Yehezkel Lipinsky did the Kohn internship at UJA's Community Connect in 2011, got hired full-time as editor-in-chief, and stayed connected for years. His brother was in the first cohort and his sister participated too. He argues the paid internship builds leaders who inspire others and deserves continued funding.
Hi, my name is Yecheskel Lipinski, and I was just a Kona Intern from June to August 2011. What's really exciting about my internship is that it's not exactly over. I got rehired by the place I was interning at, UJA's Community Connect. I was able to even pitch my job functions, and they listened. I'm right now editor-in-chief of The Judo, UJ's Community Connects blog, and it will be premiering in a few months, and it's just so exciting. It's thrilling to be here. I even have my own phone, my extension, and I'm even getting a nameplate, so that's really cool. I think the Cohn Internship inspires, it inspires leaders, and it's true that it's an investment. The people who are in it get paid, but I think what that allows them to do is partake in that leadership experience without having to take on any financial difficulties. And I think when we just look at it, we say, "That's a lot of money for 15 to 25 people." But I think what we have to understand is that these people are leaders. And leaders are self-motivators and inspire other leaders. You know, I'm actually the third child in my family to do the Kohn internship. My brother did it, and he was in the first cohort. And he's still working on Kohn programming right now for alumni. My sister was in it, and it's probably given her a way to what she'll want to do in her career, and she still keeps up very regularly with the people who she interned with. I think that's so incredible about it. We often wonder, how long does change last? You know, today apparently is a national day to wear your Jewish camp shirt, and I'm wearing my camp shirt, summer camp. And what's the interesting thing is that it's not even summer. Summer's over 200 days away. It's not even hot outside, and yet I'm wearing the shirt. I think that shows how profound change can be and how much people can really be affected by a program. I think a program like KONE is like that. It's something that, yes, it only affects a few people, but those few people have the mindset to affect many. So I ask you to please save KONE because it's really worthwhile.
