Ramon AZA (NRE-DC)

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Ilan Ramon AZA #2382 is a chapter located in DC Council and Northern Region East BBYO. It was founded in 1996 and originally named for Jerome "Curly" Horwitz of the Three Stooges, but changed its name in 2006 to honor Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut that died on Space Shuttle Columbia, and also to set the tone for a resurrection of the chapter after several years of struggling.

Contents

[edit] Chapter Officers

[edit] Chapter Advisors

  • Aaron Ilkovitch
  • Scott Goff

[edit] History and Traditions

[edit] History

1996-1999 In 1996, Aaron Sanders started an AZA chapter with his hebrew school friends and named it after Jerome Horwitz, more commonly known as "Curly" on the Three Stooges. Curly AZA grew rapidly that year, reaching over 30 members. Rick Penn became Curly's first advisor. Soon after, Mark Alperin became the second advisor. Curly won DC Council's Most Improved Chapter award in 1998.

1999-00 In spring 1999, the first Curly members were elected to DC Council's Exec Board. Andrew Blate was elected Council S'gan, and Aaron Sanders was elected Council Moreh. Both recieved life membership in DC Council at Council Convention 2000.

2000-01 Craig Schneibolk was elected to Council Board. Rick Penn and Mark Alperin both left the chapter, so Jeff Kauffman stepped in and became Curly's third advisor. Craig became the third Curly aleph to recieve DC Council life membership at Council Convention 2001. Curly won the DC Council AZAA Basketball Championship for the first time.

2001-02 Continuing the representation, Rob Rothstein was elected DC Council Gizbor in 2001, and Heath Einstein became Curly's fourth advisor. Curly won the DC Council AZAA Basketball Championship for the second year in a row, and created the "Air Curly" t-shirts. Curly AZA was awarded DC Council Most Improved Chapter at Awards Night 2002. At a chapter meeting in which two Israeli teens were in attendance, an effort to explain attention deficit disorder (ADD) led to the "Aleph Daled Daled" t-shirts, one of the most famous shirts in international BBYO. Curly won an international award for the Holocaust program planned by Jared Cohen.

2002-03 Ari Sliffman was elected DC Council Gizbor, making two years in a row Curly controlled the Council's money. Curly won a first-place international award for "Kids Kicking Their Way To Health", where members went to a local elementary school soccer league and ran a program about the dangers of smoking. Players from Washington's professional soccer teams, D.C. United and the Washington Freedom were also in attendance. Curly, however, began to fall on hard times, as active membership started to rapidly decline.

2003-04 Ari Sliffman was elected DC Council Godol, putting the council in Curly's hands. Jared Kahan was also elected DC Council Mazkir. Ari became the fourth Curly aleph to recieve Council Life at Council Convention 2004. Unfortunately, Heath Einstein got a new job at a school in Westchester, NY, and left after Chapter Convention 04. Jeff Kauffman was also burning out as an advisor, but was originally going to stay on until a replacement was found. However, Jeff's mother died during the summer, and his father moved in with them. This left Jeff with no more time for Curly, and he left during the summer as well. Active membership dropped to 3, and it appeared Curly would not re-emerge from the summer.

2004-05 Fresh off attending CLTC V 2004, Morie "Bo" Newman stepped up and kept Curly alive. Founder Aaron Sanders breifly became Curly's fifth advisor, but only made it until December before being overcome at work and having to leave. The chapter would go the rest of the year without an advisor, but was kept alive by Bo as Godol and Joey Hankin as Mazkir. The 04-05 year was barely surviving, but the chapter kept going and made it to summer.

2005-present In spring 2005, Ian Cohen moved to Maryland from Dallas, where he had been a member of Eamonn Lacey AZA and the North Texas-Oklahoma Region. He joined Curly and began helping Bo and Joey in running the chapter. Bo, Joey, and Ian all attended international programs that summer, and came back ready to revive the chapter. Bo remained Godol for the fall term, with Joey as S'gan and Ian as Moreh. In December, right before Regional Convention, Curly finally got a new advisor, Aaron Ilkovitch. In January, Aaron's old AZA friend Scott Goff became Curly's seventh advisor. Ian and Bo switched roles for the spring term, with Bo also helping out as Kohen Godol. In February, a name change was proposed so that the chapter could start fresh, and the selected name was that of Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut. The change became official, and the chapter began new life as Ramon AZA. Currently, membership is up, and Ramon AZA is slowly improving. Everyone is looking forward to Chapter Convention 2006: We're On a Mission From God.

[edit] Chapter Events

  • Video Night - During one night each year, members of the chapter go around with video cameras and make a movie about something, or just film themselves doing funny stuff.
  • Chapter Convention - Held in late May/early June. The chapter goes camping for a weekend, eats lots of hamburgers, makes lots of fire, and builds brotherhood. Chapter Life is recieved by qualified outgoing seniors, and Lifetimes are held on the last night for the seniors to talk about their BBYO experiences.
  • Family Shabbat - Once a year, parents are invited to have Shabbat dinner with the chapter members, so that they can meet everyone and learn about AZA.

[edit] Home of:

  • Colors - Green and Black
  • Mascot - The Ramon Rockets
  • Song - "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors
  • the 05-06 International Teen Connection Chairman Morie "Bo" Newman
  • the 1995 teal Ford Windstar
  • "La Migra!"
  • 11 registered Alephs and many potentials.

[edit] Links

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