Nearly a dozen Catholic high schools participate in the program
When Jonah Stolker first joined the Student to Student program, he was searching for a deeper understanding of his own Jewish identity.
“Somebody asked me, ‘What is Judaism all about?’ and I didn’t know how to answer,” the senior at Whitfield School said. “I didn’t even know where to start.”
Today, Jonah is one of about 120 Jewish teens who volunteer with Student to Student, a program of the Newmark Institute at the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis. The peer-to-peer initiative connects Jewish high school students with their non-Jewish classmates — including juniors from CBC High School, whom Jonah and four other teens addressed Feb. 19 at Congregation Temple Israel in Creve Coeur — to share firsthand experiences of Jewish life, traditions and identity. The program also aims to break down stereotypes, counter prejudice and antisemitism and foster deeper understanding.
Now an experienced presenter and group leader, Jonah speaks confidently about celebrating his bar mitzvah and his family’s observance of Shabbat and Jewish holidays. In helping others better understand his faith, he has come to understand it more fully himself, he said.
“There’s so much pride in Jewish identity — even apart from religion, but with culture and community and family being a central part of it,” Jonah said.
During the visit, students representing reform, conservative and orthodox traditions shared how they observe Shabbat, follow dietary laws and celebrate milestones such as bar and bat mitzvah, along with other Jewish holidays and customs.
Senior Rabbi Amy Feder of Congregation Temple Israel also introduced students to the Torah and explained key features of the sanctuary, including the bimah (a raised platform for reading the Torah); ark, which houses the Torah scrolls; and ner tamid, a lamp that hangs above the ark as a sign of God’s presence.
Through the program, Jewish teens develop leadership and public-speaking skills, while their non-Jewish peers gain a deeper understanding of Jewish life and belief, said Lauren Abraham, director of Student to Student in St. Louis.
“They get to decide which parts of the presentation that they’d best represent,” she said. “We tell them it’s OK to not know the answers to everything and we encourage that. We want them to share the realities of being Jewish, because those are equally as important as sharing Kosher laws. The impact is real.”
Batya Abramson Goldstein, then-executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of St. Louis, started the program in 1992 with several teen presenters and a handful of schools. It steadily grew throughout the St. Louis area, with 120 Jewish high school juniors and seniors giving more than 100 presentations in 40 area high schools every year, Abraham said. CBC is one of nearly a dozen Catholic high schools that participate in the program.
A separate nonprofit, Be The Narrative, was later founded to expand the Student to Student program beyond St. Louis. Today, the program is offered in 40 U.S. cities and two in Canada, reaching more than 21,000 student each year. In 2024, Be The Narrative announced a partnership with Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) to further expand the program’s national reach.
During the presentation at Congregation Temple Israel, CBC junior Elijah Conoyer reflected on the differences and similarities between his Catholic faith and Judaism. He admitted he knew little about kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) or Yom Kippur (a day of atonement), but was struck by parallels to his own Catholic faith — including fasting and abstinence during Lent and the sacrament of reconciliation.
“There were a lot of differences, and I was trying to comprehend it all, but I think this is really great for me to know and to be open to different faiths,” he said.
CBC teacher JP Cummings, who for several years has brought juniors in his world religions class to Student to Student presentations, said the peer-to-peer approach gives students a meaningful way to encounter faith through relationship. Hearing directly from Jewish teens helps his students better understand others’ traditions and their own, he said.
“The more knowledge and framework they have, the better they can explore it,” Cummings said. “What do we think we know about Judaism? OK, now I can use that to explore more.” Even when religious practices differ, he added, “the human heart is still the same.”
Daisy Lazaroff, a junior at John Burroughs School who began serving as a Student to Student presenter this year, said the dialogue fosters understanding and hopefully helps dismantle stereotypes and prejudice.
“Talking about anti-semitism and everything, the majority of it comes from ignorance and not knowing and never meeting anyone (who is Jewish) and just assuming that you know from social media and what you hear online,” she said. “I think it’s all of our goal to educate people and to show them that we’re real people, and that Judaism is so joyful and there’s so much to share. I feel like it’s the best way to combat anti-semitism.”
