Carolyn Eisen Memorial Scholarship
About the Scholarship
Every year, we seek to find a young Jewish woman that embraces academia, family, Jewish identity, community, and leadership – values that were central to Carolyn who was an active leader in NCJW.
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.
2021 Scholarship Recipient – Mayan Caplan
I’m Mayan Caplan, a Boggle aficionado, powerlifter, reader, and writer. I graduated from the International Baccalaureate program at George Washington High School and will be now attending Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where I plan to pursue a history major alongside a pre-medicine track. I have a deep love for telling stories, whether that’s through performance—I was involved in speech and debate and theater in high school—or writing. My works (mainly poetry) have been published in various journals and anthologies, and for three years I served on the Editorial Board of jGirls Magazine, which is geared toward Jewish teenage girls. I am also engaged in my Jewish community through volunteering for my congregation and through my work as a shomeret. I’m so excited to see how my passions for learning, self-expression, and Jewish involvement manifest as I enter this new chapter in college.
2020 Scholarship Recipient – Elizabeth Ruzicka
My name is Elizabeth Ruzicka, and I am from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I graduated from the Steamboat Springs High School in May of 2020. This fall, I will be attending the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. I plan on pursuing a degree in engineering physics. I also aspire to earn my secondary teacher’s license in math and science. In high school, I was an active member of my high school’s drama troupe. As the student technical director, I pursued my passions for set design and construction as well as sound engineering. Also throughout high school, I was a dancer, choreographer, and producer of an annual student-led dance showcase. In addition, I volunteered time to community dance theatre, my congregation, and a local STEM education camp. My creative and volunteer pursuits coupled with my interests in math and science have guided me toward my current ambition to study engineering.