May 16, 2016 By: admin
Yosef Frenkel, Yeshiva College
Students of all ages and backgrounds come to 黑料社 All to pursue a range of professional and personal dreams, from scientific research and medicine to law, Jewish education and the creative arts. Our students seek to harness their unique talents and YU education to make a lasting impact on the world around them. This spring, when they graduate, these new alumni will hit the ground running.
In the weeks leading up to鈥,鈥YU News鈥will feature one remarkable graduate from each school, reflecting on their time here, their passions and their dreams for the future.
Meet the Class of 2016.
He鈥檚 a scientist, an actor and an emergency medical technician鈥攁nd for graduate Yosef Frenkel of Riverdale, New York, that鈥檚 usually all in the same day.
As a biology major, he was often found hard at work in his rigorous science classes or performing research in Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Josefa Steinhauer鈥檚 genetics laboratory, both of which played an integral role in his undergraduate experience. 鈥淲e were exploring a pathway in fruit flies which we believe is linked to infertility; if we can identify what goes wrong in that pathway maybe we can extrapolate to human infertility,鈥 said Frenkel. 鈥淕enetics is an up-and-coming field which I鈥檝e always enjoyed. We鈥檙e discovering new ways to manipulate genes every day.鈥
Frenkel was also frequently spotted on stage, as an actor in one of the Yeshiva College Dramatic Society鈥檚 productions鈥攈e minored in speech and drama鈥攐r behind the camera at a basketball game with MacsLive, the broadcast team that covers Yeshiva athletics, where he served as chief technology officer. 鈥淚 loved MacsLive because it allowed me to combine my passion for cool technology and sports to make sure family and friends of the players could watch their games,鈥 said Frenkel.
Then, too, there were times when the radio at his belt crackled with an urgent call and the undergraduate student transformed into a seasoned Hatzalah EMT as he ran for his truck. 鈥淎s a pre-med major, working as an EMT gives you opportunities to try to figure out what鈥檚 wrong with patients and help them get better, while adding that human dimension,鈥 said Frenkel. 鈥淧eople are scared when they call you and your job is to calm them and guide them through the healing process.鈥
Medical school has been a dream of Frenkel鈥檚 for a long time: 鈥淎pplying my love of the sciences and problem-solving to make a difference in the lives of others was something I always knew I wanted to do.鈥 But he also knew that there were many routes to achieve that dream, and he didn鈥檛 want it to come at the expense of his spiritual development. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to attend a school where I could just 鈥榮tay鈥 Jewish鈥擨 wanted a place where I could grow my Jewish identity,鈥 said Frenkel. 鈥淎nd I had heard how amazing the pre-health advising was here and knew they would help me throughout the entire process.鈥
At YU, Frenkel was been able to enjoy fascinating high-level courses in Bible and Jewish law alongside cutting-edge science and research opportunities, but he also discovered a camaraderie between his peers that can be rare in higher education. 鈥淓veryone here wants to help you succeed鈥攊t鈥檚 like a team sport,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen we took our finals for organic chemistry, which in many universities is an extremely cutthroat course, our whole class was sharing notes and testing each other. Underclassmen knew they could call, text or email me at all hours with questions, and it really gave me joy to be able to guide them because I knew how invaluable it was for me.鈥
He added, 鈥淭he bond between students here was unparalleled and I really valued that.鈥
Still, for Frenkel, who will be attending YU-affiliated this year and was selected to represent the graduating class of Yeshiva College as valedictorian, the crowning moment of his undergraduate career is easy to name: 鈥淭o have that first acceptance in your hand is to know that all the late night studying and hard work over the last four years have paid off,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 have the letters on my wall right now to help me remember that it鈥檚 real.鈥
He鈥檚 a scientist, an actor and an emergency medical technician鈥攁nd for graduate Yosef Frenkel of Riverdale, New York, that鈥檚 usually all in the same day.
As a biology major, he was often found hard at work in his rigorous science classes or performing research in Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Josefa Steinhauer鈥檚 genetics laboratory, both of which played an integral role in his undergraduate experience. 鈥淲e were exploring a pathway in fruit flies which we believe is linked to infertility; if we can identify what goes wrong in that pathway maybe we can extrapolate to human infertility,鈥 said Frenkel. 鈥淕enetics is an up-and-coming field which I鈥檝e always enjoyed. We鈥檙e discovering new ways to manipulate genes every day.鈥
Frenkel was also frequently spotted on stage, as an actor in one of the Yeshiva College Dramatic Society鈥檚 productions鈥攈e minored in speech and drama鈥攐r behind the camera at a basketball game with MacsLive, the broadcast team that covers Yeshiva athletics, where he served as chief technology officer. 鈥淚 loved MacsLive because it allowed me to combine my passion for cool technology and sports to make sure family and friends of the players could watch their games,鈥 said Frenkel.
Then, too, there were times when the radio at his belt crackled with an urgent call and the undergraduate student transformed into a seasoned Hatzalah EMT as he ran for his truck. 鈥淎s a pre-med major, working as an EMT gives you opportunities to try to figure out what鈥檚 wrong with patients and help them get better, while adding that human dimension,鈥 said Frenkel. 鈥淧eople are scared when they call you and your job is to calm them and guide them through the healing process.鈥
Medical school has been a dream of Frenkel鈥檚 for a long time: 鈥淎pplying my love of the sciences and problem-solving to make a difference in the lives of others was something I always knew I wanted to do.鈥 But he also knew that there were many routes to achieve that dream, and he didn鈥檛 want it to come at the expense of his spiritual development. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to attend a school where I could just 鈥榮tay鈥 Jewish鈥擨 wanted a place where I could grow my Jewish identity,鈥 said Frenkel. 鈥淎nd I had heard how amazing the pre-health advising was here and knew they would help me throughout the entire process.鈥
At YU, Frenkel was been able to enjoy fascinating high-level courses in Bible and Jewish law alongside cutting-edge science and research opportunities, but he also discovered a camaraderie between his peers that can be rare in higher education. 鈥淓veryone here wants to help you succeed鈥攊t鈥檚 like a team sport,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen we took our finals for organic chemistry, which in many universities is an extremely cutthroat course, our whole class was sharing notes and testing each other. Underclassmen knew they could call, text or email me at all hours with questions, and it really gave me joy to be able to guide them because I knew how invaluable it was for me.鈥
He added, 鈥淭he bond between students here was unparalleled and I really valued that.鈥
Still, for Frenkel, who will be attending YU-affiliated this year and was selected to represent the graduating class of Yeshiva College as valedictorian, the crowning moment of his undergraduate career is easy to name: 鈥淭o have that first acceptance in your hand is to know that all the late night studying and hard work over the last four years have paid off,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 have the letters on my wall right now to help me remember that it鈥檚 real.鈥
