For Sarah Portilla, the task of training Rutgers Hillel students as first-year ambassadors was just one more juicy assignment in her new role as director of engagement for the campus agency.

On second thought, make that — "Jew-cy."

"Squeeze me! I'm Jew-cy," declared the T-shirts Portilla was getting ready to distribute to the seven Rutgers University students who were gathering in New Brunswick in a conference room at the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life on the morning of Aug. 27.

The seven students were members of Rutgers Hillel's First-Year Impact fellowship team. The training session was designed to acclimate the fellows to their FYI responsibilities — reaching out to first-year Jewish students, serving as role models, running cultural and educational programs, and creating Jewish community on campus. The fellowship program is being funded through a grant from the Russell Berrie Foundation of Oakland.

Among other agencies, the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey contributed matching funds to the grant.

The T-shirts and the Jew-cy theme are all part of a project aimed at first-year Jewish students on all five area university campuses — College Avenue, Busch, Douglass, Livingston, and Cook. In her new role at Rutgers Hillel, Portilla said, she hopes to expand the sense of Jewish community on all the campuses.

"My mission is to make sure Jewish life has the ability to happen on all the campuses of Rutgers, so people don't feel they have to come to Hillel to be Jewish on campus or have a meaningful Jewish experience on campus," she said.

"That translates into any type of activity you can think of — cultural programming, for the most part," she added. "The goal is really to make being Jewish on campus accessible and fun, and that can take any shape or form. The ideas are endless."

For example, activities for incoming Jewish students during the first weeks of September include a welcoming barbecue, a Jew-cy Shabbat, an Israeli café night, a Rosh Hashana a la mode party, a Jew-cy picnic in the park, and an evening of shmoozing and watching The Daily Show — Jews for Jon Stewart, Jew-cy Style.

"And there's holiday programming," Portilla said. "We have a pop-up sukka. You actually go like this," she said, flinging her arms into the air, "and it pops up and it's there. And it's movable. You can take it with you."

About 5,000 Jews are among the 20,000 students on the five New Brunswick-area campuses, and Rutgers Hillel estimates that it touches the lives of about 2,000 of them.

It can be very difficult for incoming students to find their way to making connections with other Jewish students on campus, said FYI team member sophomore Maya Furman of Tenafly.

"I want other students to know there are other Jews at Rutgers," she said, "and just for them to feel comfortable when they come here, and just to feel at home."

The first year of college is a critical time, observed junior Michelle Rosenberg of West Orange. "I want to make it easy for them to meet the Jewish community. . .and to find a way to connect in any way that works for them," Rosenberg said. "I think the entire Jewish community is going to benefit if we help connect the first-year students and help them become leaders. The only way the Jewish community can continue to grow is if we continue to have leaders on campus, and this program is trying to help first-year students to become the next leaders."

Sophomore Sam Master of Teaneck, a member of the board of Rutgers Hillel Mesorah, the Orthodox community on campus, said he wants to help more Jewish students get acclimated to the university. "There are so many people out there who aren't joining in," he said. "We want to do our part to help everyone."

Junior Shira Kirsch of Rockaway, a Mesorah member who served last year as president of Koach, the Conservative community on campus, agreed. "We want to have a chance to let the freshmen have an opportunity to join such a great community that Hillel offers," she said.

Junior Zack Wilder of Mount Laurel, who identified himself as a Reform Jew, said that some students have a difficult time finding a way into the Jewish community on campus.

"I think there's a feeling that there are the Orthodox and there's the rest of Rutgers," Wilder said. "I'm here to ease that transition and make being Jewish at Rutgers less intimidating."

Participating in FYI also offers benefits for the fellows, according to sophomore Judah Levenson of Morristown. "I wanted to get involved in the Jewish community, and this seemed like a good opportunity," he said. "This is a good way to give back to the community and make an impact. I'm excited to work creatively and somewhat independently and do my own programming while working with this group."

As they go about their mission, the FYI fellows will be working with Marissa Feinman of Highland Park, the new Jewish Campus Service Corps fellow at Rutgers Hillel, who is charged with reaching out to unaffiliated students on campus.

"It's a big job for one person to do — especially at Rutgers, with 5,000 students," said Feinman, a recent graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

The FYI fellows will be her agents on the various campuses, Feinman said, helping to keep Jewish students from getting lost in the crowd.

"It's about creating Jewish opportunities," she said. "I think it's really important, because if students feel connected to the Jewish community in college, it will strengthen their identity and help them to feel connected to the Jewish community later in life."