Few are able to climb the ladder of leadership as quickly and successfully as Zach Heiman has done over his six past years as a participant in the North American Federation of Temple Youth, or NFTY.

Zach, a current senior at Parkway Central and member of United Hebrew Congregation, began his NFTY involvement as a result of his older brother, who also had participated in the youth group. As a member of UHTYG (United Hebrew Temple Youth Group), Zach worked frequently for several years with Lee Rosenberg, Youth Director of United Hebrew. 

“I have had the pleasure of getting to know Zach over the last six years. He was eager to get involved in the youth group programs and to make his own mark,” Rosenberg said. “This intelligent yet somewhat awkward adolescent has done just that, maturing into a young man with great pursuits of leadership and friendship.“

Zach was President of UHTYG last year, expanding his role greatly from participant to leader.

“Under his term we had successes in increasing membership and running good programs, but more importantly the interest and dedication of individual members increased,” Rosenberg said. “The highlight of his year as President included supervising, planning and running a weekend convention for 200 seventh and eighth graders. He put on a seamless weekend.” 

After serving as the youth leader of UHTYG for a year, Zach set his eyes on higher responsibilities.

“Right now, I am President of NFTY-Missouri Valley,” Zach said. “It’s one of the 19 regions in NFTY and it includes states from Colorado to Illinois.”

As President of a region, which includes 60 congregations and hundreds of teens, Zach is held accountable for many responsibilities.

“It is my responsibility to make sure events are planned and run smoothly. I also coordinate the events with the presidents of all of the temple youth groups within the region,” Zach said.

Zach’s role as regional President is heavily appreciated by his advisors and adults in NFTY. Along with them, many younger participants in his youth group have recognized his influential role.

Josh Hylan, a freshman at Marquette High School and member of UHTYG, noted, “At Leadership Training Initiative and my first Junior Youth Group chavurah, Zach didn’t simply ignore me because I was younger, but he made sure to reach out to me and that I was having lots of fun.”

“He’s great at getting everyone’s attention and making sure that everyone is listening,” Jackson Stern, also a freshman at Marquette and member of UHTYG, said. “He is constantly able to get us all involved and interested in whatever we are doing.”

One of Zach’s main goals in the weekend he planned for 200 seventh and eighth graders was to introduce them to each other and NFTY in a way that would make them want to come back, and he has achieved his goal at least with a few kids. 

“At one of my first events, he made sure I was meeting all sorts of people from other cities and getting involved in the programming,” Stern said. “He was one of the main reasons that convinced me to fully participate in NFTY, and look forward to the future when I could lead.”

His director, Rosenberg, echoed a similar message of appreciation for his overall support to the youth group by ways of himself and getting others involved.

“Zach is an energetic participant in the youth program with a wonderful way of inspiring the younger members of the youth group,” Rosenberg said.

Zach constantly supports NFTY with plenty of help in all sorts of ways, but NFTY is able to also help him lots in return.

“NFTY has given me a lot of confidence and it really helps me with my people skills and that sort of thing,” Zach said. “It’s just really helpful to connect with different people from the Jewish community.”

Despite nearing the end of his involvement in NFTY while in high school, the influences made by NFTY upon Zach will stick with him for a long time.

“The ability to work well with people and different types of people in a group is something I can bring forward with me into college,” Zach said.

Zach has already accomplished so much accomplished throughout his time in NFTY. With little time left, many close to him are looking forward to see him close his time out as greatly as it has gone before.

Along with many accomplishments in NFTY acknowledged by both his peers and advisor, Zach also excels in academic areas. He recently received a perfect score of 36 on his ACT. 

“I was on an airplane on the way home from a Winter Break trip, and right as I landed I got the email and I kinda freaked out. I showed my parents, and I was really exciting,” Zach said.

With this perfect score, Zach is currently looking into schools such as Stanford, Michigan, Illinois, Washington University in St. Louis, Rice, and Vanderbilt. As he progresses into college, his greatest wish is to bring certain lessons he learned in the NFTY community with him. 

“I just want to make sure I give leadership opportunities to everyone who seeks them and make sure they get the same opportunities to give back to the community that I was,” Zach said.