My favorite part of being Jewish is participating in services because when I do, I always feel connected to all the other people in the room and I just feel more alive during services. Becoming a Bat Mitzvah shows me that I have grown through my Jewish education, even though there is more education to come. It doesn’t tell me that I am an adult, it tells me that in Jewish settings I can feel like an adult, from helping in services to everything else. Going through all my Bat Mitzvah training, I have learned that I’m a lot more patient than I thought.

My mitzvah project was serving as a junior counselor at Camp K.C, my summer camp. I chose to be a junior counselor at Camp K.C. because the camp is like my second home and I’ve always wanted to be a helper there. I also am a year round volunteer at the Temple Beth El gift shop. I went on three offsites with the gift shop and have always helped out during the religious school year. I plan to keep going to services as much as I can and celebrating all the Jewish holidays throughout the year to keep Judaism in my life.

Emily Schenkel is the daughter of Merril and Richard Schenkel. She is the sister of Jonathan Schenkel. She is the granddaughter of Jeffrey and Susan Rettig of Charlotte, NC.  Send notes of mazal tov.