Stevenson junior sees 26 cities in 36 days
While most teenagers were sleeping in and enjoying time away from the classroom, one student spent his entire summer traveling the country by bus, studying history and current events.
Steven Aranyi, now a junior at Stevenson High School, visited 26 cities in 36 days as the only student from Illinois to take part in the cultural and educational program called Etgar 36.
It is a program for Jewish teens to travel around the United States to learn about history, politics and activism where it actually happened, said Billy Planer, who created the program in 2002.
From visiting Dealey Plaza where President John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963, to Ellis Island in New York, to learning about illegal immigration in California, the trip really opened his eyes, Aranyi said.
The group stopped in Denver to hear from the father of a Columbine school shooting victim, and the next day listened to a representative from the National Rifle Association explain their views.
Planer said the program is not politically leaning either way, but looks to help students develop their American and Jewish identities.
“One of the goals of the trip is for them to realize that these are not two different identities, but that they meld into one,” Planer said.
In Dallas, the group visited an LGBT synagogue to learn about the issues facing members of that community who also value their Jewish religion. There, Aranyi said, he began to understand how hurtful it is when people use the expressed ‘that's so gay' in everyday conversations.
In New York, the group visited ground zero, the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that happened before most of the students were even in kindergarten.
During five Friday nights, the students participated in Shabbat services of various denominations within Jewish culture, ranging from Reform to Orthodox.
Even the name of the trip is seeded in meaning. Etgar, which means change in Hebrew, refers to the development of the students during the trip. Thirty-six stands for the number of days of the trip, but also represents the double life of American Jews. In Hebrew, the word chai means life, and the numerical value is 18, double that to get the life of an American and the life of a Jewish American, Planer explained.
“Steven was great to have, he was willing to have his views challenged and debated, which is the point,” Planer said. “To get them to think. To have them challenge each other about what they already know and learn what they don't.”
Although Aranyi spent his summer on a bus with students from across the country he had never met, he said the group bonded instantly and could fall back on the commonalty of their Judaism.
“Being Jewish is very important to me,” he said. “I feel very close to my religion. I take it seriously as a part of my identity.”
Aranyi said he hopes to study history in college, but he knows the lessons from this summer will help him long into his future.
“I learned what it means to be an activist and speak up for what you believe in,” Aranyi said. “If you don't speak up, then nobody will.”