At its core, AMIT is about encouraging kids to dream and help them reach the stars. Poor kids from disadvantaged homes often don’t know how important it is to have dreams, whether it is to become a successful musician, architect, tennis player or venture capitalist. Disadvantaged kids also rarely have role models for success, so it’s not something they think about. And when it comes to girls, professional role models are even fewer and their opportunities are even more limited.
Let me tell you about three AMIT programs that encourage our female students not only to dream, but to develop purpose, confidence, and skills to turn those dreams into reality.
Ulpanat Or Akiva is a high school for girls where 100% of our students come from disadvantaged backgrounds (20% live in a home for at-risk kids). Although the school has very good bagrut scores, only 12% go on to university. “To Touch the Future” encourages students to take online university courses for credit while still in high school as a way to introduce and demystify the college experience. These students see that they can do university-level work and earn college credit. The idea then of actually going into university following their service becomes a realistic goal.
Likewise, the students at Ulpanit Tzfat come from poor households with limited post-high school education. Nevertheless, there are many girls who take advanced STEM classes, bucking the community trend. To help motivate these students to think big, they participate in a weekly pre-med program at Bar Ilan School of Medicine. They are taught classes in biomedicine, time management skills, and must prepare a research thesis under the guidance of a mentor. This program exposes them to a new and exciting medical world, and hopefully puts them in the lane for a successful career.
Another female empowerment program, “Cracking the Glass Ceiling,” targets girls from disadvantaged communities, specifically to increase the representation of women in the high-tech and STEM fields. This program in Kfar Malachi reaches a largely impoverished Ethiopian community. Here, the girls get to meet high-level women in high-tech and academia and are each “adopted” by a high-tech company. They receive tutoring in math, science, and technology and are expected to compete in math, website, and app development competitions. Their role models inspire them to have goals, commitment, and discipline. Most importantly, our girls realize they can enter any professional field they desire.
Education without motivation, role models, and confidence is a hard road to hoe. By helping AMIT’s students, boys – and girls – see themselves as successful, we are giving them a giant leap forward into a dream-realized and meaningful accomplishments.
My best wishes to all for a Hanukkah sameach shared with family and friends.
