first-timers at the tables, sending them home with leftovers, and helping clean up. 

Who You Are

• You’re A Relationship-Builder: You thrive on meeting new people, understanding their interests, and forging meaningful connections.
• You’re A Collaborative Team Player: You enjoy working collaboratively with a team to solve problems and explore new initiatives.
• You’re A Passionate Learner: You love learning and continuously building up your Jewish knowledge.
• You’re An Innovative Educator: You believe in infusing education into captivating experiences that stimulate the imagination.
• You’re A Facilitator: You thrive in creating spaces for students to converse, share ideas, and explore and develop their own ideas on relevant issues.
• You’re A Recent College Grad: Whatever your degree, you are excited about Jewish life on campus and have experience as a participant and maybe even as an educator in a Jewish educational setting.
• You’re A Creative Thinker: You are constantly reimagining the ordinary, seeking ways to repurpose and improve things.
• You’re A Bold Visionary: Think big and creatively, viewing everything as a possibility and embracing a risk-taking, entrepreneurial spirit.

 ~You’re A Springboard Fellow ~

What You’ll Bring to the Job

• 0 -3 years professional work experience.
• Bachelor's degree.
• This is an in-person role location in Philadelphia, PA, remote work is not available for this position. 

• Strong entrepreneurial spirit. Things may not always go according to plan and you must be willing to take risks and learn your wins as well as your losses.
• Confidence initiating and running programs, and comfort asking questions.
• Willingness to admit what you don’t know, and excitement to learn in those areas.
• Creative problem-solving.
• Excitement to continue developing your own relationship to Judaism. 

What You’ll Receive

• Competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The salary range for this role is $46,000 - $47,000 in year one of the Fellowship, and the salary range is $48,000- $48,500 in year two of the Fellowship.
• A comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, retirement plan, Life, AD&D and Long Term Disability (LTD) insurances, Flexible Spending accounts, generous vacation/sick time, and parental leave.
• In the event that you decline health coverage you will receive a $1000 annual supplement as an alternative benefit. This is a great option if you are still covered under your family plan. 
• Annual Drexel Hillel staff retreat for relationship building. Quarterly staff outings including meals as a staff team.
• Fitness incentive of $150 per year for reimbursement of gym memberships, etc. 
• Parking is provided for employees and we are convenient to the SEPTA 34th street stop as well as 30th Street Station. 
• High-level professional development to help develop core skills in experiential education, including learning from some of the most innovative organizations in Jewish education today. 
• $3,200 in professional development funds from the Springboard Fellowship to utilize over the course of two years.
• Intensive Jewish summer and year-long learning experiences that will provide you with the knowledge, passion, and critical tool kit to fuel your work building our Jewish communities. 
• Mentoring and career coaching to help you during and after your Fellowship. 
• A network of terrific colleagues from across the Hillel movement. 
• Travel opportunities, both domestically and internationally, multiple times per year (if permitted, following COVID-19 safety guidelines).

About Hillel International

In 1923, Rabbi Benjamin Frankel started Hillel with humble means, a noble mission and a breathtaking vision: to convey Jewish civilization to a new generation. Today, Hillel International continues to enrich the lives of Jewish students and is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world at nearly 1,000 colleges and universities across North America and around the world. As Hillel evolves as an organization, the mission remains steadfast: to create lasting connections with every Jewish student that foster an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning, and Israel and train them to become the next Jewish leaders.

Hillel is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an accepting and inclusive environment for all.