Welcome to the Boulder Jewish Teen Initiative! We are the gateway to your Jewish journey: A home for meaningful connections, dynamic activities, and personal enrichment for Jewish teenagers in the greater Boulder Area.

The Boulder Jewish Teen Initiative (BJTI) was created through generous funding from the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Rose Community Foundation to cater to Boulder’s unique Jewish community. We hope to attract and engage teens from both affiliated and non-­affiliated backgrounds through robust offerings that span topics, frequency and levels of engagement that take into account teens’ schedules, learning styles and have specific skills and relationships as tangible outcomes.

We have broken down our programs into six main themes. Below you will see a sampling of programs from our Fall calendar from each category.

• Arts & Culture – Legal Graffiti? An exploration of Graffiti and its evolution as an art form, venue for political activism and its modern iterations from Israel. There will be an opportunity to try your hand at creating your own graffiti on Boulder’s legal graffiti wall.
• Offbeat Exploration – Challahween: Is it Kosher? How “kosher” is it to celebrate Halloween? Rabbi Marc Soloway and Rabbi Sarah Bracha will lead us in a discussion exploring where the modern “Witch” originated from and how this holiday can uphold cultural appropriation.
• Social Action – BJTI Mitzvah Day Help out those less fortunate who do not have a place to turn during the Holiday season. Join us as we partner with Bridge House – serving Boulder’s homeless and working poor.
• Social/Networking – Tailgating for Teens Kick off your school year right by catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. This event will feature goof, games and fun in the sun!
• Sports/Adventure – Hiking & Havdalah End the Sabbath with a shirt hike and Havdalah experience while reconnection with nature and friends.
• Street Cred & Clout – Resumes and Ruach with Danielle Menditch Interact with an expert and learn the tricks of the trade to building a great resume and landing the ideal summer job.

Along with programming in these main categories we also host Jewsday, a bi-monthly ‘fast casual’ hang out after school at various locations throughout Boulder, Louisville and Longmont for a chance to meet teens from other schools while enjoying some free food!

Want to hang out with us during the school day? Join one of our High School Clubs; Jewish Student Connection exists to help high school students explore the multitude of ways that being Jewish means to them, inspiring proud personal connections with our culture, with our People, with Israel – with each other. JSC is proud to have clubs at:

• Boulder High School
• Centaurus High School
• Fairview High School.

JSC clubs are student led – students determine how often the club is held, brainstorm and implement topics to be discussed and help recruit other students to attend. Food is a staple at JSC clubs, so stop by, nosh for a while, meet new people, and see what topic or program is being offered that day.

Have questions or want to find out more?! Feel free to email our Program Coordinator, Maya Osterman at maya@myjsc.org or check out our website BOULDERJEWISHTEENS.ORG. Keep your eyes on the Boulder Jewish News, as we’ll be posting reminders about our programs.