JINGER SANDERS

We recently asked Mikva Challenge Alumna, Jinger Sanders, to share a few things about her experiences at Mikva Challenge, and here is what she had to say:

My time participating in Mikva was phenomenal and the experiences that I had will remain a part of me for a lifetime. In 2006, I started by applying to what was formerly called the Youth Innovation Fund and now the Education Council. At first, I was apprehensive, unsure of what this board would do, and how effective it would be, but that all went away within a week because immediately we got to work on the issues, starting with school funding.

That same year we worked hard on Education Reform in Illinois, we got thousands of signatures on our petitions, stood outside in the bitter Chicago cold to have people make calls to state legislators asking for school funding, and successfully bused over a thousand Chicago Public School students to Springfield to lobby for school funding. I saw before my eyes and had firsthand experience of what 25 passionate youth getting together on Saturdays can accomplish. After that year, I knew we could develop a solution and take ACTION on whatever issue was brought to us, regardless of our age or backgrounds.

My experience at Mikva Challenge taught me the life values of being self-motivated, being a leader, to involve myself within the world instead of just existing in the world, and be an asset in the bettering of it. I gained better public speaking skills, whether facilitating a meeting with my peers or giving security training to a room full of adults. Mikva exposed me to networking opportunities through internships and involvement in my community, and gave me the rare opportunity to meet with then CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Arne Duncan, who assisted in making our plans a successful reality and attentively listened to our ideas.

I also was able to participate in the 2008 presidential election, not by voting because I was too young, but through volunteering for the campaign, making phone calls to constituents, and working the election polls in my community - all through Mikva. Participating in Mikva opened doors for me that would not have been possible without being part of such an extraordinary organization.

Now, I am pursuing my undergraduate degree in biology with a minor in political science at the University of Illinois Springfield. I still carry the values and experiences that Mikva gave me. Many of the activities and choices I make now, like choosing my university for its proximity to the state capitol and the ease of getting involved in activism, are because of Mikva.

Mikva gave me the confidence to participate in life at UIS; I am now a member of the forensics debate team and I have a positive, open attitude that is supportive of change wherever I go. Whatever my future aspirations consist of - whether becoming a politician or an anesthesiologist - I know that it started with that fifteen-year-old high school student who wanted change, was motivated to find a way to make change within her society, and found agency through her participation in Mikva Challenge.

At Mikva Challenge, our mission is to train life-long civic leaders, and our alums, like Jinger, and students affirm our success in getting young people to become today and tomorrow's leaders. Click here to learn more about Mikva's Education Council.