Middle school can be a trying time for kids as they navigate academics, social lives, and develop their identities and sense of self. Liel B., 16, from Beersheva, admits that 7th and 8th grades weren’t her favorite and she was somewhat quiet and withdrawn at school.
Something changed, though, when she entered her 9th-grade class at the Dina and Moses Dyckman Ulpanat AMIT. “Without my teacher from that year, I don’t think I would be who I am today,” said Liel. “From the first day, she told us, ‘It’s not important to me what you will be, I care about who you are now.”
Hearing that helped Liel turn a new leaf: She became more outgoing and her confidence increased, and she worked toward balancing her academics and hobbies. Now in 10th grade, Liel is also studying physics and technology at the highest level (5) and is one of only 22 students in southern Israel to take part in a nationwide science program for gifted students.
The program is called Alpha HYPERLINK https://www.madaney.net/en/site/programs/alpha/], and it exposes students to high-level scientific research while giving them the tools to conduct their own research and experiments. It also organizes activities with likeminded teens to keep them socially active as well. Participants attend the program at different universities across the country and then write a research paper that can substitute for one of their bagrut (matriculation) exams in the sciences.
In Liel’s case, she is studying friction on the atomic scale. While she is the only religiously observant young women in the program, she is one of hundreds of young women within the AMIT network studying physics at the highest level, something the network worked to steadily increase in recent years [HYPERLINK https://amitchildren.org/next-stop-amit-girls-excel-physics-cern-geneva/]. “Physics is everywhere and can be used as a tool for life,” said Liel, adding that she admires scientists who work to make discoveries and create innovative change in the world. (Her father is a physicist and her mother supervises a kupat cholim, or health service organization, in Beersheva.)
Liel’s participation in the Alpha program began in the summer after 9th grade and continues through 11th grade. It requires a balancing act and some concessions (“I don’t always get enough sleep,” she said), but the program is worth it.
“You have to give up on different things to take part in Alpha, and sometimes it’s really hard,” said Liel. “But then you see that you reached your goal and it allows you to feel like you achieved something important in life.”
Speaking of goals, Liel is still debating whether she wants to enlist in the army or perform national service after graduating from high school. For now, she’s focused on her studies and on unwinding by painting or playing her keyboard. She’s following her 9th-grade teacher’s advice and concentrating on who she is today, not what she’ll be.
