The JEWISH HISTORY MUSEUM/HOLOCAUST HISTORY CENTER presented the Dr. Barry A. Friedman Volunteer of the Year Award to DAVYA M. COHEN at its annual meeting on May 4. Cohen, a volunteer docent at the museum, taught middle school shop for 35 years in Southfield, Mich., before moving to Tucson in 2005. She worked as a psychotherapist specializing in art therapy here before retiring in 2013. She serves as corresponding secretary for the Brandeis National Committee, Tucson chapter and volunteers for Chemo Angels. She is past president of Arizona Art Therapy Association, past vice president of P.A.W.S., past president of the Michigan chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America and past president of Women’ Professional Network, a division of Jewish Women International.
Former Tucsonan JULIE ZORN was awarded her master of Jewish education degree from Hebrew College in Newton Centre, Mass., on June 4. She received the Friedman Scholarship award for academic achievement. Tucsonan LORI RIEGEL, a Ph.D. candidate in Jewish education, addressed the attendees at the commencement ceremony. Riegel received a certificate of educational leadership.
RACHEL MEYER, a University of Arizona junior, will return to the World Maccabiah Games in Israel next month to defend the gold medal she won in Taekwondo at the 2013 games as a 16-year-old high school student. Following the 2013 games, where she competed as a senior, she completed her junior career on the U.S. Junior National Team. As a senior, she has won bronze medals at the U.S. National Championships and the U.S. Collegiate National Championships. Her father, SCOTT MEYER, will coach the Maccabi USA Taekwondo team at the upcoming games. He has studied under U.S Olympic Team coaches, U.S. Olympians and Mexican Olympians for over 10 years. In 2016, he coached a team of athletes from the West Coast at the Korea Open International Taekwondo Championships in Gyeonju, Korea.
SHARON MEGDAL will co-chair the 2017 International Conference: Cutting Edge Solutions to Wicked Water Problems, cohosted by the American Water Resources Association and the Water Research Center of Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv Sept. 10-11. Megdal is the director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
