On January 1st, 2013, over four hundred students from every corner of America gathered at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. for four days of pro-Israel programming. Students ranged in age from high school seniors to graduate students and came from a variety of campuses including Ivy League Schools, Historically Black Colleges and Jewish day schools.

This year’s Winter Saban Leadership Seminar combined daily breakout sessions with a series of insightful and thought-provoking plenaries. Breakout sessions gave students the opportunity to meet in small groups and discuss challenges and best practices from their respective campus experiences. Plenaries featured some outstanding speakers discussing many of the issues most pertinent to the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Students left this year’s conference with a renewed commitment to strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship and to building pro-Israel student movements on their campuses. Many look forward to returning to Washington for the 2013 AIPAC Policy Conference in March and the next Saban Leadership Seminar this summer.