Girl Power

GIRLPOWER

Students Experience Careers and Personal Development in Innovative Programs at AMIT Ori

BY HELGA ABRAHAM

Dina Hendler had a dream: to open the eyes of her female students to the world around them. With her hard work and dedication to that dream, she has dramatically changed the lives of the all-girls middle- and high-school students at AMIT Ori in Ma’ale Adumim.

It began six years ago, when two high school seniors approached Hendler and asked her how to save a PDF on their computers. Hendler recalls that moment. “I understood that our students don’t really know even the simple things that make life easier.”

Since then, she and her students have plunged directly into science, medicine and technology, including a trip to Google and a meeting with the tech giant’s top female executives. “There is no chance to do this in regular studies, we want to take the students out to meet women who have gone far, and in places like Google and Microsoft.”

It is Hendler’s goal that the students achieve both real-world experience as well as encouragement to pursue related studies.

Part of the school programming, called yezemut (entrepreneurship), has thus far brought the students to Hebrew University to meet with professors in various fields. In a branch of the program called eco-medicine, the students interact with doctors and engineers. This year, they queried a medical team following embryo implantation for IVF, specifically an innovative fertility surgery to help a cancer survivor. A dialogue with such surgeons is no small accomplishment for any young person. But Hendler emphasizes the magnitude of this achievement for her students. “Five years ago, our girls didn’t even ask questions. They were like newborns in that regard.”

The Support of the AMIT Network

Hendler’s efforts began small but grew radically with the support and involvement of the AMIT network, which she says has made all the difference. “Now we can expand much further than I could have before,” she explains gratefully.

In particular, Hendler praises AMIT Ori school principal Ruchama Vogel. “Students need the extra time for these programs, which takes the vision of the head of the school.”

Crucial support also comes from others in the AMIT network. Hendler singles out the network’s Limor Friedman (Director, Partnerships and Ecosystems), Nechama Hollendar (Friedman’s coordinator), Galia Kedmi Fragman (Head of Entrepreneurship), and Batiya Ariele (Regional Community Director of AMIT schools in Jerusalem).

A Holistic Education

The programs at AMIT Ori also include personal and social development—from an emphasis on serving others to helping the girls understand their Judaism on a more universal level.

The goal, says Hendler, is “arvut hadadit” (mutual respect). “You can use entrepreneurship to help other people,” she explains. An example is a collaborative brainstorming project to assist children at a school for the blind which the 8th graders visited. The students created a cup that blind children can determine when full. Hendler summarizes: “The girls need to learn to interact with others, not just fellow students. They need to learn skills — how to work cooperatively, be creative, interview, and stand in front of people and speak clearly.” In this way she says, “They develop life skills.”

The students study the history of Jewish girls all over the world. Virtually, they have met students from Odessa and Perth in an effort to learn about the lives of Jews living in the diaspora. Simultaneously, they become more motivated to learn and practice their English language skills.

“The girls need to learn to interact with others, not just fellow students. They need to learn skills — how to work cooperatively, be creative, interview, and stand in front of people and speak clearly.”

Ahead of the National Curve

The Israeli government’s 71B Annual Audit Report, released in March 2021, analyzed the state of many fields in the country. In the area of education, this latest version of the report found a serious lag in preparing Israeli students for the essential skills necessary for the 21st century.

According to the Report’s research, there are eight essential educational skills in the 21st century: critical thinking, the ability to problem-solve, self-learning, self-direction, collaboration, creativity, information management, and technological and digital literacy. All of these are addressed by AMIT Ori and the AMIT network.

Additionally, the 2019 report stated there is a serious dearth of women in the high-tech industry (figures indicate less than 20% participation), a serious deficit particularly considering Israel’s acknowledged designation as a “start-up nation.” This is most ex-

Student Odeya Kehat

tensively addressed at AMIT Ori and in the AMIT educational system.

To this end, a representative of the AMIT network was chosen to be interviewed on several network news programs following the release of the report, explaining the unique structure, efforts, and progress of AMIT schools addressing these critical issues. Programs such as the one built by Dina Hendler are a perfect example.

The Beneficiaries

A mere decade or two ago, young girls would not ordinarily have approached life the way AMIT Ori students Shelly Erez and Odeya Kehat do. In fact, even today, their focus, determination, and assuredness stand out.

Erez, an 8th grader who immigrated to Israel from Seattle with her family at the age of 10, says, “I want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon,” confidently stating it as if it were any average choice profession. She chose AMIT Ori over the other high schools in Ma’ale Adumim where she lives, because, “In addition to the regular studies it is the only school in the city with an opportunity for “refua b’hadshnut” (innovative medicine) and the chance to speak with actual doctors, specifically surgeons. When you brainstorm problems in a hospital setting you get creative ideas on how to be a doctor.”

Odeya Kehat, a 9th grader, is looking ahead to her 10th grade “magama” (major) in which her emphasis will be on her career interests in medicine, physics, and math. “This gives me a good perspective about what I want to do in my career when I grow up.”

Kehat has always studied in girls’-only schools and chose AMIT Ori over all the high schools in Jerusalem, where she lives in the Arnona neighborhood. It is not only because of her emphasis on science and medicine, but it is the impactful way the school provides a holistic educational experience.

Explains Kehat: “Every week we meet a professor who works in the specialty in which we’re studying, and they help and really inspire us.” She mentions Professor Ariel Ravel at Hadassah University Medical Center, a senior physician and expert in infertility. Recently, Kehat was among a group of students to whom Ravel explained an innovative surgical procedure. What made a particular impression on her was that “He spoke to us as equals.” That alone surely builds self-esteem and confidence.

Erez explains other important aspects of the school’s programs. “We make a lot of presentations, learn about speaking, and the themes are about functioning in the world. In class we learn about life skills. Speaking with other young people in places like Russia and Australia helps us to understand the world outside ourselves.”

Both girls are aware of the value of the special environment at AMIT Ori. Says Erez, “What stands out is that in addition to the fact the staff provides so many programs, they love the students so much. They care about their students. They want to give us a taste of the world, what’s around us, and what we are going to become.”

Kehat agrees. “The feeling in my school is that the teachers care about us. They want us to be happy. That’s one of the reasons why I travel to Ma’ale Adumim. Every student has her own place.”