NEW YORK, N.Y. – Sally Klapper of Stamford is among 26 high school students from across North America selected for the prestigious Bronfman Fellowship program. The new class of Bronfman Fellows represents the 28th cohort of Jewish teens selected from among hundreds of applicants from diverse backgrounds. The group will participate in a five-week program of study and travel in Israel, followed by a rigorous year of programming centered around pluralism, social responsibility and Jewish texts.

Founded by Edgar M. Bronfman, z”l, the late CEO of the Seagram Company Ltd. and a leading Jewish philanthropist, the 2014 Fellows represent diverse Jewish backgrounds, including Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, unaffiliated and non- denominational.

Over the summer, fellows are taught by leading academics, and meet with political and cultural figures. There are now over 1,000 Bronfman Fellowships alumni across North America and Israel, among them 8 Rhodes Scholars, 4 former Supreme Court clerks, 15 Fulbright Scholars, 27 Wexner Fellows and 21 Dorot Fellows. Young leaders of note among Fellowship alumni include Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, author of the best-selling Series of Unfortunate Events children’s books; Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and editor of the New American Haggadah; and Angela Warnick Buchdahl, the first woman to be named Senior Rabbi at New York’s Central Synagogue and the first Asian-American person to be ordained as a rabbi and cantor.

Sally Klapper is the daughter of Elissa and Dr. Philip Klapper of Stamford. She is a junior at The Ramaz Upper School in Manhattan and a member of her school’s debate, model United Nations and math teams. She is currently president of her school’s Junior Statesmen of America team, president of the Human Rights Club, co-captain of the Model Congress team, president of the Israel Advocacy Club, co-captain of the City Harvest Club and an editor of the pre-med newspaper. She is a volunteer at the Friendship Circle of Fairfield County, where she also serves as a development Board member. She also founded a prayer service at Ramaz aimed at educating her peers about the meaning behind this daily ritual.

“We are thrilled to welcome the latest class of Fellows into a community that has grown to become a talent bank for the Jewish people,” said Rebecca Voorwinde, co-director of the Fellowships. “As the past three decades have shown, the five weeks in Israel are just the beginning.”