“There is universal consensus that she’d do a great job. She has an awe-inspiring amount of energy,” says David K. Hammer ’06, head of Hillel’s Leadership Council.

Many members of Hillel never even realized that there had not been a female president in the past.

“I was surprised when I found out that Anna was the first female president, since there were already so many positions filled by women,” says Alexander L. Edelman ’07, dining hall coordinator at Hillel.

Aaron K. Harris ’06, the drama supervisor at Hillel, noted that other women have held high-level positions within the Jewish organization. For example, he says, the chair of the board of the Hillel Orthodox minyan is a woman.

Harris says the fact that Solomon-Schwartz is a woman is not as important as her leadership abilities.

“[Solomon-Schwartz] is very grounded in her beliefs and she is open to everyone. It will help her pull in many people to Hillel,” says Harris.

JOURNEY TO THE TOP

When Solomon-Schwartz first arrived at Harvard, she was inspired by the powerful presence of the Jewish community, despite having attended a Jewish day school for 13 years in her hometown of Rockville, Md.

“The community was extremely warm and friendly, always reaching out to new students,” says Solomon-Schwartz.

Motivated by her positive experiences during Freshman Week, Solomon-Schwartz applied to be a freshman liaison as a first-year undergraduate and eventually became a co-coordinator for Freshman Week activities.

“My Freshman Week experiences are what sparked my interest in Hillel, and I just wanted to give back to the community that was so welcoming to me,” she says.

From Shabbat dinners to John Harvard’s bar mitzvah, Solomon-Schwartz says she helped organized a multitude of events to introduce Hillel to newly-arrived students.

Solomon-Schwartz says she has already begun planning for the upcoming year.

“As president, when people give me ideas, I will be empowered to do something about them,” says Solomon-Schwartz.

She says social service is a huge tenet of Judaism and while social action at Hillel has been relatively strong in the past, she wants to develop more volunteer opportunities.