Awardees Leading Change

Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awardees are continuing their work, moving forward with their leadership, and standing out as national role models. Check out the incredible national features on Sabina London, (2017), Katie Eder (2017), Arielle Geismar (2019).

The teen leaders of 2020 are already submitting applications for the next cohort of Awardees. Applications are due January 8, 2020; start an application now.

Sabina London, 2017 Awardee

Featured in the New York Times

“…my junior year of high school, [Stem We Can!] had six camps, and the next year 13 camps, and now we’re at around 95 camps and school programs in 17 states.”

When Sabina London won a Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award in 2017 she was shocked to see how few other girls were in her high school Honors Chemistry class. So she launched STEM You Can! and expanded one middle school and high school girls’ science camp into free STEM summer programs across fourteen states. Now STEM You Can! has 95 camp and school programs, which have served more than 3,500 students.

Sabina is currently a senior at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in neuroscience and is planning to “eventually” go to medical school to be a physician/scientist and do research. Always curious, she’s still exploring her options.

Katie Eder

2017 Awardee

Recognized for leading change in YR Media, a national network of young journalists and artists

“There’s a tendency to make young people feel small and that their voice doesn’t matter. We have to stand up for our generation and the generations to come to see the solutions that we want and the people in power that we want.”

Arielle Giesmar, 2019 Awardee

Arielle was awarded a Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award for her leadership and development of NYC Says Enough, an organization devoted to addressing the institutional nature of gun violence and an outlet for direct teen and youth action. She currently serves as the New York State president of Team Enough.

Arielle has been working with Governor Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers to pass gun legislation to increase community safety. She’s also the associate director at Gen Z Girl Gang and the national action chair of the Next Gen Activist Women’s Caucus.

Accepting Applications for the 2020 Awards

Hear directly from the Awardees about their experiences…

New on the Blog: Not Your Typical College Scholarships for Jewish Students

College can be very expensive with private school tuition costing, on average, $34,000 per and public schools costing anywhere from $9,000-$25,000.

Past Diller Teen Tikkun Olam awardees have shared how daunting those numbers can be for both teens and their parents. While the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards are not explicitly college scholarships, many recipients apply their award as a scholarship.

The Awards – Live on Instagram

THURSDAYS – 4pm (PST)

Get all of your questions about the Awards answered live on Instagram with Erica Aren, Program Director.

Typically we’ll be available live at 4:00pm (PST), but for Thanksgiving week, join us on Tuesday, November 26th, also at 4:00pm (PST).

Join us to get the information you need in order to start your application or to nominate a teen leader in your community.

Text “diller” to 31996 to get a reminder a few minutes before we go live!

Welcome Jessie!

Jessie Austin is the new Marketing and Outreach Manager, working to bring awareness of the Awards across the country.

Jessie is thrilled to join the Awards team, merging her three great passions: Judaism, social justice, and youth empowerment. Jessie was most recently the Jewish Community Outreach Coordinator at JVS, running the Kohn Summer Internship Program. A proud Bay Area native, she holds a degree in Modern Jewish Studies from San Francisco State University and spent many years running programs and teaching social justice through the arts at Rooftop Elementary School. On Shabbat you can find Jessie singing at The Kitchen, a religious start up in San Francisco, where she helps people connect to Judaism through music.

Reach out to Jessie if you are interested in helping to spread the word about the Awards in your community or school.