The culminating event for the pilot of the Shagririm program took place on Thursday, May 26, 2011 at UCLA Hillel.
Distinguished guests and supporters of the Shagririm program attended the event including Deputy Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles, Gil Artzyeli; Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs; Wayne Klitofsky, AIPAC West LA Director; Oren Lazar, AIPAC Valley Director; Arlene Miller, Associate Executive Director of UCLA Hillel; Marissa Sharpe, Chief Operating Officer of Prager University; ILC Co-Chair Eli Tene, and parents and friends of the Shagririm.
Visionaries and sponsors of the Shagririm program and ILC Board Members, Gila and Adam Milstein also attended to see the results of this new program. Shagririm could not have happened without the Milstein Family Foundation and their dedication to the students.
Shagrir, David Bocarsly served as MC for the night and introduced Adam Milstein who expressed his vision and goals for the program. Adam introduced guest speaker Deputy Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles, Gil Artzyeli who touched on the importance of Israel advocacy on campus and encouraged the students to continue their activism.
ILC Co-Chair Eli Tene then addressed the graduating Shagririm, congratulating them on finishing the program and thanking them for their dedication and hard work. He went further to express that the successful results of the pilot Shagririm group, proves just how necessary and important it is to have a program like Shagririm on campus to touch and reach out to students who would never cross paths with the subject of Israel. Eli also announced the ILC’s aspirations to grow and further expand Shagririm to other universities in the future.
Marissa Sharpe, who played a major role in the execution of the Shagririm program and contributed to its success, also congratulated the students and expressed her pride of seeing the group achieve such great accomplishments on their campuses.
Following the speakers, the Shagririm were introduced to present their projects: Sivan Cohen, “Music Culture Night”; Miri Kornfeld, “Unity in Concert”; Miriam Eshaghian and Jessica Kianmahd, “Women Empowerment Night”; Jessica Shomof and Auriel Streit, “A Taste of the Middle East”; Ronit Hakakha, “Bringing Arts to WTP”; David Bocarsly and Raquel Saxe, “Bruin Leaders Dinner”; and Jon Waxer, on AIPAC Policy Conference. Each Shagrir presented their project, its success, impact, and what they learned from their experience throughout the Shagrirm program.
In gratitude to Adam and Gila Milstein and the Milstein Family Foundation, the Shagririm presented them with an award for their dedication to strengthening and empowering the future leadership and for their contributions to our community and the State of Israel.
![]()
![]()
At the conclusion of the event, Adam and Gila Milstein presented certificates to the graduating Shagririm, acknowledging their successful completion of the program.