The first thing you notice when you begin a conversation with Brother Ethan Winterstein (California – Irvine, 2025) is that he does not have a California accent (he’s from South Africa). The second thing you notice is his commitment to building a stronger Jewish community on his campus and throughout the country using his platform in Alpha Epsilon Pi.

“My family moved from South Africa here to Irvine – I had an aunt in the area – in 2017. I did most of my high school here in Irvine and decided to stay in the area so I could be close to family,” said Ethan.

After enrolling at a nearby school without an AEPi chapter, Ethan joined AEPi’s “Chapter Without Walls,” a virtual AEPi chapter for those looking to become a part of AEPi’s leadership development program but who are located at schools without a physical AEPi chapter.

“I was very hesitant to join at first. I got a call from Ethan White (an AEPi International staff member) and he brought up the network that AEPi provides and that’s kind of what sold it for me. I joined the group and then had the opportunity to go to convention in 2022 and I was hooked. At that convention, I met the president of the UC-Irvine chapter, and I decided to join their chapter.”

“At convention, I saw 300-400 jews in the same room from across the country and around the world and we all had the same underlying idea of supporting each other. We were all from different places and had different backgrounds, but we shared this one ideology. We’re Jews and we need to look out for each other. That was really important for me.”

Through his AEPi connections, Ethan got involved in other Jewish organizations including ICC (the Israel on Campus Coalition). “Through all of my AEPi and ICC connections, I became the one to lead my campus (both at Cal State Fullerton and UC-Irvine). After October 7, I had to step up and help lead.”

After helping to organize pro-Jewish and pro-Israel events on campus, Ethan had the opportunity to broaden his – already pretty broad – horizon with trips to Dubai and around the country. But his impact this year in California and with AEPi may be among his most memorable experiences.

“A couple of weeks after October 7 last year, some AEPi leaders from four California chapters got together (California State – Northridge, California – Irvine, California – Santa Barbara and California – Riverside). We all felt so alone on our campuses, and we came together and realized we were all experiencing the same things and feeling the same way. It was empowering to hear this from everyone. We were all like, ‘I’m dealing with same thing that you are, even though we’re on different campuses.’ That’s when I thought that we should do this again next year. We started looking for locations and hit on this idea about where Jews were really happy. We wanted to bring back that same feeling during this time of crisis. And, we came up with this idea of going back to summer camp but this time together, with our brothers.”

Ethan began seeking out sponsors and finding funding for the West Coast Shabbaton. Last weekend, brothers from 10 California chapters joined together to celebrate Shabbat, celebrate being Jewish and celebrate being AEPi brothers. The group, while having fun and enjoying the time together, also spent some contemplating the realities of the world today.

“We had dancing, singing, whatever…We ate together, and we were bonding with guys from other chapters. And, then the next morning, we had to confront the serious topic of why we are actually together. This is the story of the Jewish people, the mix between sadness and hope..strength and unity…and joy, we had all of that.”

The next morning, more than 100 brothers gathered to watch the documentary, Screams Before Silence, about the sexual atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7.

The mood following the screening of the film was somber. “It was really hard to watch. We had a lot of Israelis there too and they were really feeling it. Actually, we all were. It left me speechless. I was just in disbelief. I think we all were. I mean, how the hell did this happen?’

“We came together to watch the film and immediately after we all had the same feeling. We are one people. We are one brotherhood. We came together in a circle, and we started singing Gold and Blue. That’s who we are. Just seeing everyone in the circle, tears running out of the eyes of some of us because of the film we just watched together.”

“We sang the AEPi song together. It was tough but it gave me a feeling of hope and I believed that we would never be defeated. We’re not going anywhere. We’re not leaving.”

#ProudtobeaPi