As the 2025-26 school year comes to a close, senior Eliana Vahedifar is wrapping up her one-year tenure as Agenda Chair, a job in which she led weekly Town Halls, selecting topics for discussion and keeping the student body engaged.

Eliana inherited a Town Hall that had strayed from what it was originally created to be, a space where the school community gathered to wrestle with moral dilemmas and questions that touched their own lives, she said in an interview with the Boiling Point. As the student body grew, having focused and meaningful conversations became more difficult, Eliana said. Town Hall sessions increasingly turned to current events, often political ones, and the results were frustrating for many.

The last few years of Town Hall have been “difficult for both the agenda chair and the people sitting there,” Eliana said.

“People were just sort of coming and shouting their pocket points at each other. And even then sometimes people felt that only one opinion was being aired,” said Dr. Sheila Keiter, the faculty advisor to the Agenda Committee for the past four years.

“I don’t think it was anyone’s particular fault, I really don’t,” Eliana said, “but it was just really hard to have a Town Hall that felt engaging and felt productive. Topics in general are hard to come by…You’re really appealing to the entire student body, and that is incredibly difficult.”

Town Hall has been a cornerstone of the Shalhevet mission and the student experience since Shalhevet’s founding in 1992.

The school’s founder, Dr. Jerry Friedman, had researched the moral development of students coming out of Jewish schools and was troubled by what he found, Dr. Keiter said.

“He was disappointed to find out they were not any more morally advanced,” Dr. Keiter said. “He wanted to create a school environment that encouraged moral development and Town Hall was a part of that.”

Town Hall is one of three parts of Shalhevet’s “Just Community,” alongside authoritative classrooms and the Fairness Committee, a system created to encourage students’ moral development and give students a voice.

At first, Eliana’s goal was to have at least two conversations that went well, then she expanded her aim, she said, “to keep that momentum of, ‘I want to have at least something that people talk about afterwards.’” Even if the Town Hall did not connect to the students as she intended, if people were talking about it afterwards, then she would consider it a success, she said.

She learned that one of the main issues with Town Hall was capturing students’ focus.

“It’s always important to start with something like a hook that catches the student body and creates an atmosphere for good discussion,” Eliana said.

One such discussion that clicked with many students was a conversation about artificial intelligence and the impact it has on teenagers in particular. While A.I. is an increasingly relevant issue in the broader world, Eliana framed the conversation around how students themselves interact with it and the moral questions that come with relying on artificial intelligence for comfort and connection.

“Something that I’d heard from my friends is that it actually changed the way that they worked with their A.I. or perceived the way that their friends were using A.I.,” Eliana said. “And so it’s much easier for them to now understand when something is becoming problematic versus when it is being used as a tool.”

This kind of impact on the way students think was what Eliana strived for all year, she said, and was exactly why Town Hall was created in the first place. While the work to improve Town Hall and restore it to its original mission is far from complete, several students noticed that this year was a significant step in the right direction.

“I think it’s better this year personally,” said sophomore Shira Selick. “A lot of the topics related to more people, so there was more discussion,” she said.

“I (and my grade) could see that over the course of Eliana’s tenure as Town Hall Chair, she put a lot of effort into making engaging Town Halls that simultaneously bring forth thought-provoking questions and ideas,” said senior Ariel Mazar.

Faculty members also praised the job Eliana did leading Town Hall this year. Mr. Dylan Ross, who teaches English, highlighted Eliana’s leadership and ability to keep conversations focused, and in line with Town Hall’s mission of moral development.

“Eliana knows when a participant in Town Hall is sincerely coming to the discussion in good faith, and when a participant is hoping to derail the conversation or sow discord,” he said. “In many ways, she reminds me of a teacher.”

In an email follow-up to her BoilingPoint interview, Dr. Keiter complimented Eliana on her ability to gauge which topics would resonate with students.

“Sometimes we’ll discuss a topic that is interesting to the committee and develop it, but Eliana will decide that as interesting as it might be, it won’t work well with the group dynamic, and we will pull it in favor of another topic that will work better…” Dr. Keiter said. “Even though Eliana does not always voice her own opinion during Town Hall, it is her passions and beliefs that often drive our discussions.”

The work of improving Town Hall is not over, Eliana said.

“I hope that eventually we can have more controversial Town Halls including ones about politics or current events that can remain respectful and nuanced,” she said. “…I think those conversations can really contribute to the mission of moral development.”

In a close election held on April 27, junior Nathaniel Kurzban was elected to succeed Eliana.

“I think the Town Halls that went the best were usually the ones that I personally cared about the most or felt connected to,” Eliana said. “So I hope Nate is able to bring his own perspective into it and choose topics that actually matter to him, and really put himself into the job. I think Nate will do an amazing job and he was a great pick for Agenda Chair.”

Eliana ends her term with gratitude, she said.

“I’m really grateful to everyone who has been respectful and participated,” Eliana said. “I’m just really lucky that I had this experience.”