Harvey Van Blerkom, Candidate for the 5th Board of Manhattan AZA
Harvey Van Blerkom
Union BBYO #5102
aspiring to be your 5th Regional Aleph Godol
Biographical Information
School:
LREI | Class of 2022
NYC Neighborhood:
Chelseea
Favorite Restaurant in NYC:
Chipotle (Not Dos Toros)
Favorite Quote (and who said it):
"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." -Walt Disney
Who is one of your Role Models and why?
One of my role models is my grandpa because his resilience and passion has always inspired me to do more, and persevere through adversity.
Reflection Questions
Why do you want to serve in the position for which you are caucused? Why are you qualified to do so? What will you uniquely bring to the Regional Board?
I want to serve as Aleph Godol because as we approach the end of the pandemic and virtual programming in the near future, the transition to “normal” BBYO will make or break our region. I will put a stronger emphasis on how we approach Aleph Engagement; instead of putting our emphasis on active regional members, we should aim to increase the participation among young, new, and inactive members. I’ll incorporate my knowledge from regional and international positions in BBYO to the region. In BBYO, I’ve programmed, recruited, promoted, and engaged Judaicly. I’m a founding member of my chapter, have served in leadership positions for 4 years, and have experience doing anything and everything BBYO has to offer. I will bring my perspective as an Aleph in a BBYO chapter, my unique and creative ideas that I’m eager to explore, and most importantly myself to this position and to you.
Select one of the Cardinal Principles and explain how you apply this principle in your day-to-day life. How does this principle influence your leadership style?
AZA is a fraternity: it is an opportunity for high schoolers to lead, engage, and enjoy spending time with people who have a common link, Judaism. Every day, in my chapter, I’ve helped plan multiple AZA fraternal events, and have started to take that AZA, fraternal based programming to the region. As Aleph Godol, I want to establish new ways for our Alephs to engage with each other, and I want every Aleph in the region, including those in BBYO chapters, to have more experiences as a fraternity. As a member of a BBYO chapter, I lacked many of these early in my BBYO experience. As I’ve been engaged in more AZA events, my excitement, passion, and engagement in BBYO has grown. I cannot wait to begin to explore how the fraternity of Manhattan AZA grows in the next year, and I hope you give me the chance to lead it.
How will you help build a hard-working, supportive, and fun team consisting of the AZA Regional Board, the BBG Regional Board, and the Regional Staff? How will you help get these different groups to share goals and pull in the same direction all year long?
Over the course of my life, I’ve been on many teams, from sports to BBYO board, and in that time, I’ve served most roles. I’ve been the captain of my basketball and baseball teams at school, I’ve been the Moreh of my chapter for two years, and I’ve been a general teammate. My different experiences as a team member have given me a unique, whole understanding of what a good team needs. Most importantly, a team needs a leader: they need someone who has experience and knows the task in front of them. Number two, a team needs collective enthusiasm: they need someone fun, who knows how to balance creativity, work, and long-term focus. As a leader, I’ve managed people, and kept them on track for entire seasons for one goal: to succeed. I fully believe that I am the leader Manhattan Region needs to succeed in this upcoming year.