Jason Frances was a CAMERA Fellow at the University of Central Florida this year, as well as serving as vice president of CAMERA-supported group Knights for Israel. Next year, he takes the exciting step of moving to Israel and serving in the Israel Defense Forces. In his final Fellow article for CAMERA on Campus, Jason explains why he is making this decision.
As my time as a CAMERA on Campus Fellow comes to an end, I want to share my story about my experience as a university student and the decision to make Aliyah and join the Israeli Defense Forces.
When I first transferred to University of Central Florida in spring 2015, I had very little connection with Israel aside from the Birthright trip I took two years prior. I had no plans of getting involved and didn’t know that I even could. As soon as I arrived though, I began meeting other Jews and pro-Israel Students on campus, but never got too involved. By the summer though, I was given the opportunity to go on Onward Israel, a two-month internship program in Jerusalem.
That is where my journey really took off. When I got back to Israel I instantly fell in love with the country and began thinking about the possibility of moving there after college. I also decided that I wanted to become more involved with advocacy on campus to share Israel with every student at UCF.
As I came back to school for my junior year, I had a new passion and excitement for Israel that I never had before. I became heavily involved with Knights for Israel, UCF’s Israel group, and began educating myself on the conflict and the region. As Junior year ended, I was able to return to Israel on the Zionist Organization of America campus trip and used the rest of my summer in Israel to see if I could make Israel my home. That summer is also when I decided to join the IDF as well.
Before then I had never really thought about joining, but as I became more connected with the land, I realized that the only way I could call Israel my home, is if I defended it first. For my senior year, I was appointed Vice President of Knights for Israel and was accepted as a Fellow with CAMERA on Campus. These opportunities gave me even more motivation and focus for life after graduation. By working with these organizations, I was able to directly impact pro-Israel activity on my campus and learn more about the place I will be living.
As I graduate and move to Israel, I am extremely excited for the next chapter in my journey. Life in the IDF will be extremely tough, but I know that my campus experience will motivate me on tough days and when I ask myself what I’m doing there, I will have an answer. I want to thank CAMERA on Campus, Knights for Israel and UCF for helping me complete my journey because without each and every person, I know that none of this would be possible.
CAMERA thanks Jason for his contribution to defending the Jewish state, on campus and in the IDF. We wish him Behatzlacha!