Ritvo Family Scholarship

The Ritvo Family Scholarship embodies the values and ideals of the our family from the youngest Felix Gabriel Ritvo to the eldest Roger Alan Ritvo to help non-traditional learners returning to higher education, supporting their community and a true Jewish life in giving to others through “Tikkun Olam – healing the world.”  A returning adult Jewish woman has though out her goals and aspirations and her desires as she seeks to either to begin her education or complete what was started some times ago.  This scholarship makes it possible for that kind of individual.

As a family, we are honored to help others along the way.

2022 Scholarship Recipients – Adrien Kaplan and Liv Kuijper

Adrien Kaplan

My name is Adrien Kaplan (they/them), I’m from Boulder, CO, and I am a current student at Cornell College, double majoring in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies and Religion with a focus in Judaic Studies. I’m the current co-president of my campus Hillel, and I’m pretty easy to find running around encouraging others to come to Shabbos dinners with us (you’ll get to bake your own challah!). I’ve also spent this past summer working in research and writing a piece about LGBTQ+, disabled, Jewish individuals and the place we occupy in the world. You can usually spot me engaging in protests, hanging out with my fraternity brothers, hunched over a Yiddish textbook (Duolingo only gets you so far), playing D&D, going way too in depth on the lore of the Cars movies, or blasting the Beastie Boys out my car window.

Liv Kuijper

My name is Liv Kuijper and I was born in New York City. When I was nine years old, we moved to Denver where I attended The Denver Waldorf School from 4th grade until graduation this year. Being one of very few Jewish kids at the school was a very different experience from what I was used to in New York City and I was concerned that I would not have opportunities to express my Jewish identity. Luckily, I was able to find a bustling Jewish community at Temple Emanual Denver where I went to Hebrew School, celebrated the holidays, and went to Shwayder Camp every summer. I was also very fortunate to be able to go on the Israel Study in the summer of 2021 which was an experience I will treasure for the rest of my life. In September 2022 I will be a freshman at The University of Denver, where I plan to join the Hillel House and continue to take part in Denver’s warm and welcoming Jewish community.