ERVIN MALAKAJ

We recently asked Mikva Challenge Alumnus, Ervin Malakaj, to share a few things about his experiences at Mikva Challenge, and here is what he had to say:

I started with Mikva Challenge back in 2002 during my senior year at Amundsen High School. Mia Henry, then my history teacher at Amundsen, helped organize and run the Mikva Challenge Club. Our club met weekly to discuss Chicago politics, figure out ways to get involved in the then upcoming gubernatorial elections, and start a community of politically aware and actively involved students at the school. From time to time, we would meet with students from other schools in Chicago at Mikva events. This year of living and breathing politics changed my life. 

Mikva Challenge helped me gain access to volunteer opportunities that led me to become more conscious about local, state, and national politics. These valuable experiences in turn also helped me develop leadership skills of which I benefited during my studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There I got a B.A. and a M.A. in German Literature and Language, which led me to my current studies in the PhD Program in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Washington University in St. Louis. I study and teach both language and literature here at WashU in preparation for an academic career afterward.

Without my continual involvement with Mikva Challenge in high school, I probably would not be in the place I am today. The leadership, communication, and organizational skills that I developed with my experiences at Mikva Challenge were crucial for my intellectual growth.

At Mikva Challenge, our mission is to train life-long civic leaders, and our alums, like Ervin, and students affirm our success in getting young people to become today and tomorrow's leaders.