Written By: Adam Zelnicker, 41st Regional Aleph Mazkir, Chapter Dayan AZA #1215.
Well, here we are. It has been a crazy ride to get to this point. It is unreal to think that whether you joined in Grade 8, 9, 10, 11 or this year of Grade 12, that our journey in this amazing organization has come to an end. I am not sure I can speak on behalf of all of the seniors, but this organization has made me better as a person and I have learned so much from it. It is safe to say I would not be here if not for LOR and BBYO.
Enough about me, this is about the graduating class of 2021. If there is one thing that I can say about this particular graduating class, it is that there are so many people that are different from one another in it. This year, I had the opportunity to branch out and meet with different people from all over the region, the seniors in particular, and I can tell you right now that even the people that seem like they are alike are certainly not. I think that is what makes this class unique, so many different ways of life in our region and we all come together to produce magic for this amazing order. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. I would say that I have observed a lot from the seniors this year. I spent time with different groups of seniors and despite the differences they all had externally, they all had this internal goal and idea to make the region what it is, especially with COVID and all. I know for a fact it has been a hard year for us, but we still made it happen.
What also amazed me is that a lot of the seniors still wanted to get involved despite being on Zoom for 75% of the year. It made me so happy that everyone still wanted to help out with the behind-the-scenes work to put together awesome conventions, events, and programs! In particular, chapters Magen and L’Chaim had seniors as the majority of their boards! It goes to show how much this organization means to us even though times are what they should be. Also, those who chose not to run for board still took part in several regional steering and programming opportunities to put together incredible experiences for the entire region. I just feel that us seniors should be proud of our hard work and that there are bright futures ahead for all of us.
Lastly, I want to leave the idea that more than other senior classes that I have observed during my time in BBYO, this one was definitely the closest. Regardless of me being in it and the fact that there are so many of us this year, everyone was just so down to hop on calls to chill or have fun seniors programming, and it was such a fulfilling experience. For someone like me who has had a rough time meeting people and putting myself out there for a majority of my life, it was just amazing to feel welcomed by everyone.
To the LOR Class of 2021, it has been real. We have so much amazingness ahead of us for our post-secondary lives. Whether it is university, college, workplace, or still figuring things out, we will make our mark in this world. That is what amazing leaders like us do. We make it happen. Here’s to more fun times in the future!
Pictured: LOR Seniors attending Seniors Night 2021.