Developing leaders

By Jessica Zimmerman, Regional Director, North Florida Region

Shalom Naples! We are so excited that BBYO is back and stronger than ever in Southwest Florida. Our community sent five teens to BBYO domestic summer programs this past summer. One of those teens, Kylie Bell, shares her experience with us in this month’s column.

I’m Kylie Bell, and I’m the 2021 fall term N’siah (President) of Mishpacha BBG, North Florida Region’s Naples BBG chapter. Over the summer, I had the privilege of attending the Chapter Leadership Training Conference (CLTC), a BBYO summer experience leadership camp. Ever since learning about CLTC, I’ve wanted to go. BBYO has been a passion of mine for the last few years and that passion has grown even more because of my time at the leadership conference.

I spent 12 days in Poyntelle, Pennsylvania learning leadership and life skills while making lifelong friends. While there, I brainstormed with other Jewish teens on how to create successful programs, including how to make them engaging for all members and how to correctly host them.

Programming is a vital part of the organization. Since beginning my own BBG journey in 8th grade, I’ve been fortunate to attend several local, regional, national and international events. CLTC taught me that even small programs can have an amazing outcome. Additionally, I learned how to improve Naples’ small chapters and how to increase membership.

Inclusivity was one of the themes at CLTC. We had the unique opportunity to watch the movie, “The Hate U Give,” followed by a recorded interview with the screenwriter. Afterwards, our cabins discussed how the movie related to the world today. In BBYO, we talk about the world’s problems and how it affects us. Making our chapters inclusive is a priority in BBYO.

Another theme at CLTC was sisterhood. My cabin was made up of the most amazing 13 girls I’ve ever met. We quickly bonded with each other. Now I can say I have friends in north Texas and the Denver, Colorado area. In fact, I made friends from all over the international order. I’m already counting down the days until February’s BBYO International Convention in Baltimore, when I’ll see my friends again. If I hadn’t attended, I wouldn’t have met them.

I traveled to CLTC with my close friend and Mishpacha, BBG’s S’ganit (Vice President), Elinor Levy. We didn’t share a cabin nor were we in a COVID pod together, but we made the most of it by meeting new people. Both of us grew closer to the girls in our cabins as well as the AZA boys. When our pods were fi nally able to commingle, we each introduced all of the friends we’d made, and our friend groups grew larger.

Making new Jewish friends and creating memories with them was my favorite part of CLTC. I’ll miss the cabin story “tells” at 1 a.m., filming weird TikToks, talking about life problems and taking funny photos.

I believe that every BBYO member should have the opportunity to attend a BBYO summer experience. Everyone who attends CLTC comes back with a different story to share about their experience and how it positively shaped them as a person. Attending CLTC completely changed me. Going in, I was so nervous, but as soon as I got there, I felt immediately welcomed.

I would like to thank Jewish Federation of Greater Naples and BBYO. Without these organizations’ support, I wouldn’t have been able to attend. As a result of the conference, I will be a stronger leader and my passion for BBYO will never stop growing.

I can’t wait to utilize everything I learned at CLTC with the Naples chapters this year.

To help more teens like Kylie attend summer programs and assist our community to host epic Jewish programming in the Greater Naples community, consider donating to Naples BBYO’s fundraising effort. You can find us on the web at https://fan.bbyo. org/support/donate/nfr or you can send a check directly to headquarters at Naples BBYO, 800 Eighth Street NW, Washington, DC 20001.

Naples teens gather every Wednesday at the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples from 7 to 8 p.m. for programming, all teen led. We are kicking off the year by taking in the sunset from kayaks and paddleboards at Lowdermilk Beach Park from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 5. All eighth- through twelfth-grade Jewish teens in Southwest Florida are invited and encouraged to attend this epic event.

You can find more information at https://bbyo.org/bbyo-near-you/regions/ north-florida-region/fall-kickoff-southwatersports-and-sunset. Or feel free to email me at jesszimmerman@bbyo.org.