New England area teens – Jackie Levine, top row, from left, Alanna Firth, Codie Magier, Casey Topol, Jason Harlam, Jordan Krauss, Lily Kraft and Eli Serota; and bottom row, from left, Madi Bader, Halley Ames, Lindsey Goodman and Stephanie Cohn – attend the international BBY0 convention.More than 1,100 Jewish thinkers, strategists, philanthropists, and educators from 13 countries attended the international convention of BBYO, the pluralistic Jewish teen movement, from Feb. 16 – 20. In addition to nearly 900 teen leaders in attendance, 11 of whom were from New England, the convention brought together BBYO professionals, board members and volunteer advisors.

The convention theme “Our Tomorrow Starts Today” allowed participants to begin practicing tikkun olam: Teens dispersed throughout Atlanta to 18 service learning sites, including one  showing of “The Bully Project,” a new feature-length documentary that follows “a year in the life” of America’s bullying crisis, as well as  a Q & A with its director.

Another group at Emory University Hillel focused on pro-Israel advocacy in partnership with AIPAC’s leadership development staff; other sites offered media and advocacy trainings at CNN and Fox News, an urban expansion study, discussion and clean-up hike with the Atlanta Beltline Project, the creation of a new panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt through the Names Project and more.

For more about BBYO, visit bbyo.org.