Tracking students’ improvements and providing them with a better future:
ENP sponsors a number of activities as part of its Scholastic Assistance Program, all of which are designed to address the many challenges the Ethiopian-Israeli youth face in Beit Shean.
ENP has made remarkable progress in Beit Shean:
• At the beginning of the school year each child is evaluated according to their current grades and academic performance. After their initial evaluations, students set goals and expectations for the upcoming school year. Each student’s progress is closely tracked throughout the school year, which enables ENP to appropriately gauge the program’s effectiveness.
•100% of the 9th graders in 2011 continued into a matriculation-track program.
•One of the students in the Program received a 100% in physics matriculation, and attributed this success to Scholastic Assistance.
In addition to the Scholastic Assistance Program, Beit Shean has a Youth Outreach Center that is designed to mitigate some of the everyday challenges that confront Ethiopian-Israeli youth. Today 31 teenagers regularly attend the Youth Center. Highlights of the program include:
• An incredible variety of extra-curricular activities, including: theater, soccer, English club, and Amharic lessons. Breakdancing and makeup courses are scheduled to begin soon.
• Seven participants participate in a leadership group, which helps to determine the Center's activities. These participants also serve as role models to their peers.
• A special event was held to mark the Sigd celebration, with both youth and adult participants.
• A number of volunteers are making a contribution, including: a teacher soldier, one “tzameret” year-long volunteer, two Scouts who are year-long volunteers and a National Service volunteer.
• A community garden will be launched, which will be a great way to get both youth and parents involved in something at they can work together on and improve. Parents will be able to share their traditional Ethiopian agrarian methods with the rest of the Israeli community in Beit Shean.
Did you know that…
About half (48%) of the youth that attended the Center noted that the program helped them build a better picture of their future.
"I decided to do the Volunteer Service Year," noted one participant. "It [the center] contributed to me in that I help small children." "When I talk with the counselors, it opens my mind and makes me think."
