Throughout the year, AMIT students across Israel take part in various activities with senior citizens from their communities, but that bond reached new heights—literally—as young women from the AMIT high school in Tel Aviv and their elder counterparts assembled and flew drones together.
The unique program is part of a project that the AMIT Reishit Tel Aviv High School for Girls launched several years ago, in which seniors come to the school to study for two full days per week. They learn math, English, Tanakh, literature, new media and science—but, equally important, they spend time with the students and staff. The program not only keeps their minds sharp, it also helps stave off the loneliness and isolation that many seniors face.
“The senior citizens participate in activities, events, and celebrations throughout the year,” Riki Tamir, the school’s principal, told Ma’ariv newspaper. “They are part of our school’s culture. Everyone comes here with a thirst for knowledge and we enjoy being able to teach them.”
Part of the school’s innovative curriculum includes a drone-building project, in which the students build a drone using recycled materials and program it to fly. The seniors took part in that as well, with the entire group learning the fundamentals about drones and how to control and operate them.
They then went out to the schoolyard to test out their creations. Everyone had a blast, Tamir said, adding that the older women were excited about the prospect of learning more fun, high-tech things.
For the students, she said, “the added value of, in terms of education and ethics, is enormous.”
Photo by Aloni Mor
To learn more about AMIT’s cutting-edge educational approach, watch this video:
