Also, a notable increase in the number of students studying level-5 mathematics. “We are creating a model that gives children growing up in the peripheral regions an equal opportunity to fully realize their abilities,” said KKL-JNF World Chairman Daniel Atar.
Tenth- grader
Ma’ayan Hayut was sitting in class at the Yigal Alon Ort School in Nof Hagalil when representatives from the KKL-JNF House for Excellence came by. They explained to the students about the new project recently launched in the city, and invited them to come and get help with their studies.
Hayut listened and was keen: “I decided to go and check the place out,” she said. “They offered tutorials and that was something I felt I needed.” Hayut (16) said that when she started going to KKL-JNF House, her average grade was 70 in math and she had failed English. The personal attention, study in small groups and the ability to see every student as an individual led to results, and Ma’ayan noted a significant improvement in her studies. “The small class sizes are the exact opposite of what we have at school,” she explained. “Although the teachers would like to give everyone individual attention, they find it difficult to do so because it’s such a big class. The fact that we learn in groups of five at KKL-JNF House also helps the teacher to identify the specific way in which students need help for whatever subject they’re studying, along with giving them personal attention.”
Improved grades were not the only thing Hayut gained from her time at KKL-JNF House. Last year, she achieved yet another noteworthy accomplishment when she was elected as head of the Nof Hagalil Municipal Youth Council, which has 30 members representing the town’s youth. KKL-JNF House staff played a significant role also in this part of her journey. Hayut related how before the elections, she had to speak to over 100 local youth, and the staff helped her prepare for her speech.
KKL-JNF Houses for Excellence are centers for accelerated studies in technology and entrepreneurship that include empowerment activities and development of life skills. The centers are geared to teenagers from tenth to twelfth grades. The Houses are actually multidisciplinary spaces that are open during the afternoons and evenings, and allow teenagers to integrate learning, empowerment and leisure time activities. The underlying idea is that combining all of the above will help young people to realize their potential in an optimal manner. The space includes a learning center for studying science and technology in small groups with skilled teachers, along with a technological entrepreneurship program run in cooperation with the [IDF] Unit 8200 Alumni Association, where are introduced to cyber, robotics, programming languages, games development and Photoshop.
The first KKL-JNF House for Excellence was dedicated about two years ago in Nof Hagalil (formerly known as Upper Nazareth) in the presence of the President of Israel, Mr. Reuven Rivlin. Since its founding, it has already
become a catalyst for significant change. The ongoing help with studies and preparation for the matriculation exams in small groups produced results. Data published by the Ministry of Education shows a 10% increase in the number of students who sit their matriculation exams for level 5 math.
“As someone who served for two decades as the head of the Gilboa Regional Council and as someone who himself is a resident of a peripheral region, I can honestly say that someone who grows up in Israel’s periphery is not only dependent on their own abilities,” said KKL-JNF World Chairman
Daniel Atar. “By means of the KKL-JNF Houses for Excellence, we are creating a model for children who grow up in the periphery to fully actualize themselves without being obstructed by a glass ceiling. In addition, it is our hope that the tools, values and support that we are providing them through the KKL-JNF Houses will encourage them to continue living in outlying regions and to help develop them.”
KKL-JNF Houses for Excellence are a social and educational flagship project that is part of KKL-JNF’s vision for the future, called “Israel 2040 – Israeli Relocation – KKL-JNF Builds the Land of the Future”. Out of the belief that only a strong periphery will enable strategic, economic and social resilience for the state of Israel, KKL-JNF works to strengthen Israel’s periphery, narrow the gaps between these regions and Israel’s center, and turn them into Israel’s next growth engine. The “Israel 2040” vision offers solutions for problems in employment, infrastructure, education and housing in the Negev and Galilee, by creating a new reality in which by the year 2040, peripheral regions will be transformed into international technological and hi-tech centers where over a 1.5 million people will make their homes. In the near future, KKL-JNF Houses for Excellence will be opened in the cities of Sderot, Kiryat Malachi, Kiryat Shemona, Tzfat and Migdal Ha’emek. From now on, success stories like that of Ma’ayan Hayut will only increase.
This article was published in cooperation with KKL-JNF.