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Gray Academy graduate Jaron Rykiss is the new president of the University of Manitoba Students Union
By BERNIE BELLAN Twenty-year-old Jaron Rykiss is the newly elected president of the University of Manitoba Students Union. The results of the election, which was held online, were announced on April 1. (Voting began March 31 and was completed April 1.)
According to the university student newspaper, The Manitoban (which is now also entirely online), Jaron secured 63.6 percent of the votes cast. His only opponent, Savannah Szocs, received the other 34.6 percent.
The number of votes cast, not surprisingly, since very few students actually attend classes in person these days, was only 3, 453 out of 23,300 eligible voters.
Jaron Rykiss is the son of Lara London and Les Rykiss. He is also a graduate of Gray Academy (class of 2019).
In October 2020 I wrote a story about Jaron’s “gap” year in Jerusalem (http://jewishpostandnews.ca/8-features/598-jaron-rykiss-s-half-year-spent-on-exciting-kivunim-program-in-israel-cut-short-by-covid), which unfortunately was cut short by the advent of Covid late in 2019. The idea of spending a year in Israel was largely the result of a suggestion that former Gray Academy teacher Avi Posen had made to Jaron in his final year at the school, he told me in 2020.
Although Jaron was supposed to have spent eight and a half months in Israel in a program called “Kivunim”, he ended up returning to Winnipeg in March 2020 rather than completing the entire program, which would not have ended until May under normal circumstances.
Still, Jaron regarded his time spent in the program as extremely fulfilling. “We ended up going to Greece and Bulgaria for two weeks,” Jaron explained, after which the group returned to Israel for a month and a half, then India, but trips to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Morocco were all canceled due to the outbreak of COVID.
“We were supposed to end up in Morocco and meet the king there,” Jaron noted. “It’s too bad that never happened.”
(Jaron added that they were also supposed to visit Turkey at the same time as they visited Greece and Bulgaria, but that didn’t happen either. As he explained, “there were a lot of political issues” – what with the heightened civil unrest in Turkey at that time.)
At the time I wrote that story I asked Jaron what his plans were now that he was back in Winnipeg. He said that he was enrolled at the University of Manitoba and was planning on majoring in Political Studies or Philosophy.
When I learned that Jaron had been elected UMSU president (as a result of an email I received from his grandfather, Jack London), I contacted Jaron to see whether he would be amenable to my interviewing him about what led him to want to attain that position.
Jaron explained during our phone conversation that it was during his first year in university (beginning that same fall when I initially spoke with him) that a friend of his in one of his classes who herself was a representative on the UMSU council “had reached out and said, ‘Hey, are you looking to join student politics?’ and of course, being the person that I am, I jumped at the opportunity.”
Subsequently, Jaron met with members of the executive of the Arts council and was asked to serve as the representative of the Arts council on the UMSU Board of Directors.
This past fall though, along with the continued disruption in normal student life that had already been caused by Covid, another event happened that proved to be influential in Jaron’s decision to seek the UMSU presidency, and that was the faculty strike at the university (which ended up lasting 35 days).
Jaron became quite involved in supporting striking faculty members, he told me. “I was constantly picketing and helping organize protests,” he said.
Even though Jaron’s campaign for the UMSU presidency officially began only two weeks before the actual election, he noted that he and his team had been heavily involved, as he explained, for five months prior to the actual official campaign. From the moment that he realized, primarily as a result of the faculty strike, that he wanted to run for UMSU president, Jaron observed that “it just became a five-month process of meetings, Zoom calls, planning, Google documents – just the entire nine yards.”
When it comes to discussing what Jaron’s campaign was all about, he said that there were “five pillars” to his campaign: “Community, advocacy, accountability, financial transparency, and sustainability.”
But, more than mouthing what seem to be well-worn clichés that any politician would feel comfortable in using, Jaron sounded passionate when he discussed the devastating effects that Covid has had on campus life. Considering that it’s only been in the past few months that some students have actually been returning to campus, the isolation that so many students have been experiencing (and not just at the U of M) has had a terrible effect on students’ mental equilibrium.
As Jaron said, “I made the choice to run for president because I wanted to be able to help to bring back that passion in campus life that students have been missing out on.”
Another issue which Jaron mentioned is important to him is the plight of international students – who are not eligible to receive health care coverage from the Manitoba government.
“If you’re a student here (and you’re working) you pay taxes,” Jaron explained, “but you’re not entitled to health care. I want to start lobbying to change that.”
As for his own academic career, Jaron said now that he’s president, he’ll be taking one course this summer and one in the fall,” and then he should be graduated. (As an aside, I should explain that Jaron was able to obtain 24 hours of credit for courses he took in the Kivunim program. Thus, while this is only his second full year at the U of M, he should have enough credits to graduate by next winter.)
I asked him whether his plan is still to go into law following completion of his undergraduate program (which is something he told me was his ambition when I interviewed him in the fall of 2020).
“That’s still the plan,” Jaron says.
I couldn’t help noting that the president of the University of Manitoba is also a graduate of Winnipeg’s Jewish school system. Michael Benarroch graduated from the former Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate in 1977. I asked Jaron whether he’s met President Benarroch yet.
“I haven’t had a chance to sit down with him yet,” Jaron noted, “but I’m very excited to sit down with him as soon as the opportunity presents itself.” (And, if they need a mediator to sit between them, I can’t think of a more suitable candidate than Jaron’s grandfather, Jack.)
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First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
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Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
