Danya Baird
Internship placement: Chabad Ottawa
Personal Statement
Danya Baird is a third year Political Science student at Carleton University. She hopes to attend law school following the completion of my bachelor’s degree and work as a human rights lawyer, having always had a passion for reaching out to those in need. In addition to politics and law, Danya is passionate about music and plays three instruments. This year she takes the position of Carleton president for Chabad Ottawa. Throughout the year she will be planning and organizing events, working to increase student involvement and interacting with Carleton’s student government on Chabad’s behalf.
Blog #1
January 3, 2019
Throughout the past semester I have had the privilege of working for the Chabad Student Network of Ottawa as their Carleton President. Working along side my fellow executives as well as Rabbi Chaim Boyarsky has been an eye opening opportunity into the small yet prevalent Jewish community of Ottawa. Not only have I come to appreciate more the enormous efforts put into maintaining the Jewish presence we have in Ottawa, but I have also been given the tools to ensure its growth.
As my first time as a club executive, it was initially nerve-wracking to see the number of events and activities we regularly plan, but the support received not only from my peers but from DFL’s programing has acted as great encouragement and assistance when dealing with issues.
Being a Chabad executive however has not simply been about running activities and events for Jewish students, but also acting as a representative of the greater Jewish community. Throughout the semester, for example, having to deal with Anti-Semitic vandalism and choosing how public to make issues when Jews are often looked at as those who ‘cried wolf’. It can be heart breaking to be confronted with these acts and to not make them as public as possible, for fear of worse occurring in response. However as a person, I have found it so important, this experience has allowed me not only to grow as a leader but also to grow as a Jew. Being a part of a group that takes such pride in our heritage and refuses to compromise in the face of blatant hatred has been inspiring.
As Jews however, we have not solely had to deal with hatred from others but also with great divisions within our own community. Many students have not felt comfortable attending Chabad due to its religious associations and as President of Carleton I have been working along side my fellow executives to reach out to individuals in the community to remedy this negative perception. Bringing Jewish youth together under one roof has been the clear goal of Chabad, where the vast majority of students are not religious.
Through both my experiences at Chabad and at DFL I have been able to see sides to the Jewish community that I had never had the opportunity to in the past. Not simply as a visitor within a greater organization but as one of those who actively shape it. DFL has and continues to teach me the immense good that can come for taking this initiative and how within our small community, such initiative can have even larger effects.