Rabbi Richard Kirsch, Kushner faculty member and adviser to the school’s AIPAC group, received the Early Engagement Exemplar award at the annual AIPAC Policy Conference, held earlier this week in Washington, DC.

At Sunday’s AIPAC on Campus session, entitled “Amplifying High School Activism,” Rabbi Kirsch, husband of Jewish Link Senior Editor Jill Kirsch, was presented with the award by AIPAC Director of Leadership Development Aaron Teitelbaum and AIPAC Early Engagement Director Josh Losner. Speaking before the hundreds of gathered high school students, Losner noted Rabbi Kirsch’s longtime commitment to AIPAC and his deep understanding of AIPAC’s mission and its importance to future generations. His words were met with shouts and cheers from the assembled RKYHS student delegation, as well as Rabbi Kirsch’s family, who traveled by airplane, train, bus and car to join him as he received this award.

The delegation was filled with pride as Rabbi Kirsch received the well-deserved award, given to leaders of student AIPAC groups. Rabbi Kirsch, who has been bringing Kushner groups to the conference for nearly 10 years, was the only faculty adviser in the country to receive this award.

The Kushner group of close to 50 students was one of the largest student delegations in the country, as it has been in each of the last several years. Throughout the three day Israel advocacy conference, the students were taught about the vital importance of the US-Israel relationship and were given the opportunity to select from dozens of informative breakout sessions to build their own schedules on topics of interest to them, including the Iran nuclear threat, BDS, diversity in Israel and the best political ads of 2016.

The Kushner delegation took part in AIPAC’s general session for the four thousand high school and college students in attendance, held at the Verizon Center on Monday. Students also heard from inspiring speakers, including Israel’s Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, Vice President Mike Pence and US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, whose words were met with standing ovations and thunderous applause.

The AIPAC Policy Conference was a natural next step for the student members of the RKYHS AIPAC student group. The group meets weekly to plan political advocacy projects, host guest speakers, hear student presentations and participate in special trips.