A New Generation Rises
By Tilly Raij
Tilly Raij, a student at Winter Park High School, recently attended the Phoenix Generation Rising Together Conference and wrote about her experience for J Life magazine. The conference’s presenting sponsor was The Central Florida Pledge.
Birthdays are always a time to reflect, but a special opportunity on my recent 15th birthday really made me think about how I can impact my community, despite my young age.
On February 15, I attended the Phoenix Generation Rising Together Conference at Stetson University, along with 400-plus high-school and college students and 50 educators. The focus was on leadership, activism, and communication, especially when it comes to having difficult conversations
open communication
After listening to some insightful opening keynote speeches, I made my way to my first (and favorite) breakout session of the day: Mastering Effective Communication with Jamie Merrill, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida. I enjoyed the open-discussion format of the session and took away so many tips for public speaking, forming connections, and active listening.
We discussed different problems that can happen when communicating with people you’re working with, both personally and professionally. I also discovered strategies for digital communication, building an online presence safely and authentically, and getting a message across without being face to face. My biggest takeaway was that in order to be an effective communicator, you have to have strong emotional intelligence, which allows you to make others feel valued while connecting meaningfully with them.
filled with wonder
My second session was Principles for How We Treat Each Other with Dr. Jen Danilowski, a lead facilitator for the Peace and Justice Institute (PJI). This session included connecting with those around me as we discussed PJI’s principles. I spoke to a nice student from the University of Central Florida who shared advice with me for high school.
My favorite principle was to “turn to wonder” when things get difficult. This means to reflect before making a snap judgment about people and to take into account the things we don’t know about them. Having empathy when interacting with others resonated with me and is especially necessary in the world today. The session ended on a hopeful note as Jen discussed the importance of finding community. That made me think about how my Jewish community has uplifted and supported me.
flexing our disagreement muscle
My last breakout session was Fostering Curious Disagreement with Shira Hoffer, a Jewish student at Harvard University, who – after the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023 – started the Hotline for Israel/Palestine with other students from different backgrounds. Anyone can message the hotline at 617-313-2125 with a question, and a volunteer will answer with multiple perspectives, not an opinion or a single right answer.
In the session, we spoke about how disagreement is powerful and keeps people engaged. You can’t avoid disagreement, but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Disagreement often helps eliminate dangerous assumptions. We worked on strengthening our “disagreement muscle” by debating various prompts, which helped me participate in active listening and get a chance to use techniques such as setting a goal for our discussion and asking mindful questions.
Walking into the conference at Stetson, I was a little overwhelmed at first by the topics and the fact that I was one of the youngest attendees. But as I made my way through each session, I began to feel more and more empowered and valued for my voice. And in between sessions, I checked in with my mom (J Life writer Emily Raij), who was volunteering at the conference. While she was there, she couldn’t resist finding the Stetson Hillel, taking a photo, and sending me the most classic Jewish mom text: “The Hillel is nice.” I’m glad she was exploring just as much as I was!