It was 7 p.m. on a Monday night, and instead of traveling around Israel with his classmates, alumnus Harris Block (‘16) was leading a meeting of BBYO D.C. Council members.

When the Class of 2016 left for their journey to Israel over three months ago, Harris did not join them. Instead, he made the decision to stay home in order to remain the president of D.C. Council BBYO, made up of over 2,000 teens. Harris has been a part of BBYO, a youth organization for Jewish teens, since eighth grade.

Staying behind was not a last-minute decision. Harris ran for president of D.C. Council last May, completely aware that if elected he would not be able to go to Israel with his class.

“It was a really tough decision, but being the president of my [council] in BBYO was something that I had been working towards since the eighth grade and it was the first big goal I had ever set for myself,” Harris said. “So to see that come true was a really big victory for me.”

As council president, Harris was in charge of overseeing nine chapters in the D.C. Council. He checked in with each of the chapter’s presidents at least once a week to help out and ensure that everything was running smoothly. Along with those nine chapters, Harris worked with four other chapters in Northern Virginia and Baltimore providing help when needed. On May 18, when the new president and board were installed, Harris ended his role as the 2015-2016 council president.

When Harris was in the process of making his decision, the Israel trip was not the talk of the grade which made accepting his choice a bit easier. As the Israel trip got closer and became a focus of excitement for his friends, however, not sharing that same excitement became harder for Harris.

“I didn’t start to regret [my decision] at all but it definitely [got] harder,” Harris said. “Once my friends actually left, I was devastated.”

It is not uncommon for students to stay home from the Israel trip. According to Coordinator of the Senior Capstone Trip Nancy Wassner, most of the students who stay home choose to take a gap year in Israel the following year. There are also students who decide to take advantage of internship or job opportunities. Wassner described Harris’ choice as somewhere between a gap year and an internship opportunity.

“I know that it was a really difficult decision for him to make, but I think that he made a really informed decision,” Wassner said. “Especially if the reason he is staying home is because he is serving his Jewish community, then how can I argue with that?”

Over the past four years in BBYO, the members of Harris’ chapter have seen him grow from having many leadership roles within the chapter to later leading the D.C. Council. Even new members like freshman Jake Block (no relation), who joined a year ago, have been able to see how much Harris enjoys being council president.

“It just makes me think that BBYO clearly is a big thing [to Harris] and is more important than hanging out with your school friends and going to Israel,” Jake said.

Harris’ older brother made the same decision to stay home from the Israel trip in order to be a part of BBYO. After seeing his brother go through the same process, Harris’ family was able to understand and help him with his decision.

“He was obviously disappointed because he likes his grade but he was excited to have this position,” his sister, sophomore Becca Block, said.

BBYO is not the only interest Harris has had over the last few months. He has a job at Vineyard Vines in Westfield Montgomery Mall where he works about 30 hours a week. Harris has also set a goal to read more books for fun in his free time instead of watching TV.

Harris stayed in touch with his friends in Israel with daily FaceTime calls during which he kept them up to date on his life, as well as hearing all about their adventures in Israel. Although it was difficult not having his school friends around, Harris does not regret his decision to complete this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“There aren’t many teenagers out there that can say that they were in charge of over 2,000 teens in their area,” Harris said.