BEERSHEVA HIGH SCHOOL TO BE DEDICATED

New York City, June 21, 2012……AMIT, the educational network in Israel, has received a major gift from Ellen and Stanley Wasserman of New Rochelle to dedicate the AMIT Junior and Senior High School in Beersheva. The school enrolls more than 1,300 students in grades 7 to 12 and is one of the largest religious high schools in the State of Israel.

“We are extremely grateful to Ellen and Stanley,” commented Debbie Isaac, president of AMIT, “for their visionary leadership of our organization. The Wassermans exemplify the highest ideals in Jewish philanthropy and have over and over again played a leading role in advancing AMIT’s educational mission.”

Long-time leaders of AMIT, Ellen and Stanley Wasserman are also benefactors of the AMIT Wasserman Torah, Arts and Sciences Junior and Senior High School for Girls in Ma’ale Adumim, and donated the multi-purpose courts at the Harvey Goodstein Sports Complex at the AMIT Kfar Batya Youth Village in Ra’anana. Ellen is a member of the Board of Governors of AMIT.

Stanley and Ellen Wasserman visited the AMIT Junior and Senior High School in Beersheva this past winter and met with its principal Drora Gopas, as well as with the Director General of AMIT’s network of schools, Amnon Eldar, Chief of Staff Aharon Karish, and Director of Development for Israel and Europe Judith Schwed-Lion.

Ellen Wasserman has been an active member of AMIT for 40 years, serving as president of Dahlia Chapter in Pelham Parkway in the Bronx. Stanley Wasserman is a real estate executive. The couple serendipitously met at Hunter College in New York City in 1954. They are the parents of four children as well as proud grandparents of nineteen grandchildren.

The 1,300 students at the AMIT Junior and Senior High School in Beersheva include native Israelis, immigrants from the former Soviet Union and immigrants from Ethiopia. The school strives for academic excellence by means of opening new study tracks and emphasizing research projects in subjects such as physics, computers and life sciences. At the same time every possible effort is made to improve the academic performance of its weaker populations and facilitate their scholastic success in keeping with the belief that education is the key to their social advancement. All students also are involved in communal activities and the school climate is nurtured in the spirit of Jewish values.

The special Science Program offers high level science and mathematics courses of study to capable students. Students in the program regularly win prizes in national and international science competitions, thus earning publicity and honor for the school itself and for the entire AMIT Network.

Additionally more students at the AMIT high school in Beersheva than at any other high school in Israel’s outer areas participate in the Israel Defense Forces prestigious Academic Reserve Program (Atudah Academit). Students enrolled in Atudah Academit defer their military service while they study for their university degrees in such fields as engineering, the sciences, medicine and law. Upon completion of their degrees, they enter the army as officers for an extended three-year term of service.

AMIT enables Israel’s youth to realize their potential and strengthens Israeli society by educating and nurturing children from diverse backgrounds within a framework of academic excellence, religious values and Zionist ideals.

Some 70 percent of AMIT students live in development towns or other “peripheral” areas of the country. AMIT approaches each child as an individual, maximizing his or her potential, and enabling our students to become vital, productive members of Israeli society. The AMIT schools promote religious tolerance, service to the state and the recognition that every child is blessed with unique talents and abilities. Founded in 1925, AMIT operates 108 schools, youth villages, surrogate family residences and other programs, constituting Israel’s only government-recognized network of religious Jewish education incorporating academic and technological studies.