As seniors, we have arrived at a time in our lives when we are being faced with having to make many decisions that we’ve never had to make. Choosing a college and seminary are high on that list. Most important, is what kind of people we strive to be. The decisions we make now are vital and will play a relevant role in our futures. As part of the senior seminar programs at Bruriah, our grade coordinators led a program to help us begin to understand what goes into making these decisions, and what our mindsets should be. The room in which the program was held had a table with many different types of snacks and we had to make an immediate decision of what snack we wanted. We discussed the thoughts that went through our heads in making this simple decision and why we chose our particular snack. Another exercise in decision making involved identifying human qualities and who in our grade personified those qualities. First, we made a decision as a group and later made our own individual decisions.

A highlight of the program was the powerful and inspiring message our teacher and grade advisor Yael Kaisman delivered, which delved into internal success versus external success. Mrs. Kaisman exposed us to a whole new perspective on values in our lives. Too often, we define ourselves by our external accomplishments rather than focusing on the internal efforts and qualities that only we may be able to see. Internal success is what will shape and develop each of us as a person because ultimately that is what will stay with us forever. When making a decision, we must identify what is important to us and align ourselves and our values with that so we make the right choices.

By Gila Alter