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January 11, 2002/27 Tevet 5762, Vol. 54, No. 17
Washington beckons teen
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Phoenix high school student Jacob Reuben is off to the Senate.
Reuben was one of 700 high school student leaders in Arizona who applied for the opportunity to be part of the United States Senate Youth Program this spring.
The program, celebrating its 40th anniversary, is sponsored by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and the U.S. Senate. Two high school students from each state and the District of Columbia are given the opportunity to spend a week in Washington, D.C. Participants spend time at Capitol Hill, the White House, the Supreme Court, the Pentagon and the State Department, and receive a $2,000 scholarship for undergraduate studies.
Reuben, 18, is currently student body president at Central High School and has served as class president for each of the previous three years. However, Reuben's leadership roles take him far beyond his own high school.
Reuben also serves as the student liaison to the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board. Although he doesn't vote as a member of the board, he does represent the district's 15,000 students. "I sit on the board and tell them about student affairs and what's going on with student life," he explains.
He also serves as one of three state officers for the Arizona Association of Student Councils. He says that his responsibilities include conducting executive business for student councils across Arizona, planning conferences and choosing charities for the organization to support.
"I like helping my school, my community and my state," he explains. "I like to ... make things new and exciting."
All of Reuben's hard work has paid off with his selection to receive the University of Arizona's President's Award for Excellence Scholarship and the university's achievement scholarship - resulting in a full scholarship to attend the U of A as an undergraduate.
The scholarships are tempting and Reuben is leaning toward attending U of A in the fall, although he says he's still looking at the University of Texas at Austin and Ohio State. His plans are to study political science and pre-law.
"I want to be a lawyer and then I definitely want to do something in the public capacity," he says. "Whether or not it's in large government or local government, I don't know. I'll keep my options open."
In addition to his leadership roles, Reuben is an active participant in the International Magnet Program at Central High School. The program has given him the opportunity to visit Japan and Russia, and he plans to visit Spain this spring.
He says he learned a lot about the countries he visited and also learned to better appreciate his own country. "I had more of a patriotic feeling once I got back to America," he says. "What we have (here) - the freedom - and the opportunity to choose."
His family has also hosted a Spanish student and the Japanese student with whom Reuben stayed when he visited Japan. However, his favorite was a Chinese exchange student who came to stay with Reuben's family. It was the first time China had participated in a student exchange program, and Rueben says that the student didn't really know what to expect because few Chinese people visit the U.S.
"It was really fun for me to teach him all of the different things about America - the freedoms we have, the opportunity, the different things we have acquired. He loved it," Reuben explains. The two have stayed in touch via e-mail.
Despite his busy schedule, Reuben is a member of National Honor Society, is a four-year varsity letter in tennis and is active at Temple Beth Israel.
Reuben attributes his success to the example laid out for him by his older siblings Adam, 28; Molly, 24, a third-year medical student at U of A and past president of Hillel at U of A; and Sadie, 20, also a student at U of A, a member of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona and a past student body president of Central High School. Both sisters were past presidents of the southwest region of NFTY. Reuben also has two stepbrothers, Lance Taubman, 30, and Brent Taubman, 24.
He is the son of Terry and Lon Taubman and Howard Reuben, all of Phoenix.
"I don't think I would have done anything I've done without my family and their support. I take after my sisters and my brothers. I've learned from them and my parents," Reuben explains. "(My mom) has been my ally through all my endeavors."
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