Sam Ceisler is the new engagement associate at Hillel at UGA, a Jewish campus organization. It operates under Hillels of Georgia, which supports Jewish student life on college campuses around the state.
After living in Israel for four years, Ceisler decided to come back to the United States to work with Jewish students. He saw that Hillel International, the organization that Hillels of Georgia falls under, had job postings and found Hillel at UGA.
Ceisler, who started in December, shared insights on his journey, his goals for Hillel and how he hopes to shape Jewish life at UGA.
Q: What prepared you for this role?
A: Just different life experiences. The day-to-day things that we do, computer wise, logistic wise, it reminds me of marketing positions I’ve done working with students. Goes back to days of education. But it’s also just, I think, being personable and being able to work with people as a huge part of this role, and meeting students where they’re at, seeing what they need, and just being available for them.
Q: How do you plan to connect with students who may not already be involved here?
A: We just try to get the word out. We started a program this year with the freshman dorms where … we got posters in the lobbies explaining what our hours are and then when we’ll do outreach events downtown, like we’ve had socials at Kilwins and Insomnia Cookies so far this semester. So students who were out and about, might see us and say, “Hello,” there’s a lot of different ways that we’re trying to do that.
Q: What makes Jewish life at UGA unique?
A: We have a really, really welcoming community and campus. I come from New York, and I have lived some other places where there are either more or less Jewish people or stronger or weaker relationships with the community, but I find that we have a really secure and safe space here with other college communities, with the campus, with our other students, and just the things that our students are interested in, they pursue, and then we just get to watch it. So I think what’s really special is just that individuality.
Q: What makes Hillel at UGA different from other Jewish communities here?
A: We meet students where they’re at, but our director has this great way of putting it that he says, we’re a choose your own adventure Judaism organization. We have students who come from very Orthodox and religious backgrounds. We have students who have very little religious connection but have a Jewish upbringing. We also have events that students are bringing their non-Jewish friends. And so we really just try to be an accessible space where people can come to learn or to grow or to even host events that they think promotes their Judaism.
Q: What are you most looking forward to this year?
A: We just have some really cool things that will be coming up. I’ll be leading one of our Birthright trips (program by Birthright Israel offering Jewish students a 10-day trip to Israel, covering various aspects of the country’s history, politics, geography and religion), in May that I’ll get to take students to Israel and show them some of where I lived for years, and show them how I picked up on Hebrew as somebody who didn’t speak it when I got there, and to watch them have that experience that I did when I did birthright. We’ll have some summer programs where we’re looking to do some river cleanup and some community building around Athens that I think will be really exciting to help me get my students involved and get myself more involved with the town as well. You know, I’m trying to take it slow. I’m a person that doesn’t really wait for things. I’m kind of on 100% all the time, so I’m trying to let it come at this point. But there’s just a lot of exciting things going on. I love being a part of all of it.
Comments trimmed for length and clarity.
Dakota Meeks is a journalism major in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. This story was produced in the Religion Reporting course.
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