SSI Student Spotlight: Ethan Harrison
Ethan Harrison is a Sophomore Computer Science major at Wake Forest University. Being passionate about computer science, Ethan hopes to eventually go into web design or graphic design. He wants to make computers easy for everyone to use and be able to interact with.
Ethan serves his chapter of Students Supporting Israel as the President. His duties in this capacity include staying in contact with SSI Nationals, hosting various events such as, film-screenings, speakers, and tabling regularly. Most importantly, his role teaches others about Israel and current events surrounding Israel. As president, SSI has given him a very valuable leadership opportunity. As a leader of the club, he explains that he has already learned so much. The club being one that supports Israel, has allowed Ethan to gain more perspective on the country, as well as express his learnings on Israel and execute this information as an educator
“SSI has helped me express that it doesn’t have to be 100% with Israel. I don’t always agree with Israel’s actions, but I still support it.”
Because of the nature of Wake Forrest, which Ethan describes as apathetic towards Israel, Ethan tries to stay in touch with Hillel and AEPi, where he also serves as AEPi, Secretary (Scribe), and Hillel Religion/Education Chair. He explains that the biggest challenge at Wake Forrest is there are many diverse opinions at Wake Forrest, so there are many who like Israel and many who dislike Israel on his medium sized University.
He adds,
“I think as our student body grows, so does the number of opinions people have. it’s important for everybody to be able to share and fight for what they believe. Sometimes two things conflict, and then it comes down to who is right and who should be allowed to say what they believe. Everyone should have a chance to stand up for what they believe in because that’s what SSI is doing.”
While there isn’t an anti-Israel group on campus, Ethan’s SSI team likes to play offense. They want to be the first to say explain Israel to the student body. There was a Palestinian Solidarity Week on campus, but one of the problems with the event was representing the Israeli side of things.
The SSI chapter at Wake Forrest was standing when Ethan came to campus, and he joined because of his connection to Israel which he describes:
“There’s always been for me growing up an inherent connection to the land of Israel. When I was fourteen, I traveled there (Israel) for the first time, and fell in love with it. I got more involved in the current state and what it means today based on the modern political climate and how to fight for it. Knowing it’s the land for the Jewish people has always been something I connect with.”
His rabbi, who took Ethan on his first Israel trip, taught him a lot about what it means to be a Jewish person, as well as traditions, and holidays. He explained why it’s important to support Israel as the Jewish homeland.
It wasn’t until a session during his class that he learned about the geopolitical situation in Israel, where it became imperative to learn as much as he could about Israel besides his inherent support as a proud Jew. A year later, Ethan went to AIPAC, where he learned more in addition to Hebrew school, and throughout high school where he learned as much as he could about Israel. In college, he made sure to find a similar outlet — which led him to SSI.
Prior to SSI coming to campus, there was really no outreach or advocacy on behalf of Israel. There is definitely a growing jewish community, but SSI has finally given campus the tools needed to teach students who don’t know much about Israel an outlet for learning.
Ethan’s biggest goal in SSI is to give as many people as much of the story as possible.
“The most important thing to do in grassroots is to be as honest as possible,” Ethan says, “Teaching moments are good for sharing. If we do our jobs correctly, other people recognize Israel’s successes on their own. I like to lay it all out there and discover for themselves.”
His favorite SSI memory would be last year’s first SSI event of the school year. Before joining SSI, seeing other people throughout the event and knowing the events were being hosted and attended by students, let Ethan see that other students were Zionists as well. In his own words, Zionism, is,
“the ideology that Israel is the true homeland and safe haven for the Jewish people. Zionism means being a person who truly loves and cares for Israel.”
Ethan’s passion for Israel shows success with his chapter. He attributes much of this positivity to his Vice President, Eli Allison, who has been very helpful to making Wake Forrest SSI become a strong group on campus.
