(Talya's friends were giving her grief due to her picture (click here), so Talya asked me to find something less snobby.)

Wow, what a year it's been so far! From the first shabbaton in Columbus, to the past shabbaton in Pittsburgh, it's been a total blast. In December we had an awesome Junior NCSY Shabbaton in Detroit. Thanks to our V.P. Juniors, Devorah Berkowitz and Jacob Brent, every single person that weekend had a great time (even though there was the snow storm of the century, we all still had a ton of fun!) Next came Yarchei Kallah. Of course, just like we do every year, Central East brought the most kids out of every region. I have to say, I found some incredibly inspirational people on Yarchei Kallah. We had a huge number of kids that have never attended an NCSY shabbaton in their lives, and they decided to join the intensity of XtX. I think we can all look up to them for their "fearlessness" in going headfirst to join the Big East. Then came our yearly Kiruv Shabbaton, this year in Cincinnatti. Thanks to Aryeh Younger, our Cincinnatti chapter president, and the Columbus chapter president, Ben Winter, we had a great time. The casino night we had was so fun! I know Cincinnatti will be a strong and powerful chapter in no time. Has anyone seen a copy of the NCSWire? Thanks to Liz Traison and Leah Lebowitz, our V.P. Publications, everyone can enjoy the group of regional board bios, city pieces from the chapter presidents, can learn about all the summer programs, and more. If you didn't get one and want one, let Liz or Leah know. Also, our weekly email, The Connection, is still going strong. If you don't get one and want to, contact Jessica Swedarsky or Julie Wasserman. Thanks Jessica and Julie for a great job every week!

And who can forget our past shabbaton? In Pittsburgh, the Big East had a rockin time. Thanks to chapter presidents Lindsey Horvitz and Jenny Ungar, we had one of the best shabbatons there ever was! Also, thank you to Ephraim Weinberg for the great new regional board sweatshirts. After an awesome Friday activity at the arcade and the Friday night festivities, we experienced the most meaningful Tisch I have ever seen. A big thank you goes out to Jacob Brent and Raffi Weiss for organizing the incredible program. Hopefully all our songs and Tefilot will grant Aharon Halley a speedy and complete recovery. Raffi Weiss has also instituted a learning program in Aharon's merit. All you have to do is learn a couple of Mishnayot in Pirkei Avot (chapters in Ethics of our Fathers) a day. If anyone is interested and doesn't have a book, a TBP partner, or anything, we can set it all up for you. Just contact Raffi for more details. Thanks to great speakers, interesting learning sessions, intense dancing (as always!), and more fun activities, I hope every single NCSYer had a great time. Thanks to our vice president, Laura Barnett, and the raffle for that brand new ipod (congratulations Daniel Brystowski!), we raised around $385 in one weekend! There will also be Tzedakah cans in each city to raise money for our Central East NCSY Starter Kit fund. This fund will raise money to give kids who join our region and don't really know anything about Judaism, the materials they need to start. This fund is in the merit of Aharon Halley's recovery, for he is one who always strives to help others with what they need. For more information, or if you'd like to donate to the cause, contact Laura Barnett. The city that brings the most money in their Tzedakah cans gets a special surprise at regionals! I hope to see all of the Junior NCSYers March 28-30 in Cleveland. With Jacob and Devorah running the show, you know you're going to have an insane amount of fun!

I want to thank each NCSYer so far for a really powerful and incredible year. If there is anything I can do, anything you want to talk about, or really just ANYTHING, please let me know! I hope you're having a great year, because I know I am!!
Talya Seidman
taligirl09@yahoo.com
412-427-2413