Cassie Frankel is a U2 student in Political Science, hailing from Madison, Wisconsin. She has been making her mark at McGill, most recently by planning an alternative frosh (Let My People Frosh) this past summer and continuing to be involved in the Ghetto Shul as VP External. Planning a frosh isn’t easy, but she made it look that way, and had a great time doing it.
Esther Vinarov for Her Campus McGill (HC McGill): What are some of the most important differences between faculty froshes and alternative froshes?
Cassie Frankel (CF): Alternative froshes are a really cool option McGill offers to get to know people on a smaller scale, in a more niche community tailored to your interests, as opposed to just your faculty. It’s really important with an alternative frosh to remember that- that you aren’t the mainstream option. Some people have spent quite a bit of time looking forward to the faculty frosh experience, and it can be hard to convince them away from that. The biggest difference between faculty frosh and alternative froshes is obviously the size- all the alternative froshes combined don’t meet the size of Arts Frosh. The average froshie can be quite different too, as they’re almost definitely looking for a smaller and possibly less drinking-oriented experience. This has obvious consequences for how froshes are run in terms of the amount of people in charge, the budget, etc.
HC McGill: What exactly was Let My People Frosh?
CF: Let My People Frosh was this year’s Jewish frosh, put on as a combined effort from all the Jewish student groups on campus (Hillel, Chabad, Ghetto Shul, and the new Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus [JLIC]). It ran as an alternative to faculty frosh for Jewish students of all levels of observance, and consisted of religious as well as secular activities throughout the weekend, with an option to come just for Shabbat if that was your thing. It was an incredible introduction to all the different facets of Jewish life on campus for the incoming first year students and provided them, as well as the upper-year frosh leaders, with a way to connect to other Jewish students on campus. I think Jewish frosh, and alternative froshes in general, are a really important option to have on campus as it gives you an introduction into a community outside of your faculty and allows you to meet people similar to you as well as connect you to those community resources.
HC McGill: What is the Ghetto Shul and how did you get involved?
CF: The Ghetto Shul is an entirely student-run Jewish community on campus. It operates out of the Bagg Street Shul, on the corner of Clark and Bagg in the Plateau (come check us out!). I got involved in the Ghetto Shul through participating in Jewish frosh when I was a first year, three years ago (wow!). Besides coordinating frosh this summer, I now serve as the VP external. It provides a warm and welcoming Orthodox community for Jewish students on campus – and even those who don’t identify as Orthodox, such as myself.
HC McGill: What was the most difficult part of planning frosh, and what was the most rewarding?
CF: The most difficult part of planning frosh was definitely getting everyone involved to do what they signed up to do once we had all dispersed for the summer. In retrospect, it would have been useful to assign the majority of the work to someone staying in Montreal over the summer, which would have helped a lot in securing funding and sponsors. The most rewarding part of frosh is tough! I definitely still feel rewarded as I see the froshies attend Jewish events on campus, whether it is with the Ghetto Shul or Hillel or Chabad. But during frosh, the most rewarding was absolutely Friday night services at the Ghetto Shul. There were so many people, we ran out of chairs! People sat on the floor and had a picnic, it was wild. The funniest part was that on the Facebook event, someone invited my grandma, who lives in Montreal, and she came! It was so nice to be able to show her this vibrant community that means so much to me, and everyone was so welcoming and excited to meet her.
HC McGill: What advice to you have for other students who want to take on larger leadership and event-planning roles?
CF: Do it. Just do it. It’s immensely rewarding to be behind the scenes, for me at least, and it really is possible for one person to make a difference on this campus.