Springboard Ezra Fellow at University of Vermont Hillel

Springboard Ezra Fellow 

University of Vermont Hillel 

Role Overview 

Make your mark on Jewish student life by joining UVM 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. You will have the unique opportunity to join an energetic and highly motivated team, a dedicated and resilient community, and an engaged and innovative student body. 

Your role as an engager will define the scope of your work. As a student-first organization, student input is the driving force behind our programmatic goals, and informs our priorities as a team. You will have ample opportunity to connect with students and help them to hone their vision, work alongside them in planning and executing the events that excite them, and sit with them in reflection along the way. 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: 

• You will engage in thought partnership with the engagement team to contribute to the establishment of the 2024-2025 Engagement Strategy which acts as a guide to all program planning and informs our annual goals. 
• You will participate in goal-setting to establish an engagement-related goal that fits into the overall engagement strategy Engagement strategy input 
• You will work to expand our Academic Integration efforts through the establishment of an Academic Integration-related engagement strategy and discovery process, with the ultimate goal of implementing two new programs focused on Academic Integration. 
• You will oversee and work closely with several student leadership tracks to develop the next generation of Jewish leaders and assist them in bringing their visions for Hillel to fruition. 

WHAT YOU’LL DO: 

• You will have the opportunity to meet with students in a one-to-one capacity, particularly First-Years students and those who have already interacted with Hillel, but only a limited number of times. 
• You will be engaging in discovery conversations and working to develop new iterative approaches to academic integration. 
• Your work will involve recruiting students for high-impact activities such as Jewish Learning Fellowships and the annual Shine-A-Light Ski Trip. 
• With the rest of the Engagement Team, you will oversee engagement interns to help in your efforts to engage students on a more regular basis, hoping to move them into the range of 6 or more meaningful interactions with Hillel. 

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 Burlington, VT; remote work is not available for this position 
• Resilience and the ability to pivot in an ever-changing work environment ● Leadership experience and a desire to engage in mentorship 
• Willingness and excitement to learn together 

What You’ll Receive 

• Competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The salary range for this role is $44,000 - $45,500 in year one of the Fellowship, and the salary range is $46,500- $48,000 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. 
• 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 at the University of Vermont

Hillel at UVM was the recipient of Hillel International’s Great Place to Work Award in 2021 for our commitment to our staff’s wellbeing. As an organization we seek to support our employees in living their best lives so they can be their best selves for our students. Because of Hillel, UVM has risen to become one of the “top 20 public schools Jews choose” according to the 2022 Jewish College Guide. The lessons learned through the pandemic and applied today through innovative, academically aligned programming have helped Hillel not just maintain, but exceed all engagement metrics in recent years by connecting with over 2,000 Jewish students, allies, and friends each year. We engage students with a design-thinking methodology to discover new ideas and co-create initiatives that make Burlington, Vermont, and the world a better place.

The Burack Hillel is located inside the 439 College Street Residence Hall, steps away from the historic campus green. Three floors of the facility also include one floor of UVM residents, which is managed, staffed, and maintained by UVM Residence Life. The Burack Hillel has a fully functional kitchen in addition to separate staff office space and a third floor open floor plan that hosts religious services, meetings, and quiet space for studying.

Candidates will thrive in the role if they are able to embrace the northern and rural aspects of living in Burlington, Vermont. Situated between the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain, Vermont offers a lot to explore from small towns, skiing, and high adventure hikes to a thriving downtown food and entertainment scene. Burlington has five affiliated Jewish communities for personal practice or identity exploration and is located 2 hours from Montreal, 3.5 hours from Boston, and 6 hours to New York City, now with a direct Amtrak connection!

The University of Vermont Land Acknowledgement

The campus of the University of Vermont sits within a place of gathering and exchange, shaped by water and stewarded by ongoing generations of Indigenous peoples, in particular the Western Abenaki.

Acknowledging the relations between water, land, and people is in harmony with the mission of the university. Acknowledging the serious and significant impacts of our histories on Indigenous peoples and their homelands is a part of the university’s ongoing work of teaching, research, and engagement and an essential reminder of our past and our interconnected futures for the many of us gathered on this land.

UVM respects the Indigenous knowledge interwoven in this place and commits to uplifting the Indigenous peoples and cultures present on this land and within our community.