Hanna Katz isn’t an average student at St. Teresa’s Academy. However, being the school’s only Jewish student is something she takes in stride.
“It hasn’t always been my favorite thing, but everyone is very accepting and curious about my faith and my tradition. It’s cool to have people to explain things to and who are curious,” the high school senior said.
The 17-year-old member of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, says studying at the Catholic school has actually strengthened her faith.
“It means I get to learn so much about another culture, about another religion… It makes me more confident in my Judaism,” she said.
B’nai Jehudah youth group adviser Amy Ravis Furey is pleased with Katz’s attitude.
“As a child of an interfaith family, how seriously she takes her Jewish identity impresses me,” Furey said.
Katz has taken many leadership roles in the community, most notably through the North American Federation of Temple Youth.
Currently, she is the religious and cultural vice president for NFTY’s Missouri Valley region and has been part of the local board through B’nai Jehudah for three years.
Last year, when she was the religious and cultural vice president for PB&J at B’nai Jehudah, she “decided it was time for youth group to enter the age of technology,” she said. This came in the form of a blog about what makes a Jew Jewish.
The daughter of Jill and Mark Katz said her most meaningful Jewish experience in Kansas City was last year’s Western Fall Chavurah, which she co-chaired with her friend Lauren Katz. More than 100 people participated.
“People were excited to be involved in these Jewish programs we had planned, and so much time and effort went into it. It was so cool to see people take things so seriously,” Hanna Katz said.
She has attended leadership training in New York and traveled in Europe and Israel, visiting sites related to Jewish history and culture, including Auschwitz.
Katz also wrote several pieces for the Kansas City Star’s Faith Walk column.
“I wrote about seeing the divinity in people we don’t agree with… obviously people at school have different religious and political views than I do, but those people are my friends,” Katz said.
Another Faith Walk column she wrote focused on Harry Potter.
“I’m a complete Harry Potter nerd, (but) it always evaded me that it completely alluded to the Holocaust,” she said.
A group of people at NFTY decided to go see the seventh Harry Potter film as part of a social event, and “when I was watching the movie, I realized the connection between the Holocaust and Harry Potter, so I wrote about my realization and then how it threw me back to when I went to Auschwitz that summer,” Katz said.
“My final article was about the first Shabbat at camp this summer. It was staff and avodah (staff member in training), and that was it. We did everything we normally do, but it was about 30 times more intense. Everyone was ready to start camp. Havdalah was beautiful,” she said. “We sat and sang songs, we were outside. It was absolutely incredible, and my closest friends were with me.”
NFTY isn’t Katz’s only Jewish outlet. She has attended the Goldman Union Camp Institute, better known as GUCI, as a camper for seven years. This past summer, she was there as an avodah. Katz wants to apply for a counselor position next year.
“I attend a Catholic school, so it’s really nice over the summer to go to GUCI and be in a completely Jewish environment, and I know it’s important to my parents that I have a Jewish environment I really love,” Katz said.
Katz is looking at colleges for next year and has her eye on Emerson College in Boston, Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles or the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She hopes to become a director and is impressed with the film programs at those schools. Katz plans to be involved with Hillel programs wherever she goes.
The leadership skills she has learned through her involvement with Jewish youth groups, such as commanding the attention of a group, will be helpful if she becomes a director, Katz says.
“She really is an exemplary leader. She has a vision of where she sees the community going … she makes that happen because she cares so much,” Furey said. “As an adult looking at teens like Hanna, it gives me great hope for the future of our community. She has such passion for our community and Reform Judaism. She’s going to be a leader for years to come.”