Daryn Edelman

Student

“The science at SMC is fantastic. We have the number 1 transfer rate to UC schools and, boy, are those classes tough.”

Daryn Edelman, future veterinarian, speaks with a lot of passion about what it means to be Jewish. “I think the Jews have one of the most beautiful and fascinating cultures in the world,” says Daryn. “And I take a lot of pride in my being Jewish. But our club, the Hillel 90s Club, is also for people who would just like to learn something about Judaism,” he continues. “And I wanted to push some of that kind of awareness. I mean, we’d always done some traditional things on Club Row, like serving falafels. But I wanted to break with that and do something different.”

One of the differences Daryn made as club president was to challenge certain perceptions people may have about what it means to be Jewish. “I had a speaker come on campus who works with recovering Jewish drug addicts and has a halfway house for Jews coming out of prison. She gets these people turned around. And she was telling us, ‘People have this image of Jews being either doctors or lawyers. There’s just no perception of a Jew being an addict or a murderer.’” Daryn feels that presenting many different sides of Jewish experience really helped enlarge the scope of the club’s activities.

“The club was a fantastic experience,” he reports. “It helped me to get involved with student government, whether it was on Club Row or sponsoring an event with other clubs. Meeting so many different kinds of people and working with the board members was always an exciting challenge. We were always planning some new activity, and it gave me a great circle of friends.”

Daryn says his ideas about being a veterinarian are definite. “I really want to work in a national park or a game preserve,” he says. “No dogs and cats for me.” But he adds that SMC has really prepared him for future challenges. “I feel I’m prepared for grad school and the GRE. This has been bootcamp for the rest of life.”

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