Annual Report
Putting the Needs of Israel’s Children First
President's Message
I‘ve had the privilege of working with many incredibly talented lay-leaders and professionals who are dedicated to fulfilling AMIT’s mission of “Building Israel, one child at a time.” Like many supporters, my journey with AMIT has only deepened my engagement and support for this phenomenal organization.
AMIT has always stood out by providing innovative educational opportunities for students from all corners of Israeli society. Its true brilliance shone through during the pandemic, as AMIT quickly adapted to online education and made sure our most vulnerable students received the essential support they needed. Later, after life started to feel somewhat normal again, we were hit by the horrors of October 7. Our students and educators were deeply affected, and families in the south, and then the north, faced the added trauma of being forced from their homes and relocated to hotels across the country. Within days, AMIT’s leadership set up learning centers and therapy sessions to begin the healing process for our students and faculty.
I’m incredibly proud of how AMIT continues to evolve to meet Israel’s ever-changing needs, in ways both big and small. Being part of this work is a true honor. Your contributions and dedication will infuse our board with fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, helping us tackle future challenges head-on. I look forward to working closely with each of you and seeing the positive impact we can create together.
Shari Safra
AMIT President
Student Stories
Celebrating Jewish Milestones: AMIT Students Host Bat Mitzvah for Ethiopian Girls
Students at the AMIT Evelyn Schreiber Junior and Senior High School for Girls in Tzfat hosted a bat mitzvah celebration for nine seventh-grade immigrants from Ethiopia who didn’t previously have the opportunity to celebrate this important Jewish milestone.
We feel like we are in a dream that has come true,” one of the mothers remarked. “Thank you for the great love and warm embrace that you have shown our daughters.”
An Expanding Footprint:
AMIT’s
Network
of Schools
18
yeshivot and Boys’ high schools
17
Elementary Schools
17
ulpanot and girls’ high schools
17
co-ed and secular Schools
8
post-secondary institutions
4
Youth
Villages
8
Technological
centers
Putting the Needs of Israel’s Children First
t AMIT, students are individuals first and students second. By engaging in all aspects of their development — from ensuring that basic psychological and economic needs are met, to fostering a sense of belonging and community, emphasizing social skills and self-esteem in addition to academic abilities — AMIT empowers Israel’s children to realize their potential. It is because of this holistic approach that students have been able to continue with their academic, emotional, social, and values-based learning, even under the difficult circumstances of the past year.
During 2021, AMIT was able to overcome an extraordinary set of challenges. Very few countries closed their schools for as long as Israel during the pandemic. Students were negatively impacted by uncertainty and lack of stability, reduced socialization, distance learning, and economic disarray. Impact was felt by all students as well as educators, with the disadvantaged suffering most.
The past few years has been a period of educational transformation thanks to investments made in education innovation, teacher development, and personalized learning. As a result, AMIT had the infrastructure in place to enable educators to thrive. Through agile leadership, creative Gogya process and thinking, and support from generous donors, students were able to continue to learn and grow in 2021.
Gogya Expands Through
Hybrid Gogya
During 2021, AMIT established Hybrid Gogya, an online platform for joint learning. With four local branches in each of AMIT’s regional communities, Hybrid Gogya schools provide 4,400 students with more learning choices, enrichment classes, and majors — far beyond what any individual local school could previously offer.
Based on the Gogya principles of collaboration, teamwork, curiosity, independent learning, and agility, Hybrid Gogya enables students to learn from the best teachers across the network of schools. This brings greater opportunities to students especially in Israel’s geographic periphery where small school sizes and limited teacher pools often mean fewer opportunities.
Majors Offered in Hybrid Gogya: Physics, Computer Science, Arabic, and French
Courses Offered in Hybrid Gogya: Astrophysics, English Debate, Human Psychology, Jewish History, Art
Values-Based
Education
At AMIT’s core is helping students form their identity through a values-based education. AMIT aims to instill graduates with strong values, sense of self, commitment to giving back, and a drive to better Israeli society. These guiding principles are based on values identified in the AMIT Compass of Excellence and Self-Fulfillment, Klal Yisrael and Torat Chaim (dynamic Jewish values).
AMIT integrates values into students’ everyday lives and makes Jewish study more relatable. In 2021, 350 young women chose to learn Torah subjects together; AMIT schools led a Talmud study for women; an annual competition in Torah-based creativity enabled students to connect to values in a way that spoke most to them.
Every AMIT high school engages in programs and initiatives under the umbrella of Klal Yisrael, creating an environment of openness, tolerance, and a celebration of diversity. This is accomplished through programs like Rivlin’s “Israeli Hope” and partnerships with Kaleidescope, an organization that fosters bonds and connections to promote diversity, inclusion, and tolerance. Through dialogue, interaction, social-emotional learning, and student exposure, AMIT creates unity regardless of individual differences.
Welcoming
Three New Schools to the AMIT Network
AMIT Nachshon Junior and Senior High School, Hevel Modiin
Acquired in the tender process
AMIT Nachshon has 1,200 students in 7th through 12th grade. The student body is heterogeneous and comes from 24 rural communities of varying socioeconomic levels and ethnic backgrounds. The school was run by the regional council for nine years before joining the network, and is strong in the sciences, offering a choice of bagrut in biology, chemistry, physics, biotechnology, and biomedicine. It is also known for its sports program, with intramural basketball, soccer, and volleyball teams. The bagrut rate in year one was 81%, with 95% of AMIT Nachshon graduates serving in the IDF.
AMIT Ramle Junior College, Ramle
New Junior College
AMIT Ramle opened a new junior college in 2021. Known as Grade 13, it provides young women with a one-year course in medical administration. As part of their studies, students spend 60 hours doing rotations in hospital departments to get hands-on experience. In addition to professional studies, everyone participates in a life preparation course. This course is designed to give vital life skills to the student body, most of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. It includes finance and budgeting, interpersonal relationships, building families, job interviewing, self-confidence, and public speaking. Trips around Israel foster a student connection with the country and their heritage. At the completion of the program, graduates earn a technical diploma.
The AMIT Ron Arad Junior and Senior High School, Rehovot
Acquired in the tender process
AMIT Ron Arad is a large, secular school with 750 students in grades seven through 12. The high school has a relatively large number of bagrut tracks; biology, chemistry, physics, extended history studies, diplomacy, visual arts, computer science and programming, phys. ed., social initiatives, social science, earth science, information systems, Arabic, theater, and communications. The bagrut rate is 95%, with the last graduating class achieving a full bagrut certificate. The school is named for Ron Arad, the IDF soldier missing in action since 1986, and focuses on Arad’s four core values: excellence, love of one’s neighbor, responsibility, and personal example.
Ecosystems
Expands to Medical, Start-Ups, & Finance Fields
AMIT prepares students for their adult life through partnerships that expand learning into real-world experiences. This goal is critical to all children, but even more so for the 70% of students from Israel’s social and geographic periphery.
The Louzoun Family Ecosystems program was piloted in 2020-2021 to give students an opportunity to practice skills in the classroom and work alongside professionals. Ecosystems exposes students to professional settings for the first time in their lives and provides invaluable opportunities to interact with Israeli leaders in key fields.
This past year, AMIT rolled out three new programs:
- Eco-Medicine
- Eco-Start-ups
- Eco-Finance
1.
Eco-Medicine
This past year, the Eco-Medicine project created technological solutions to medical issues. Each of the five participating AMIT schools became joint pilot teams, combining students, physicians and engineers, to solve real-life challenges, from IVF success rates to heart valve repairs and replacements. Students worked together with professionals to develop out-of-the-box prototypes.
Each week students visited professional laboratories and medical settings to learn about their subject and conduct research at places normally outside their reach. Students watched an open-heart surgery, toured operating theaters, met with doctors, nurses and technicians, to see first-hand what each professional on the team does. Eco-Medicine participants went to laboratories at Hebrew University and did research alongside university students and they brought a young, creative, entrepreneurial spirit to discussions.
2.
Eco-Start-ups
Eco-Start-Ups gave students the opportunity to work at a tech company once a week, where they met with successful CEOs. Participation in entrepreneurship workshops and an intensive English language program positioned these students for their professional future. Students heard directly from CEOs about their personal journeys and disadvantaged backgrounds, helping students realize they too can dream big and achieve similar success.
3.
Eco-Finance
Eco-Finance partnered with the Israeli Accountants Union to provide students with a high-level financial education. Students in seven participating schools had bi-weekly workshops presented by top accountants where topics included understanding the banking system, mortgages, and budgets. These in-depth workshops were followed by bi-weekly mentor meetings that further connected the students to the topics with assignments such as preparing an analysis of their family’s budgets after a budget workshop.
