Students Supporting Israel has announced the creation of a partnership with Oranim Academic College in the North of Israel, offering a one-of-a-kind 6 credits summer study abroad opportunity for students from the US and Canada.
Last year Students Supporting Israel (SSI) launched a unique scholarship opportunity for students to help them attend study abroad programs in Israel. This initiative was a follow-up to the pro-Israel resolutions passed by SSI in student governments that called to invest in Israel instead of boycotting it, and recommended doing so by expanding existing or creating new study abroad options in Israel.
This year, as a response to the strong demand to attend quality academic programs in Israel and due to the high number of scholarship applications, SSI National leadership decided to take the initiative to the next level. They have officially partnered with Oranim College to create a three-week program that will take place from July 29 to August 18, 2018, in the North of Israel. The program is open to English-speaking students from all over the world.
This study abroad opportunity offers two courses for a total of 6 credits that will focus on leadership training and Israel’s culture and history.
“We chose to work with Oranim College as it is the largest academic college of education in the North of Israel, and we want students to experience a location that is not the usual tourism destination like Tel Aviv or Jerusalem” said Ilan Sinelnikov, SSI’s Founder and President. “Oranim is located in the beautiful Galilee, just 20 minutes east of Haifa. It also has an extremely diverse student body and it was important for us that the visiting students will create meaningful personal connections with Israelis from different backgrounds and be truly immersed in the daily life of the country. Such enriching involvement is the best tool against the boycott movement as students will be able to share from their personal experience upon return to campus.”
Lori Abramson, Director of Jewish Peoplehood Programs, said, “This is a distinctive and multi-faceted summer program where we offer students the unique opportunity to study in Israel and receive academic grounding in subjects connected to the country’s past and present. The program contains numerous field study trips to different parts of Israel, an in-depth look at some of the remarkable individuals and endeavors that are the secret of Israel creativity, survival and resilience, along with lectures on the theory and practice of leadership, language instruction, emergency medical training, and many other interactive sessions and workshops."
Dr. Roberta Bell-Kligler said, “Our college is committed to academic excellence and community involvement. We offer a broad range of programs and degrees to a student body with Jewish and Arab students of all ages, ethnicities, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds. We are excited to offer this summer program and hope that in addition to the academic content, the visiting students will gain the knowledge necessary to effectively debunk mistruths being spread about Israel on campuses in North America.”
The Application to the program is available at http://en.oranim.ac.il/node/287, and the scholarship application is available at http://www.ssimovement.org/study-abroad.html . For more information about the program, please contact infor@ssimovement.org or LeadershipProject@oranim.ac.il.