Among the Jewish institutions and organizations in northern Colorado is BBYO, operating out of Har Shalom in Fort Collins. The combination of the coronavirus and some graduating seniors meant the chapter had gone quiet. But that changed in the last year as Berthoud teen Zelda Stebbins has taken the reins.
The Stebbins family returned to Colorado after dad Rich retired from the US military. He and wife Debbie had lived in Lakewood decades earlier. Affordability drew them to Berthoud and proximity drew the family to Har Shalom in Fort Collins.
It turned out to be a great fit for all three family members, who value the congregation’s community focus. Religious school parents support each other as their kids come up the ranks, says Rich, celebrating each other’s Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.
Zelda’s involvement with BBYO emerged post-Bat Mitzvah. “In seventh grade we had a meeting about what to do to continue in your Judaism. And what I saw with BBYO was a great experience to get to know people, but not just people from Fort Collins, but from Boulder, Denver and other chapters across our region and even globally.”
When a religious school teacher at Har Hashem asked who was interested in taking a leadership position, Zelda stepped up. Today, the freshman at Loveland High is the N’siah of the Fort Collins BBYO #5396, which has grown to around 20 members, with eight prospect members in the pipeline. The group is open to anyone Jewish, she says, regardless of synagogue affiliation. “You don’t have to be practicing, you just have to be Jewish,” she says.
Events range from the social — slip and slime — to more obviously Jewish events, such as a recent s’mores and hot cocoa Shabbat, with a youth-led mini Shabbat service.
Just as Har Shalom’s Jewish community connects Jews across the region, with members from Loveland, Greeley, Berthoud in addition to Fort Collins, so does participating in BBYO, says Zelda, though it goes beyond the region.
At BBYO conventions, she says, “You really get the sense of this is not just you . . . you’re not the only people chanting these chants. There are people globally doing the exact same thing. It’s finding a sense of, wow, there’s other people doing the exact same things you are, just not in your region or even your country.”
BBYO isn’t the only way Zelda and other Har Shalom teens are connected to Judaism and the Jewish community. The congregation has what it calls a “madrichim” program (Hebrew for leaders), in which post-Bar and Bat Mitzvah students volunteer in the religious school. “It’s really nice because you get to connect with kids on a deeper level,” says Zelda, who is a madricha.
That’s just one of her other extracurriculars; others are competitive dance, piano and student council. Then there are the non-formal activities, like sharing about Judaism with her largely not-Jewish schoolmates. “They’re always very interested in it,” she says.
As geographically spread as Northern Colorado Jewry is, there are also surprising pockets of Jewish activity — such as in Berthoud itself and in their neighborhood no less, the Stebbins say.
“We’ve made some really great friends that actually live down the street from us” who also attend Har Shalom, she says.
As for the upcoming BBYO International Convention in Denver this February, Fort Collins will be represented by Zelda and a couple of other #5396 members.
She’s looking forward to getting the word out that “Fort Collins is an alive chapter,” she says. “It’s going to be really exciting.”
See “Faces of Jewish Northern Colorado” for more profiles of Northern Colorado Jewish residents.
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