One Minute With: Andrew Michael Cohen
By Libby Barsky
Special to The Jewish State
Name: Andrew Michael Cohen
Occupation: Student at Highland Park High School
Address: Highland Park
Age: 16
Family: Mother, Cathy, is a school nurse at Yeshiva Shaarei Tziom and the YM-YWHA. Father,Ira, is an insurance
risk manager. Brother Benjamin, 19, is a sophomore at Union College, Schenectady N.Y. Grandparents are Boris and
Ruth Cohen of Monroe Township. Grandmother Bess Levine and Uncle Ed Levine live in Metuchen.
Community Activities: Recently elected HaGilil Regional Communications Vice President for 2007-2008, a job
overseeing sending Shabbat e-mails, the USY newsletter and the yearbook. Past president of Highland Park USY. Past
president of the Highland Park High School Junior class, in charge of fundraising projects and designing and
transforming the school hallway for Homecoming.
Hobbies: "Hanging out with my friends and baking cookies."
Self -portrait: "I'm a very outgoing individual and dedicated to all my undertakings and responsibilities. I
also have a great passion for youth leadership and the Jewish community."
Motto: "Gam Zeh Ya'avor." (translation: "This too will pass." )
Greatest accomplishment: "Becoming HaGilil Communications vice president. Since freshman year, it's something
that I saw myself being... Also, my work as president of the Highland Park USY chapter -- bringing in new programming,
converting our 'paper members' into active members who attended meetings. Our Amazing Race--USY edition won an award
as Most Original Program of the Year at the USY Convention."
Bad habits: "When someone asks me to do a favor, I always do it."
Favorite TV: "When 'The OC' was on, that was my favorite. Now I watch 'ER' with my mom, who had always been
watching it."
Favorite food: "My mother's Shabbat dinners. Anything that she makes."
Best childhood memory: "I remember my second birthday party and having pony rides in our backyard. But my
most memorable experience was last summer's USY on Wheels six and a half-week trip. It was definitely something that
I will never forget in 40 years."
People don't know that... "I was a Mitzvah Clown when I was younger. I met Danny Siegel, (the writer) who
asked for my picture as a clown, and he would show people, and he published the picture in a book he published two
years ago."
Last book I read: "'Julius Caesar' for school, and 'The Marker' by Robin Cook - a medical mystery."
The biggest asset in the local Jewish communities: "I'd have to say the Jewish Youth groups - not necessarily
USY, but all of them. My synagogue, the Highland Park Conservative Temple, is my second home. I'm there every
weekend."
The biggest problem in the local Jewish communities: "The Jewish teens not joining and getting active,
resulting in declining membership in the Jewish Youth groups. There are Jewish teenagers not joining. In more
than 20 years, these will be the people running the synagogues and having a Jewish lifestyle."
If I had more time I would... "Take more family vacations -- in the summer at the beach and in the winter
skiing. I'd also like to visit with my friends in USY in other states." 