interfaith – CA Work Experience Program

St. Timothy’s Day 8 last day Adi Solomon

Today was the last day of WEP, and I for one, am sad to leave my hosting school of St. Timothy’s. I have gotten so close with the students and staff alike, exemplified by two experiences I had on this final day. One of the admission’s faculty, Mrs., Mitchell, who I had become close with over the two weeks, had asked me the previous week about my Jewish prayer practice. I explained that one of the most integral parts of my prayer practice, and Judaism as a whole, is gratefulness. Every morning, the first prayer one is supposed to recite in the modeh ani. Unlike most prayers, this prayer does not first talk about thanking god, but starts with 3 ever important words: I am grateful. After hearing of my practice, both Mrs. Baird and Mrs. Mitchell told me the following day that in the morning, they had also shown gratitude by simply being grateful for being alive. In fact, Mrs. Mitchell asked me to scan my siddur (prayer book) page for the prayer so she could keep a copy of it to remember me, and the power of gratefulness. As for the kids, the last few moments of my time at St. Timothy’s can be summed up in one word: group hug. As I walked to my car, crossing the playground, the 7th and 6th grade boys who I had gotten so close with over the past two weeks swarmed me in a big group hug. “do you really have to go!?” I’m gonna miss your magic tricks” “I’m gonna miss you” “You better follow me back on Instagram” and many other heart warming comments rang out as I attempted to escape the friends I so unfortunately had to leave. Say what you want, but yo can bet that during 8th grade graduation next year, you will see me at St. Timothy’s ready to greet and congratulate these boys with the same energy and enthusiasm they showed me thorughout these past two weeks. The amount of learning, friendship, faith, connection, and genuinely kind and compassionate people I met over these past two weeks is truly astounding. I want to once again thank Mrs. Baird, St. Timothy’s, and all of the staff and students for being so kind and welcoming to me over these past few weeks. Like Mrs. Baird said as I left, “Don’t be a stranger, you have a home at St. Timothy’s anytime”. Love, Adi

Day 7 St. Timothy’s Adi Solomon

Today was my second to last day at St. Timothy’s, and I got to see and participate in many end of the year activities. The two I will talk about were the last chapel service of the year and the end of year awards ceremony. Just like in the past week, I was able to read the scripture for the service (in this case a portion of the torah), and help in the structure of the service. Along with this, the end of year ceremony allowed me, and everybody else, to participate through cheering on peers and classmates. Many awards were given out for a wide variety of classes and achievements, but what I loved most was the immense cheering and applause everyone was offered. Today was a great day of closure as the end of the year is near. I feel so lucky to have had this experience and feel a sense of bitter sweetness approaching my last day tomorrow.

St. Timothy’s Day 2 Adi Solomon

Today was just as exciting as the last. Along with helping out with lower school and middle school recess, which was very fun and enjoyable, I also worked with Reverend Britany. I greatly enjoyed the time we spent seeing the church, learning out the episcopal traditions, and discussing my role in the upcoming chapel service. Funny enough, they are actually doing a unit on Judaism in school, and because of this, I will be bringing my tallit and tefillin into school tomorrow to show to the kids. This interfaith learning and experience is so beautiful and fun because we can all learn so much from each other.