American U Swimmer Indicators NIL Deal With Anti-Hate Group

Hailing from “the middle of nowhere,” Massachusetts, an American University swimmer is now on a nationwide platform for her management and Jewish pleasure.

Rebecca Siegel is among the many 17 Jewish collegiate athletes not too long ago chosen as ambassadors by the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate. She signed a Name, Image and Likeness deal in December, a part of the alliance’s second cohort.

The athlete ambassador program seeks to focus on Jewish athletes on the collegiate stage to advertise their multifaceted identities and bolster Jewish pleasure by means of social media, in keeping with a press launch.

“I’ve always been very proud to be a Jew, and I’ve also been very proud of who I am as a swimmer,” Siegel mentioned. “I’ve worked really hard for it, so I’m excited that I’m able to use my platform as an athlete to expand on how proud I am as a Jew.”

A varsity swimmer at American University in Washington, D.C., since 2023, Siegel was chosen to characterize Team USA on the 2025 Maccabiah Games in Israel, one of many largest international sports activities occasions. The Games have been postponed to 2026 because of the ongoing warfare in opposition to Iran.

Siegel started swimming when she was 7 years outdated. “Growing up, it was very much a balance between going to synagogue and then also practicing,” she mentioned.

The faculty senior took that very same vitality along with her to D.C., the place she is concerned in American University Hillel and Chabad AU, together with a stint on the manager board of the latter.

She helps construct neighborhood between fellow Jewish athletes by means of Hillel. “It’s been very welcoming,” Siegel mentioned. “Also, my teammates [on the swim team] always come celebrate holidays with me, so it’s not two separate communities for me, which is amazing.”
Leadership is nothing new to this D.C. resident.

“My whole life, I’ve been very involved in helping the next generation, teaching the little kids on my swim team, volunteer[ing] at my synagogue for the grades below me,” Siegel mentioned.

Although well being considerations and accidents compelled Siegel to medically retire from aggressive swimming in November 2025, “that’s not an end of her story as a leader in sport and a leader to other young people,” Katz mentioned.

He added that Siegel now mentors youthful athletes along with her faculty course load.

“She’s … a great role model for young athletes in the broader D.C. metro area,” Katz mentioned. “What I love about Rebecca’s story is how she has overcome adversity, how she has demonstrated resilience and pride in herself and who she is, and then channeled that into coaching and mentorship so that the next generation can benefit from those values.”

Siegel mentioned she resonates with the Blue Square Alliance’s core values: unity, solidarity, standing in opposition to hate and embracing one’s identification as a Jewish scholar athlete and chief.

Combating hate is one thing Siegel has had a hand in each personally and professionally.

Siegel was one of many few Jewish college students at her “very small” highschool in Hubbardston, a rural neighborhood in Massachusetts. If she heard one other scholar make an antisemitic remark, Siegel would inform a faculty authority and in addition discuss to the peer, inquiring, “Do you know what you said?”

“I would make sure that [antisemitism] wasn’t taken lightly,” Siegel mentioned.

Especially with a highschool class of lower than 100 college students, talking up can simply set a scholar aside. But that didn’t faze Siegel.

“I’m proud of who I am, and that doesn’t change just because I’m one of the few Jewish kids around,” she mentioned, including that her buddies constantly supported her. “If something happened, I wasn’t afraid of speaking out.”

This pleasure and luxury in sharing her identification factored into the Blue Square Alliance’s choice to pick Siegel as an athlete ambassador, in keeping with Adam Katz, the president of the BSA.

“It’s [her] resilience and authenticity,” Katz mentioned. “She’s confident in who she is, and she’s happy and proud to speak about [who she is].”

Siegel additionally accomplished an internship on the American Jewish Committee’s Center for Education Advocacy, the place she labored with the Leaders for Tomorrow program to construct neighborhood and management expertise amongst Jewish teenagers. She accompanied the scholars as they lobbied on Capitol Hill and spoke with native representatives about antisemitism.

“I’ve definitely taken advantage of the D.C. experience and used it in various capacities,” Siegel mentioned.

This expertise ties into her new function with the Blue Square Alliance.

“I’m a very big believer that, in order to combat hate, you have to use not only education, but also exposure,” she mentioned. “To be able to share my story and be an advocate by speaking out, … I’m just so thankful. I’m excited to share all of it.”

Also sharing their tales are two upperclassmen with D.C.-area roots: Nina Pollak, a soccer participant at Trinity University, is initially from Bethesda, and Sarah Hoffman, a area hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse participant at Albertus Magnus College, hails from Springfield, Virginia.

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