Coleman's Educational Year Abroad
Donation protected
It is official! I leave September 4, 2017 for nine months of study, travel and volunteering in Israel with the Nativ/Yozma program! Thanks to all of your support, I committed to the program with confidence that we can cover the costs as the year goes along. Please continue to share and support my journey!
Here is the full story. :-)
I have been looking for the perfect gap year program for the past year. My parents each spent a year overseas when they were about my age (my mother in Germany and my late father on a kibbutz in Israel), and my mom is very supportive and enthusiastic about my choice to try and do the same. I want to expand my international experience and learn more about the world. I intend to work in the space industry, and I know that international cooperation is key to advancing humanity’s understanding and exploration of space. I have also been following the developments on college campuses across America recently, and I want to be able to represent and defend Judaism in ways that encourage understanding and inclusion when I start my studies.
When I researched the Yozma program I knew it would be ideal. Yozma is a fully integrated group within the Nativ program for students with special needs. The Nativ/Yozma program would allow me to reconnect with my roots in Israel, strengthen my leadership ability, improve my social and study skills, and allow me to network with the diverse engineering community in Israel. While Nativ costs about the same as many other gap year programs, the valuable added support of Yozma does increase the cost.
I have high functioning autism, also known as Asperger’s Syndrome, and I know that spending a year overseas will be challenging. It is challenging for anyone, but especially for someone like me who needs extra support in social settings and has sensory balancing issues. I have worked for years to be fully integrated in school and society, but there are still some areas that are tough. I will look to the supportive Yozma staff to help me continue formulating strategies for dealing with sensory issues, stress, time management and self-regulation. Yozma is designed to offer me a college setting with extra instruction in self-advocacy, leadership, study habits, and independent living to help prepare me for college when I return to the states.
Yozma is also ideal because I will be able to continue my Jewish learning while I am immersing myself in a foreign culture and language. My Jewish identity is dear to me, and I am so happy to have the chance to develop it more. The Yozma program offers that extra support while still allowing me to be fully integrated in the greater Nativ experience of learning about Judaism, the Middle East, history and culture.
Finally, Israel is the start-up capital of the world, and I want to network with the technology community there. Through Yozma, I could volunteer or perhaps work through an internship program and make connections with the many engineering and tech companies in Israel, and perhaps even the Israeli Space Agency. I believe the Yozma program has everything I want and need for a successful and meaningful year abroad.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I hope you will feel it is a wise investment in the future to support me. I intend to make the most of it and bring my learning back to share with my communities in the states.
Please share and spread the word. Thank you again!
http://www.nativ.org/yozma/about-yozma/
Here is the full story. :-)
I have been looking for the perfect gap year program for the past year. My parents each spent a year overseas when they were about my age (my mother in Germany and my late father on a kibbutz in Israel), and my mom is very supportive and enthusiastic about my choice to try and do the same. I want to expand my international experience and learn more about the world. I intend to work in the space industry, and I know that international cooperation is key to advancing humanity’s understanding and exploration of space. I have also been following the developments on college campuses across America recently, and I want to be able to represent and defend Judaism in ways that encourage understanding and inclusion when I start my studies.
When I researched the Yozma program I knew it would be ideal. Yozma is a fully integrated group within the Nativ program for students with special needs. The Nativ/Yozma program would allow me to reconnect with my roots in Israel, strengthen my leadership ability, improve my social and study skills, and allow me to network with the diverse engineering community in Israel. While Nativ costs about the same as many other gap year programs, the valuable added support of Yozma does increase the cost.
I have high functioning autism, also known as Asperger’s Syndrome, and I know that spending a year overseas will be challenging. It is challenging for anyone, but especially for someone like me who needs extra support in social settings and has sensory balancing issues. I have worked for years to be fully integrated in school and society, but there are still some areas that are tough. I will look to the supportive Yozma staff to help me continue formulating strategies for dealing with sensory issues, stress, time management and self-regulation. Yozma is designed to offer me a college setting with extra instruction in self-advocacy, leadership, study habits, and independent living to help prepare me for college when I return to the states.
Yozma is also ideal because I will be able to continue my Jewish learning while I am immersing myself in a foreign culture and language. My Jewish identity is dear to me, and I am so happy to have the chance to develop it more. The Yozma program offers that extra support while still allowing me to be fully integrated in the greater Nativ experience of learning about Judaism, the Middle East, history and culture.
Finally, Israel is the start-up capital of the world, and I want to network with the technology community there. Through Yozma, I could volunteer or perhaps work through an internship program and make connections with the many engineering and tech companies in Israel, and perhaps even the Israeli Space Agency. I believe the Yozma program has everything I want and need for a successful and meaningful year abroad.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I hope you will feel it is a wise investment in the future to support me. I intend to make the most of it and bring my learning back to share with my communities in the states.
Please share and spread the word. Thank you again!
http://www.nativ.org/yozma/about-yozma/
Organiser
Heather Shickman
Organiser
Plano, TX