As I look back on the year that was, I am so proud of what we, at NCSY and Torah High, have accomplished. There have been many “firsts” this year, which have resulted in unprecedented numbers of Jewish engagement among our NCSY and Torah High families.

Yashar Koach (kudos) to our amazing and dedicated staff who work tirelessly to make sure that we constantly improve, grow, and become better at reaching out to Jewish teens; it is a mission for us all from which we cannot rest.

Our amazing firsts this last year include—

• having the highest number of public school students apply for Torah High in recent years;
• expanding the number of courses offered at Torah High, which now include courses in both Judaic and general studies;
• having the highest number of NCSYers attend our summer TJJ program in Israel;
• having the highest number of yeshiva day school students go on an NCSY summer program;
• having the highest number of NCSYers from Canada attend a national Yarchei Kallah in New York;
• doubling the number of NCSYers going on shabbatons;
• having parents of NCSYers join their children at our Spring Regional shabbaton.
• doubling the number of Junior NCSYers (Grades 6 to 8) who attended a shabbaton; and
• raising $1,081,000 within 24 hours with our Charidy™ campaign, which included Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, and an additional $128,170 by NCSY Vancouver.

I am incredibly proud of our accomplishments! We cannot slow down as we gear up with new plans and programs to reach even more teens and their parents. I, for one, am excited for what we have in store and look forward to sharing good news with all of you in the future.